The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Rep. Ilhan Omar Talks Congressional Firestorms, Political Attacks, ICE, Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green, Kristi Noem + More 

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Rep. Ilhan Omar Talks Congressional Firestorms, Political Attacks, ICE, Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green, Kristi Noem. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. I got you. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct?

I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is love trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police.

As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's shots fired in City Hall building. How could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder. This was one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics. I scream, get down, get down.

Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten and a mystery that may or may not have been political. That may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lori Siegel, and this is mostly human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. an in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future.

My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to mostly human on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. You're all finished or y'all's done? Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Salameen Naguad, Envy and Jess Hilaris on here today, but Lauren LaRosa and Mimi Brown is in,

and we got a special guest. She is the United States representative from Minnesota's fifth congressional district, Ilhan Omar, is here. Hey, hey. Good morning. Good morning. You know, every time you're supposed to come here, something happens.

I know. Two snowstorms. Every single time she was supposed to come, a snowstorm happens. That's my story with New York. Every time I'm trying to make it here, something happens. There's some emergency vote. There's some shutdown. Or there's weather problems.

I came in for my daughter's graduation last May, and I was here for one day. And then we had an emergency vote, and I had to, like, little relief and not. attend the graduation. So something is in the water in New York for me. My grandma says when stuff like that happens, God is redirecting you for some reason. It's a protection. Yes, yes. And my dad used to say that too. How are you? How's your energy?

I'm good. I'm good. Yeah. Do you ever feel comfortable? Do you ever feel like, I don't know if I want to use the word safe, but do you ever feel safe everywhere? Internally, I do. Okay, internally. Okay. But, you know, we have to worry about the external. We try to take the precautions that are necessary and have security when it's needed.

And I actually had Capitol Police detail that was going to come with me the last time I was going to come here. But things look good, so I don't have them right now. What makes it look good, though? I don't know. They figure out the threat levels. Somebody's in charge of that. I don't know.

I don't know, especially when it's Mike Johnson making that decision. Absolutely. Absolutely. I got a lot of questions about Congress, man. Just in general. Like, well, first of all, what are the most urgent issues facing you think a lot of your constituents right now? Affordability. Life is just really hard for people to afford.

You'd be surprised Minneapolis outside of New York City. And L.A. is one of the most expensive, non-coastal cities to live in. And so it's very hard for young people to want to see. start a family. It's very hard for people who want to start small businesses. It's hard for people to buy a home. And so that's the biggest challenge we have. And then obviously with what's been happening with the federal government essentially punishing us because we have refused to vote for Trump as Minnesotans, we have dealt with Operation Metro Search that has literally caused us about a billion dollars or more in revenue to our state.

Wow. You know, Congresswoman, I was in Minnesota. I went to the ground and I covered Operation Metro Surgeon. I talked to some of your constituents. And first of all, I just want to know, how are people doing now that some of those ICE agents, some of that federal operation has been pulled back? That's a really tough question to answer, right?

because, you know, when Operation Metro Search started, we had over 4,000 ice and CPP agents on the ground. That meant we had, you know, tens, maybe 20 agents walking every block in the city of Minneapolis. You know, schools were shut down. people were not going to church, people were not going to businesses, people were being snatched, people were being disappeared. It was really hard for us to figure out because they were taking them out of Minnesota within hours after picking them up to Texas or Louisiana or Arizona. So it was very hard for us to figure out what was happening with people. And now we have the residual effects. You know, one of my business corridors was losing $30 million a month.

that's going to take a long time for them to recover from that. Like I said earlier with our schools, we had only a third of the students attending. So for two months, you had students that were either virtual or not getting any education at all. So now that they are coming back to the schools, there's a lot of adjustment that has to happen. There's the loss of resources to the schools to create the adjustment that is needed. There's a lot of mental health support and trauma that people are dealing with. There are still people who are afraid, who are citizens, some that are born here, some that have proper documentation to stay in this country, that are still afraid to go to work,

that are still afraid to send their kids to school, that are still afraid to shop or have their businesses open. And so, you know, we have a rough estimate of about a billion dollars that the impact, the economic impact is, but that personal and human impact, impact, we might never really know what that cost will look like. What about the human impact of when Trump called for the deportation of Somalians? Yeah, I mean, so he's got a weird fascination with Somalis. You know, we're still trying to figure out where that's from. Some say that.

