Federal prosecutors pressed a former security guard for Rep. Ilhan Omar for incriminating information about the Minnesota Democrat — including questions about a $10,000 check she wrote to his brother — before indicting him, securing his grand jury testimony and then dropping the case, according to reporting by The New York Times.
Abdullahi Mohamud Mohamed briefly served on Omar's security detail during a 2022 trip to Somalia's Puntland region. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Minnesota on April 7 on one count of making a false statement to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during an October 20, 2025, interview for permanent residency.
His lawyer, Bruce Rivers, told the Times that investigators questioned Mohamed about Omar's immigration journey, her marriages and her finances, and about the $10,000 check Omar wrote to Mohamed's brother. Rivers said investigators suggested the payment might have been a bribe to arrange a meeting with an ambassador and a Somali political official.
Mohamed told investigators he had no incriminating information about Omar, Rivers said, and later asked his brother about the payment and was told it had settled a loan. Omar's office has maintained the payment was "for a loan." No bribery charge has been announced in connection with the transaction.
On September 3, Mohamed testified before a federal grand jury in Washington after prosecutors granted him immunity. The next day, prosecutors moved to dismiss the charge, saying there was no longer a federal interest in pursuing the case because Mohamed had entered deportation proceedings. A judge granted the request on September 8. Mohamed has since left the United States and relocated to Kenya.
The Justice Department has said Mohamed's case was "completely unrelated to any current investigations," and a source close to the Omar investigation told the Washington Examiner it was "totally separate" and "not connected." U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has confirmed her office is also investigating Omar's personal finances.
The investigation became public on October 12, when federal agents searched Omar's Washington home. Omar, who won a fifth term on November 3, has denied wrongdoing and called the probe a politically motivated effort to target her. No criminal charges against Omar have been publicly announced.
Rep. Tom Emmer, the incoming House Republican minority whip, said on Newsmax on Wednesday that he believed the Justice Department was finalizing its review of Omar's citizenship, and warned she could lose her seat if prosecutors establish she was over 18 when she claimed citizenship through her father.
