After town hall attack, Ilhan Omar condemns ‘terrorizing’ immigration push and criticism from GOP

By Eric Bradner, Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar ignored staffers’ pleas to end a town hall early and get a medical check Tuesday after a man rushed the podium and sprayed a substance at the Democratic congresswoman.

Omar said after the town hall ended that she has “survived war” and that she is “definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think that they can throw at me because I’m built that way.”

The man who sprayed the substance has been charged with third-degree assault and was booked into Hennepin County Jail, a police incident report said, according to CNN-affiliate KARE. It was not immediately clear what the substance was.

Omar was “uninjured and resumed speaking at the event,” the incident report says. City forensic scientists responded to process the scene, according to the report.

The US Capitol Police said in a statement the incident is “an unacceptable decision that will be met with swift justice” and said it’s working “to see this man faces the most serious charges possible.”

The dramatic moment punctuated a high-profile public appearance for a progressive lawmaker who has been the subject of Republican attacks and scrutiny, as President Donald Trump’s administration focuses its attention on Minneapolis, the city she represents.

Omar condemned federal immigration agents’ “terrorizing” tactics and “reckless and lawless” actions, as she told attendees that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities is antithetical to “the America we love.”

She also called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abolition and said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign or be impeached. And she praised how Minneapolis has responded to immigration agents’ presence and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Minnesotans are showing up for one another in ways that people didn’t expect. We are showing the country and the world what real solitary looks like. And we should be goddamn proud of ourselves,” she said.

Omar facing GOP probes

Long a target of Republicans, Omar is now the subject of investigations by Trump’s Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee, after both Trump and the committee’s chairman, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, said this week they were probing her finances.

Omar, 43, is a Somali-born refugee whose family immigrated to the United States when she was 12. She was first elected to the state legislature in 2016 and became one of the first Muslim-American women elected to Congress in 2018, when she won a House seat representing much of the overwhelmingly Democratic city of Minneapolis.

She has been a frequent target of political attacks and at times racist smears by Republicans. She has also faced heat from some Democrats who point to her criticism of Israel — particularly in 2021, when she seemed to equate “atrocities” by the United States and Israel to those of Hamas and the Taliban, as she called in a social media post for “the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.”

In 2023, the Republican-controlled House voted to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2025, a push to censure Omar and remove her from two committees over her comments about conservative political commentator and activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his killing failed by just one vote, after four Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting the effort.

Trump has repeatedly said Omar should be impeached, jailed or deported to Somalia — despite her becoming a US citizen in 2000.

Omar said at the town hall she carries her passport with her at all times.

“I know people talk about me and Somalia. I don’t know any home the way I know this home,” she said, referring to the United States. “And so I do feel strong sentiments toward immigrants that find home in the United States.”

Omar said that other immigrants are traumatized by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Omar’s personal finances have come under scrutiny after her financial disclosure filed last year showed her husband has stakes in a venture capital firm and winery worth between $6 million and $30 million.

The New York Times reported Monday that in 2024, during Joe Biden’s presidency, the Justice Department opened an investigation into Omar’s finances, her campaign spending and her interaction with a foreign citizen, but that probe stalled because of a lack of evidence.

Trump on Monday said the Justice Department is investigating Omar, claiming in a Truth Social post that she “left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars.” It was not clear what basis Trump had for citing that amount.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has begun investigating the finances of Omar and her husband as part of the panel’s broader probe into fraud allegations in Minnesota, a source familiar with the probe told CNN. Republicans on Capitol Hill are investigating whether her husband’s finances are tied to the fraud allegations at Somali-run childcare centers in the state.

Typically, the House Ethics Committee investigates members of Congress, but since the business is in her husband’s name, Comer, the House Oversight Committee’s chairman, has said he can make it a part of his committee work. He said Omar and her husband will get their due process.

“The American people are questioning how Rep. Omar and her spouse accumulated millions of dollars in wealth in such a short time span. The House Oversight Committee is going to look into this matter to provide transparency to the American people,” Comer said in a statement.

The panel has not yet reached out to Omar or her spouse, the source added. CNN has reached out to Omar’s office and the Ethics Committee for comment.

Omar did not directly address the scrutiny of her finances in Tuesday night’s town hall.

On X, Omar responded to Trump’s comments by saying: “Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking.”

“Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of ‘investigations’ have found nothing,” she wrote. “Get your goons out of Minnesota.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Sara Sidner contributed to this report.