No, I think it's you. No, the rumor is he had a crush on the model Iban, and she rejected him. I never heard of that. And apparently, you know, decades later, we're all being. punished because she chose David Bowie over him and you know that that that man holds a grudge he's petty he is petty yes back in the 90s I see okay yeah it's out there I don't know I didn't start it you got your own shade room wow but anyway so he he convinced himself that there was this community that he can punish right make an example of and he didn't

realize that 98% of us are either born in the United States are people who became naturalized citizens like myself or have legal documentation or refugee status to be in this country. And so when he came in, he sent these people, they were going to these shopping centers, they were going to these neighborhoods, they were looking essentially for anyone that looked Somali,

which meant a lot of people were getting caught up in that. And when all of it was done, done, we know that less than 3% of the 4,000 people that they eventually detained were Somalis. And, you know, they picked up about 4,000 Somalis with refugees status. They took them to revet them. And almost all of them were returned back. Because when you are going through the refugee processing system and you're coming to the United States, that vetting takes three, four, sometimes up to 10 years for people to be cleared to come

to the United States. And so it was just another waste of money. And he's convinced these people that, you know, there are hundreds of thousands of Somalis that are in this country illegally when just even the whole number of Somalis that are in the United States is less than 200,000. And, you know, when you look at that number, like I said, 60% of Somalis that are in the United States are people like my children who were born in the United States to U.S. citizens. So there isn't really much that he can do. And then he went after the temporary protective status that some Somalis had.

And he thought it was going to be as big of a number like the Venezuelans or the Haitians where it's in the hundreds of thousands. Well, it was only like less than 300 Somalis that were impacted in that temporary protected status. And now the courts are telling him that he can't cancel the temporary protected status unless he gives a reason why they shouldn't be protected anymore. So it's a loss, loss for him. But I know that his megabase still very much believes the lies that he's selling. They're very much upset. you know, the man who attacked me at my town hall, one of the reasons that he told his neighbors that he was upset with me is that he was very much looking forward to the mass

deportation of Somalis. And because there was no mass deportation, he said it was my fault that I was protecting them. Somehow I was more powerful than Trump. Wow. And so that he then he had to come and punish me for it. What was that about? Do you have like a, are you allergic to apple cider or something? Like, why was it apple-side of vinegar? I really don't know. I mean, he's currently being held without bail, awaiting trial in federal prison, federal jail. And so we'll see, you know, when his trial gets underway

what he actually thought the vinegar was supposed to do to me. A lot of people thought that was staged. Yeah. I mean, I don't understand the kind of conspiracy theories people sometimes come up with. If you think he was closer, you would have stole him? Because you did cock back a little bit. I did. I thought he spit on me and was walking away after spitting on me.

And if you know anything about me, there is no way you're going to spit on me and walk away. When I saw it, I was like, I would have been so nervous that it was like acid or something, but you were so like, uh-uh. You reacted. Yeah. It didn't touch me. I just saw his mouth. Okay. And I saw some liquid before I could feel.

because it was on my sweater. I think a lot of my locally elected colleagues had stuff hit their hands and that's why they were freaking out because they could see it. To me, my thought was, okay, he just spit on me and this man thinks he's going to walk away

and I'm a bitch ass. That must have happened to you before in life. No. No. Okay, okay, okay. No. Because you had a visceral reaction immediately. I did. That's the level of disrespect that, you know, where I come from, it's not okay. Absolutely.

Yeah. Do you ever get tired of like fighting back? I mean, yeah, do you ever get tired of fighting back within like the media wars that happen because of like the words that they use like J.D. Vince on a podcast and, you know, you committed immigration fraud. And like, do you ever just be like, oh, I'm over it? No. Because if they want to have the fight, I'm ready to have the fight.

I'm also really secure in the fact that I didn't do anything wrong. and I know that it's about giving like red meat to their deranged base that tends to believe stuff like that. They tend to think, you know, somehow we African immigrants are shady in some kind of way. And it's not surprising to me when you have, you know, Trump and JD fans saying, you know, Asians are eating cats and dogs and then people believe it. And then you ask them and they're like, well, you got to make up. a narrative you know for people to go along with like that tells you the kind of people that they are and i'm not the kind of person that's like oh that's hurtful thing for you to say and i'm gonna cry

about it i'm the kind of person that's like oh you said that i'm gonna say some shit about you too actually too you know with christie no longer leading oh my god i set your eyes with her no longer leading department of homeland security though but do you think that that will reform ice in any kind of way. Do you think that we're still going to see that same level between ICE and Custom Border Control that we saw with her under Mark Wayne Moller?

