MaddowBlog
The president demanded an investigation into the congresswoman, only to claim distance when the investigation began.
At the Justice Department, it’s known as the “blackout period”: the 60 days leading up to an election when prosecutors refrain from taking actions against elected officials. As The Washington Post reported, the policy is intended to “ensure that law enforcement actions do not influence elections and are not perceived as attempting to sway elections.”
This week, the Trump administration made clear its indifference to this longstanding norm, launching a search of the home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, as part of an apparent criminal investigation.
On cue, Donald Trump, who’s made no effort to hide his contempt for the Minnesota congresswoman, followed up on the search by continuing his lengthy crusade against her, condemning Omar as “a terrible person.”
But just as notably, the president made an effort to distance himself from the ongoing legal process. NBC News reported:
Trump made disparaging comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. [on Monday afternoon], calling her “crooked” and a “terrible person,” while saying that he had “nothing to do” with the […] search of her home in Washington, D.C., by federal agents.
“I’ve always found her to be totally crooked personally, but that has nothing to do with me. I think she’s a terrible person, just a complainer,” Trump told reporters. “I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ. I have nothing to do with it.”
It’s not nearly that simple.
Earlier this year, the president used his social media platform to issue a public declaration of sorts related to Omar. “She should be in jail,” the Republican wrote, “or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia, considered one of the absolutely worst countries in the World.” Days later, Trump published a follow-up, adding, “She should be investigated for Financial and Political Crimes, and that investigation should start, NOW!”
In the weeks and months that followed, the administration officials did, in fact, advance an investigation into the Minnesotan.
In other words, the broader circumstances unfolded in three steps:
Part 1: Trump publicly demanded an investigation into Omar.
Part 2: The Trump administration opened an investigation into Omar.
Part 3: Trump pretended he had nothing to do with Part 2, despite Part 1.
As for the process moving forward, The New York Times reported that federal agents had issued subpoenas to some of Omar’s relatives “as officials scour her family’s history for evidence of fraud and false statements in immigration paperwork.” Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
