Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration will allow the investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to proceed without political interference following a federal raid on her Washington, D.C., home.
Speaking with Fox News Digital after a Tuesday midterm campaign rally in Tyler, Texas, Vance said the administration has no plans to “butt in” on the Department of Justice investigation. He also made clear that immigration fraud, if uncovered, would bring legal consequences.
“We don’t want to be like the Biden administration. We never want to be like that — where they would allow the law to go after their political opponents,” Vance said during the exclusive interview.
The vice president argued [1] that the facts, rather than political calculations, should determine what happens next. “We really want to let the law, the facts drive this,” he said.
“And if justice requires something else be done, then, of course, we’ll take a step when we have to,” Vance continued.
Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence was subjected to a predawn raid Monday by Homeland Security Investigations. HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and Fox News Digital first reported the search.
Conservatives repeatedly accused former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department of politically targeting President Donald Trump and his allies after Trump’s first term ended. Critics frequently pointed to the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home during an investigation involving alleged mishandling of classified documents.
That case was closed after Trump won the presidency again in 2024. Vance said the current administration is taking a different approach by refusing to direct investigators or dictate their decisions.
“In the Trump administration, unlike the previous administration, we let the facts and the law drive this stuff — so the president and I really don’t butt ourselves in the DOJ investigations,” Vance said.
“We’re not trying to micromanage this. We’re not trying to tell [Attorney General] Todd Blanche to do one thing or another. We try to let the facts drive this thing,” he added.
Vance said the investigation would be permitted to unfold before the administration took any further step. “If, of course, criminal wrongdoing is discovered or potentially fraudulent immigration is uncovered, then obviously there will be legal proceedings to follow that,” he warned.
An investigation into potential immigration fraud involving a sitting member of Congress would be unprecedented. Vance nevertheless said political difficulty cannot become an excuse for failing to enforce the law as written.
“I think we have to let the facts and the law drive this, right? So I don’t think you can say because politics might be difficult or politics might be easy, you can’t follow the law,” Vance said.
“You have to actually enforce the law as it exists,” he added.
Vance also blasted Omar’s attitude toward the United States, the country where her family fled after escaping civil war in Somalia in 1991. He called Omar “a very unprecedented person” while discussing the extraordinary nature of the investigation.
“We have very rarely had a person in Congress who seems to have such disdain and such rage at the country that gave her a better life,” Vance said. “Now, that’s not a crime.”
“But we’re going to see whether she did commit a crime. And if she did, we’re obviously going to follow the law,” the vice president said.
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Vance delivered the remarks after campaigning for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport. Tyler is located about 100 miles east of Dallas.
Paxton is competing in a closely contested race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico with three weeks remaining before Election Day. Republicans are fighting to maintain control of Congress in the midterm elections.
Omar responded to the raid Monday afternoon through both her personal and official government accounts on X. On her personal account, she wrote, “I’m ok,” before accusing the administration of targeting political opponents.
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Omar wrote. She also accused Trump of spending 10 years targeting her with “baseless lies and smear campaigns.”
“This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced,” Omar continued.
In a separate post from her official government account shortly after 1:30 p.m., Omar called the raid an abuse of power and an escalation in what she described as the weaponization of federal law enforcement.
“Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong. No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies,” the post said.
I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.
I will not be silenced.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 12, 2026 [3]
The investigation remains poised to follow the evidence, with Vance promising enforcement if authorities uncover criminal wrongdoing or fraudulent immigration activity.