You know, I believe as Senator Tillis and Senator Kennedy said, she took an issue that for them was an 80-20 issue and made it a 20-80 issue. I think they

underestimated the vitrial reaction people would have to seeing a militarized mess men with machine guns roaming the cities of America. And what it would look like once they murdered to white people in a state that is a majority, heavily majority white state. And so I do believe that. they are going to restrain themselves. I believe that they understand that they can no longer do what they did,

not in Chicago, not in L.A., and certainly not what they did in Minneapolis. I am optimistic that when we have the majority, the reforms that we propose will ultimately become more. So with that being said, though, do you think something will happen now with the partial government shutdown? You know, Senate Democrats want one thing else. Republicans want something else. Like, House Democrats want something.

Yeah. So where do we think that'll land? It is my belief that when we are back in session tonight, that the Republicans are going to approve the rest of the funding, like we've been asking for for the Department of Homeland Security, without funding for CPP and ICE. We understand that CPP and ICE. We understand that CPP and ICE has a slush fund that was giving to them in the big ugly bill.

Those are, you know, that's $77 billion that they can utilize essentially for the next five to eight, ten years. So it is, I think, unreasonable to hold the rest of the department hostage to fund part of that department that already has resources. is when you have TSA agents who haven't been paid, who are losing their homes, you know, who are filing for bankruptcy, who haven't been able to pay their credit card bills, who haven't been able to have, you know, are like now getting food that's being donated to them

when they are actually working in a dignified job. We also have the Coast Guard that is caught up in that. The Secret Service that watches over. the cabinet and the president is caught up in that. We also have our security apparatus that, you know, our national security apparatus status tied into that. So I think it's been too long for them to come to the table. I do believe that the senators,

both on the Republican and Democratic side, were right to send us the bill that they did. I was shocked that as we were going on recess, that the Republicans in the House chose to not approve that bill and were willing to just have this suffering continue for another two weeks, just again to be back to the same table. So I do believe that either tomorrow or Thursday, we will be able to pass on it.

And to your point, because especially since both the Senate Democrats and House, Republicans, they voted together to send it to you guys. Yeah. I mean, after refusing, right? Yeah. Because Democrats, I think there was like nine or, 11 times they put these single bills for a vote. And the Republicans, you know, John Thune said no in the Senate. And then eventually they realized, okay, we've got two weeks where we're not

legislating. It is not fair for these hardworking Americans to not continue to get paid. So we'll just say yes and allow for this to happen, hoping that their counterparts in the House would do that. And then they called them stupid. They called them idiots. They said they didn't don't know how to read a bill. They don't know how to write a bill. And then you had, you know, a couple of days ago where Mike Johnson is like, yeah, I think they're right. And we're just, the president wants us to do it. And like, now they're going to do it. And it's just, it's a, it's a, it's a silly game. And, and, you know, it's one of those things that makes people really frustrated when it comes to Washington, D.C. You said something earlier. You said, you know, when Democrats get

the majority. Why do elected officials talk like that's going to be so easy? Like, like, as a Donald Trump and his administration isn't going to try everything in their power to make sure that doesn't happen. What makes us think there's going to be free and fair election? Like you mentioned ICE, right? I already saw the SIOP when they put ICE in the airport. There's no way those are the same people in the street. They were so nice. They were so welcoming.

They were so helpful. That is all to a plan. So when he says, hey, we're putting ice at the voting booths come November, now you're going to see them back in their mask, you know, throwing people to the grab. So why do we act like it's just going to be so easy to vote in November? So I'll use Minnesota as an example. In the height of Operation Metro Search, we had our caucuses. So Minnesota is a caucus state, just like Iowa, except in Minnesota, we caucus for every single office.

And so we thought, you know, there was a lot of talk about making it virtual. that they were going to show up in caucus rooms, that they were going to stage, because these caucuses happen in school rooms, right, and community centers. And so we were very much convinced that this was going to happen. Nothing happened.

