Washington in shock: Ilhan Omar suddenly hit with a “Removal Notice” amid a $250 million scandal! A document delivered at 2:43 AM sent Omar’s office into panic—doors shut, staff scrambling, media switching to emergency coverage.
Part of the report is blacked out—and the identity of the sender has left Washington stunned. Details below
Washington, D.C. – December 4, 2025, 6:17 AM EST
At precisely 2:43 a.m., two plain-clothed U.S. Capitol Police officers and a senior staffer from the Office of the Sergeant at Arms walked unannounced into the Longworth House Office Building.
Security cameras captured them carrying a single manila envelope marked “EYES ONLY – CONGRESSWOMAN ILHAN ABDULLAHI OMAR.” Thirty-seven seconds later, every light on the third floor of Room 332 flickered on.
By 3:05 a.m., reporters camped outside for an unrelated vote were told to leave the hallway “immediately.” Phones inside Omar’s office began blowing up. What unfolded in the next three hours has left the entire capital reeling.
Multiple senior congressional sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss ongoing ethics investigations, confirmed to this outlet that Rep.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was personally served with an official “Notice of Intent to Remove from Office” – a rarely used procedural weapon that has only been deployed nine times since 1789, and never in the modern era against a sitting member for financial misconduct alone.
The 18-page document, portions of which were photographed by a staffer before phones were confiscated, alleges that between 2019 and 2025 more than $250 million in federal funds intended for Feeding Our Future and other Minnesota-based pandemic-relief and child-nutrition nonprofits were diverted through a complex network of shell companies, luxury real estate purchases in Istanbul and Nairobi, and cryptocurrency wallets ultimately controlled by individuals “with direct familial or marital ties” to the congresswoman.
Most explosively, pages 11–14 of the notice are completely redacted in thick black marker, but the visible header on page 11 reads: “Referral from the Office of the Inspector General – United States Department of Justice, in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of the Treasury – Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).”
That revelation alone triggered pandemonium: the referral did not come from the House Ethics Committee, as is customary, nor from the Office of Congressional Ethics.
It was transmitted directly by Merrick Garland’s Justice Department in the final weeks before the Trump administration takes control on January 20 – a move many are interpreting as a deliberate pre-emptive strike before incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi could shut it down.
By 4:12 a.m., CNN cut away from regular programming. Fox News went to a live shot of Longworth with the chyron “ILHAN OMAR FACES IMMEDIATE EXPULSION PROCEEDINGS.” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow appeared visibly shaken on air, reading the few leaked paragraphs aloud before legal cautioned the network.
Inside the office, according to three staffers who spoke on background, Congresswoman Omar was on a secure call with attorneys from Perkins Coie and WilmerHale when the document was handed to her.
One aide described her as “stone silent for nearly a minute, just staring at the redacted section.” Doors were then locked, blinds drawn, and all personal devices collected and placed in a Faraday bag – standard protocol when a national-security level investigation is involved.
The $250 million figure is not new to Minnesota watchers.
Since 2022, the FBI has been investigating what prosecutors called “the largest COVID-relief fraud scheme in the nation.” More than 70 people have already been charged, with court filings repeatedly referencing “Entity A” – a nonprofit that received federal reimbursement money after allegedly submitting fraudulent claims for millions of meals that were never served.
Yesterday’s bombshell notice is the first official document to publicly identify Rep. Omar’s brother-in-law, Mohamed Keynan, and her former husband, Tim Mynett, as “principal beneficiaries” of multiple offshore accounts that received transfers from Entity A and its affiliates.
Even more shocking to Capitol Hill veterans is the identity of the official who personally signed the transmittal letter: Acting U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove III – the same prosecutor Trump has just nominated to be Deputy Attorney General under Pam Bondi.
In other words, the outgoing Biden-Garland DOJ and the incoming Trump DOJ appear to have reached a secret agreement to deliver the removal notice together, ensuring neither administration could be accused of politicizing the case.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was briefed at 3:30 a.m. Sources in his office say he uttered only six words: “This is unprecedented. We have no playbook.” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly refused to take calls from Omar’s team until sunrise, fearing the appearance of interference.
Under Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, each chamber is the sole judge of its members’ qualifications. A simple majority vote can expel a member, but the last successful expulsion occurred in 2002 (James Traficant, convicted of bribery).
If Republicans move forward – and several GOP sources say leadership is already drafting the privileged resolution – Omar would become the first member ever expelled for alleged financial crimes tied to federal pandemic relief.
As of 7:00 a.m., Omar’s official X account posted a single statement: “I have done nothing wrong and will fight these baseless accusations with every breath. The truth will come out.” Thirty seconds later the tweet was deleted – reportedly on advice of counsel.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about the overnight developments during this morning’s briefing, refused to comment beyond saying, “The Department of Justice operates independently.” Incoming Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was far more direct on Truth Social: “The swamp tries one last desperate attack before we drain it completely.
Justice is coming – for everyone.”
Outside Omar’s office, a growing media scrum was moved back by Capitol Police at 6:45 a.m. One reporter who managed to get within earshot heard a staffer shouting, “Tell them the blacked-out pages are about CIA cutouts in Mogadishu – that’s why they redacted everything!”
Whether that claim is accurate remains unknown. What is certain is that by sundown today, the House Parliamentarian will receive formal notice of intent to expel.
If 218 members vote yes – and early whip counts leaked to Politico suggest Republicans already have 215 locked, with several moderate Democrats “leaning yes” out of fear of being primaried – Ilhan Omar will be removed from Congress before the Christmas recess.
For now, official Washington is frozen in disbelief. One senior Senate staffer summed it up: “We’ve seen sex scandals, bribery, even treason allegations.
But a quarter-billion-dollar fraud case delivered at 2:43 in the morning, with half the pages blacked out and both parties’ Justice Departments holding the pen together? This is how empires end.”
The redacted pages, the offshore millions, and the question of whether the CIA’s name really appears in a domestic expulsion notice – those answers may surface in the coming hours.
Or they may remain blacked out forever.