We had one of the highest caucus turnout since the 08 caucuses, which just tells you just how excited people were and how much they weren't going to allow fear to dictate whether they were going to participate or not. And so I have faith in the fact that people, one, will show up regardless of what the threats look like. And two, I don't think, like I said, the public sentiment is no longer with them and they're

not going to risk losing any more public sentiment in that regard. So that's where, at least for me, where my optimism comes, that elections will go as planned and that if everything goes accordingly, we should be able to take back the House and, you know, the Senate. You know, it gave me optimism when Donald Trump said he would pardon all his people. I think he said that he said last week he would give pardoned to everybody that came basically close to the White House because that lets me know like, oh, they may not have a plan to be able to take things over.

So, you know, let me make sure I pardon all my people so we don't end up going to jail. Yeah. He also probably doesn't think there will be a Republican that gets into the presidency after him. I want to talk to you about Congress. Do you think Eric, what's how he pronounced the last name? Swalwell. Swahwell, you think he should have stepped down from Congress? I don't know there is a way for him to explain away the level of evidence that was being presented.

in those kind of cases, ethics moves a lot faster. But Republicans never explain. I know. But you have Gonzalez also resigning, who doesn't have as much of a visible evidence against him as much as Eric had. And I also think, you know, when you've got three little ones and you have a wife that you're possibly trying to make amends with,

having the kind of videos that are leaking out there is worth it. And I can understand the desire to want to hold on and to fight, but I don't know what it looks like to subject your little children images of you at a hotel with a young woman. Yeah, that's true. That's just not something I think a lot of young children can survive. I agree with that personally. I guess just politically, I guess I don't know what consistency looks like, right?

Because you can have Trump and so many Republicans with these accusations. Even Biden can have accusations, but nobody asks them to step down. Like it doesn't seem to harm certain people politically, but it seemed to have really hurt Eric politically. Well, I mean, you know, Christy Noam, once she was asked in committee whether she was having an affair, that seemed like that was the thing that led to it

when she couldn't answer. And so I just think that there are some, there are rumors that can linger and there might be, you know, nothing here and there. And then there is videos. view in a hotel room being inappropriate with a young woman. And that has, I think, a different impact and a calculation.

And like I said, I haven't gotten a chance to talk to Eric. But to me, knowing him, knowing how little his children are, and how protective he is of his young kids, I understand why he does. decided to just not continue to have this be part of their life. And I'm not, it's not, it's not in any defensive air. Do you think that Democrats are too quick to cannibalize their own? Oh, certainly. Certainly.

I mean, you know, you had Katie Hill that, you know, that was part of my class, that was doing adult things that had nothing to do with her work. I don't remember any of her constituents calling for her to resign, but it was a lot of pressure from Congress, from her colleagues, especially on the Dem side, for her to do so. There is a slow walk on the Republican side. With Gonzalez, it took a really long time. There were a few women on the Republican side who called for his resignation.

A lot of them were just asking him to not run for re-election. And so, yes, I mean, you know, even in Minnesota, when you, you know, you remember Al Frank. You know, people were very quick. And now that seems so small. It's like in comparison to all the stuff that's out there today. But yes, I do think that there is this desire to have the moral high ground in these situations without realizing that yes, it is a battle. And, you know, everybody's got shit.

Sorry. And, you know, like you have to figure out what the weaknesses are for your team players, how to insulate them from, you know, some of those things. And yes, it's all numbers. you know, we're going to be down by one vote. I know they will be two, but those things matter. It's a matter of whether we are able to get a discharge petition and govern as a minority as if we're in the majority or not.

The numbers are way slim for the majority, so every single vote matters in this moment. And speaking of every single vote matters, you're running for re-election. So what do you want people to know about your congressional leadership? In what regard? And just, you know, we see you, we see you out fighting, we see everything that you're doing. You're very, very outspoken.

You know, and there are certain things that are coming up and you're fighting against Trump. Will that continue? What are you hoping to fight against this administration for going forward? I mean, I believe that it is really important for Democrats to take this fight seriously. You know, we always talk about democracy being on the line, but it's real. We're seeing it every single day, right? Like, Charmey wouldn't ask me about elections taking place fair and freely if it wasn't because of everything that we're seeing that is very worrying to all of us.

And obviously we understand that there's these unjust wars that he's starting in Iran, the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela, the threats to Cuba, you know, whatever he is saying about Greenland, you know, what he's doing with our alliances, how he's destroying our economy. There's just a lot for us to challenge this administration on, but that can't be the only thing we do. We also have to figure out where are the opportunities, right? That's why we've been utilizing discharge petitions because we see an opportunity and we're like,

okay, here's a place where we can govern. And I serve as the deputy chair for the Progressive Caucus, and we lead a lot of these efforts because it takes the Progressive Caucus oftentimes to see those opportunities, right? To say, like, here's a chance where there's this fight. I know that some of our moderate members within the Democratic caucus, caucus are cautious and sometimes scared because they represent districts where they rely a lot on moderate Republicans or independents to vote for them where we don't have that fear. And so we take the charge in many of those cases.

And so we let the charge on holding Christenom accountable in creating the 10-point demand for DHS reform before we vote for the full bill. And so I see my role and my leadership in that. I also serve as a ranking member for the for the House, education and workforce. We used to call it Labor, the Workforce Committee, and I serve as the ranking member for the workforce. Subcommittee, I'm a former Labor Union member.

I'm a former educator. And so I, you know, I represent a very young, one of the youngest districts in Congress, very heavy union state and district. And so I see my role in bringing a lot of those voices, bringing a lot of that fight and making sure that we have creative ways. That we're building not just relationships within our caucus so that we fight like a family, but also that we're building the relationships with,

the outside groups, you know, with our outside family so they understand the kind of fights that we're having in Congress and why they're important in that. As we talk about you as a leader, I was reading an article today about your comments on Marjorie Telegreen and the fact that like we should have empathy for people like her who've like realized all this stuff, right? As a leader, like I understand the overall point of that. Like it's two sides and at one point we all got to combine. But like when she's a person that has like said horrible things about you right has accused you of like you know everything that trump and his administration lean on yeah why do you get to that point like why not just like leave her

where she is and let her do what she thinks she's doing oh i'm good to leave her where she is and love her do what she's doing i guess why my my point is this if you were let stray and you are adult enough, honest enough to say I was wrong into believing that this was the right direction for our country. And I want to join you all because I now understand that you had it right. I'm like, welcome, right? I'm glad you finally got here because we believe that we are on the right side of history. And so if, you know, this person that was leading this mega movement that has been about division, that has been about conspiracy theories, it has been about, you know, figuring out who is American and who, you know, is not depending on what their political opinions were,

is now saying, no, actually the person who made us believe and called us to this movement is the person who is an American, who is the person who doesn't want the best interest for all Americans in this country. And I want to join those that now, that I now understand, want the best for all of us. Now am I going to be Kikiing with her? No. Because that was going to be my next question. Because it's like you make a comment like that.

Of course, headlines pick it up. So now it's like I know like Obama got so much like Slack when he sat next to you know, Trump and they should have. Right? You're playing footsie with him. But my point is is if you make comments like this and then they pick up and then you do see her out and about and she wants to have these conversations and it's positive and she's smiling.

Like, how do you avoid that when you've kind of opened the door for her to try and do things, like publicly be seen meshing and that's not the message you want to send? Yeah, I mean, I think there is a difference between saying you have a change of heart politically and your policy point views now align with mine. then saying you just hate who I hate and we're friends now, or I'm just going to be cordial because we're in public and I'm just going to greet you normally. I think those three things are very different.

What I'm saying is that politically and policy-wise, where she has arrived, it's not much different than what we have been calling for all along. she is not the kind of person that if she was where she was, that I would be sitting next to her funeral or not, right? And like, high-fifing and giggling with. Like, that just, I think, does send the wrong message because we are in a political environment.

And I also don't think, like, the fact that you just don't like Trump or you are never Trumper, if you do not see things the way that we see or the direction that we want to take this country policy-wise, I don't think, like, the Liz Cheney, like, that's not, you still are who you are politically. You still are who you are policy-wise.

So there is no reason just because you don't think Trump should be president that you and I should have anything in common. It's what I'm saying. So when you're calling for Democrats to show grace the former Trump supporters, what does Grace? I am not. Oh, okay. No, not the Trump supporters.

That's not what I'm saying. If you had a change of heart in regards to policy. No, what I'm saying? What if you're a Trump supporter who had a change of heart? Former Trump supporters. Policy. Okay. Not, you know, I mean, if you're list cheney and you're like, I'm not voting for Trump,

but I'll vote for Harris, but you still hold, right, all of your policy views that align with Trump. That mean nothing to me. I don't. So what about former Trump supporters like the Marjorie Taylor? Yeah, but if you are marginally tailed green and you say, this man is taking us to wars that will destroy us and our resources in the future of our children, that is a policy position I have. I'm anti-war.

I've got little kids. She's got, you know, like young adults. I've got young adults. And this is one of the, we had a conversation about this when we were talking about the genocide in Gaza, you know, that's why she came to it. She was like, my daughter was talking to me about it, showing me the. images. And I told her about my daughter, you know, in her advocacy when she was at Columbia as a student. And so I believe if you have changed the way you see policy, there is a difference.

That makes a difference. I do not think it's okay if you've just changed who you like and this life. Celebrate your pride with the station that says, bold, vibrant, and versus you are. IHart Pride, Kenda. From dance anthems to pop icons and hits from 2SLGBTQ Plus Canadian artists. It's the soundtrack that keeps life loud and proud. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHartPry, Canada. Stream us on your phone or listen now at iHartRadio.ca. Come together, celebrate love.

Pride. I feel it all year long. Let's go! With IHart Pride Canada. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands.

I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A silver 40-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene.

From I-Heart podcasts and Best Case Studios. This is Worshack, murder at City Hall. Could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. July 2003, Councilman James E. Davis arrives at New York City Hall with a guest. Both men are carrying concealed weapons. And in less than 30 minutes, both of them will be dead.

Everybody in the chamber docks. A shocking public murder. I scream, get down, get down. Those are shots. Those are shots. Get down. A charismatic politician. just bent the rules all the time, man.

I still have a weapon, and I could shoot you. And an outsider with a secret. He alleged he was a victim of flat down. That may or may not have been political. It may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall, on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians. from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation with some of my favorite musicians.

Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Leve, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolfe, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Cara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the phantom in that. That's so funny. Share each day with me, each night, each morning.

Say you love me. You know I... So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to playing along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What does Grace look like without letting those people off the hook? Grace looks like. like saying I agree when they make a policy point of view. Grace looks like not dismissing when somebody wants to join your coalition, not just as a voting block, but as an advocate

for the policies that you believe will create a better world for all of us. Grace means that we find places of agreement and we work together to try to further those places, to expand those places, so that we can include others. Because ultimately, you know, why do I make the sacrifices I make? I've got little kids, I'm mama four.

You know, there's a lot of things I could do in my life that is not about being on a flight two to three times a week that is not being on the house floor voting until two, three in the morning, missing my daughter's graduation celebration or not being able to go to my youngest daughter's track meet, her nationals. That sacrifice is so that I can fight to create a world that is better than the one we have today. that it's about creating a promised future that is better for my kids and their kids and for all of our kids.

And so if I can find anyone and everyone that is willing to work with me to create that better future, not just here in America, but for the people around the world, you're my partner in that. And so to me, I don't, you know, somebody said in Congress,

in Washington, if you want a friend, get a dog. You know, like, I don't, people ask me, like, who are your friends in Congress? I'm like, I, I, my friends are the people on the house floor that I talk to about how we get people who vote the right way. Like, that's, that's why I'm there in, in Congress. I'm not, I'm not there to, you know, hang out with people and, and, and do these kind of things. I'm there to vote. I'm there to influence policy. I'm there to have conversations with colleagues in a respectful way to try to get them where they need to go. And I'm there to advocate for my point of view and the point of view of the people that I represent. And there are a lot of people in

Washington where that is not their objective. Their objective is, you know, who is in my coalition in regards to, you know, the special interest groups that fund us? Who's in my coalition of like, you know, the next roommates I'm going to find the people I'm going to go to the receptions and the happy hours with? Like that's, you know, I take my view. votes, I go home. You rarely will see me out and about in any of those Washington, D.C. circles because that's, that is, that is not why I make the life sacrifices that I make to be there. I make those sacrifices because I love the idea of influencing policy and, and being able to, as Pelosi used to say, being part of the arena. I love this conversation

because I feel like we're going to see a lot of this come November, right? So, so if somebody spent years fueling division? What responsibility do they have before they can be embraced again? It doesn't even matter if they're embraced. Do we have to embrace them? No, I don't think you have to embrace them. I think embrace is a, you know,

it's like when people look at politicians as like role models. Word. They are not role models. These are people who make decisions on behalf of you, sometimes that are positive and sometimes that are negative.

you need to pay attention to how they vote, and you need to pay attention to how they do not vote. The fact that they're nice people, and they come to your cookout, that has nothing to do with anything. And so to me, that's always been my North Star. I don't care if you are the most angry, frustrated human to talk with. If you vote like I vote, if you care about the things I care about, then I consider you an ally.

you know, you might be the last person I want to say hello to. You know, I'm not going to invite you to the cookout. But, like, I will respect the fact that you do the right thing. And you can be, you know, I've, we're in a minority. I have chairman in my committees that are, you know, respectful, they're kind. They send nice gifts to our offices. But that's, that has nothing, no bearing on the fact that you are, still voting to destroy my children's future.

And so that, when I'm in that committee, that is all I care about. And I'm, you know, people say like my friend on the other side of the aisle, like that, that means nothing really in reality because the end of the day, we are all there to do a job. And that job is to represent our constituents. and that's that's all I'm there for. Do you think Republicans would show you the same grace you're asking for? I don't know if I care. You know, I was never the kind of person who's like, I want to be liked.

I've never concerned myself with those kind of things. I'd like to be respected. And so to me that, you know, that's, you know, I don't. you know, there's some Republicans who'll say stuff on TV and I'll go up to them and I'm like, would you like to say this to my face? And then they'll walk away. And they'll walk away.

Right. And so to me, it's like you, you know, or some that are like nice to me in person and then they'll go on TV and they'll say something. And then I'll find them on the floor and I'll say like, this is the last time you say hello to me. Because to me, you know, like respect matters. But we don't got to like each other.

But you do have, you have, like that's all. I care for is respect. Do Democrats risk alienating their own base by extending grace the people that the base may see is harmful? Not when it comes to policy. I think there is a risk in alienating your base when you embrace someone like Lys Cheney without. We saw that happen in real time. Yes, without there being any accountability or any sort of articulated change in a policy view.

To me, just wanting to save our democracy alone is not enough. You'll have people who will criticize a progressive or a Bernie supporter and they will say, I want them out of the party, but will be very happy and celebrate to have someone like Liz Cheney as part of their team, who I believe is like, you. Probably more, one of the most harmful, her and her dad were one of the most harmful politicians we've had in this country. Do you remember that? I remember that. Oh, I remember that.

I remember when people thought Bush and Cheney was the antichrist. Oh, God. Yes. But, I mean, they were in a certain way, right? And Trump and J.D. fans and Stephen Miller are in their own way. I don't think we've had one kind of antichrist show up, the endocrats. I show up in our political life. At least I think we're probably around the same age.

And so I do believe that it is, it's different when you have somebody like Marjorie. And again, in that interview, I specifically picked her because people asked about Tucker Carlson and others. That's what I was. Yes, I didn't. I didn't know. No, her, because she was asked to apologize. So I do think that when people are like, yes, I did contribute to harm. Yes, I was wrong.

Yes, I'd dedicated 10 years of my life in advocating for this man. Yes, I, you know, all of these things. But now, like, I was wrong. This is not like who I am. This is not what I believe. As opposed to, you know, someone who's just like, okay, I'm worried about our democracy and Trump can't get elected. It's like, okay, what about all the other harmful policies you have advocated for

that has caused harm to so many people that are part of our base? Because as Democrats, we say we're a big ten. And so if you've advocated for forever wars, you've got all of these immigrants in this country that are victims of those wars that are mostly part of the Democratic. coalition. If you've advocated for the war on drugs, you've got a whole coalition of people within the Democratic Party that have been the victims of those policies. If you've advocated for anti-queer policies, that's part of the Democratic. So there has to be some accountability

in say in at least asking this person, like, are you willing to take some of this back? Have you reformed your way of thinking? And if that's not what they're doing, and I'm not saying, like, I can't run for president, but hypothetically, if I was running for president, I don't know if I would want Marjorie Taylor Green at a rally with me. Right?

Like, that's the, there's a difference between saying, like, thank you for coming to this position. And there's a difference between saying, thank you for coming to this position. And now let me highlight you as like this hero, which Liz was, and I don't think any of us are thinking about highlighting Marjorie Taylor Green as like a hero. I think that's the, like, for people who at a basic level

are understanding politics right now because it's affecting them directly, the part that's probably still a little gray. I know for me is like when I see the interview like that. But I know when it comes to policy and voting and working together on things, y'all have to but in the same time I'm watching you be attacked from all these different ways and you're one of the people that's in the front for us I'm like trying to make you know like where does that line you know get drawn because even with like all the conversations right now about you know the oversight committee and you and your husband and your businesses yeah and I've seen you

say that you think that this is just a distraction right right but like when things like that happen it's like but those same people are the people you're telling us to have empathy for and want to go have conversations with, like people on the other side who are suggesting that you be investigated. Yeah. No, I mean, and I, listen, suggest all you want. Please investigate what you want, right? Like, to me, I'm not, I'm not, like, I'm above the law and how dare you, you know, like, I understand politics. I understand what these people have to do in order to, like, feed their base. I, the other day, was listening to somebody who I've traveled with, who have met his wife,

who, you know, we spend a whole week doing a Kodil together. And he was on a podcast saying, Ohan hates me and Ohan hates you. And I was like, man, that's some wild stuff to say. But I realized Yeah I realized that he was on this Right like he was on this podcast And like that was like his way of

You know let me get some click right And and I mean I wouldn't be that person I wouldn't be like this person hates me Because I like We wouldn't have had all these conversations If you hated me And so to me I get that stuff

What I'm talking about is Are you going to vote for these things that we want voted on, right? Are you going to oppose the things we want opposed on? I get it. You know, if you and I are, like, cursing each other out, but at the end, you know, like, if we're siblings, right, and we're cursing each other out, we're battling,

someone else comes and says something to you, I'm going to be like, what? You want to fight? Right? Like, I'm not. So to me, if we can be on a team to get these policies, that are helpful for the bottom line, for every struggling American,

let's do that. I get it. But if it is about, like, all the other stuff, yes, then we'll battle because that's necessary. And so that's kind of my distinction between those two buckets, if that makes sense. Let's stay here for a second. Republicans, like Lawrence said,

they are pushing this ethics probe over your family's finance. and your husband's business villains. What do you think that's really about it? With accountability or politics? Well, it's not accountability because they haven't done anything formally, right? So it is just politics. It's like we're going to subpoena, we're going to do that. It's like it's all of these things that are not, they're never going to do.

So they're just saying it because then that gets them an interview on Fox or Newsmax or, you know, you'll see they tweet and like five minutes later if you check, They already got a clip of themselves being interviewed five seconds later. And so it is more about, and it's usually like a lot of members that struggle to get or are like really desiring, right? Like there are a lot of members who come to Congress and they are comms heavy. Their office is very comms heavy. You know, they're trying to get on every TV show that they can. And so that's what a lot of it is like driven by it since I got there.

You know, it's like you say something about Ohan people fundraise. You know, they're buying me a ticket back home. It's like it's all of this stuff. You know, I joked with Nancy Mays that she could drop off the ticket because I'm next door to her office. She hasn't dropped off a ticket yet. If you mean it, send me that ticket, you know. But it's all about, you know, how do I get this click? How do I, you know, then send the fundraising email?

how do I say, you know, I'm holding Ilhan accountable. There's never really anything that they're holding onto you. So are you saying that some of these investigations are more partisan than others? I haven't seen it. The Justice Department said that they're also going to look into your husband. Are you concerned about that? They haven't said. I haven't seen a single investigation.

I said I was wanting to know. Is there an investigation? If you know of some, let me know. I wouldn't call it an investigation. There's just been a focus on the rapid increase in your household wealth tied to your husband's company. Well, they have to make a choice to investigate, right? Like, do they choose to investigate or not?

I mean, if you've done something illegal, you would investigate. But they're not investigating you. I am not being made aware of an investigation into me or my family. But when you look at the increase in your household wealth tied to your husband's companies, you understand why that raises questions for people watching from that. Yeah, but that's, again, one of the, it's their saying, right? There is no wealth increase. If you look at my husband's income, it's almost non-existence.

He's, you know, help make sure our children are, you know, going to college and our young one is taking care of. There is no wealth. There ranges to businesses that he was invested in. I'm pretty sure I don't even know what they say. Well, correct me of them wrong. They said you reported a net worth between six million. million and 30 million.

And they said your 20-23 disclosure was roughly 40,000, between $40,000 and a quarter million. Yeah, but they're not, they're not net worth. They're like the asset things for the companies. And so I don't know what percentage of it. My husband actually has investment in. Like that's not, you know what I mean? It's not a full picture of the numbers in the way that it is presented in the document. Because in the documents, we have to do ranges.

and we have to report in a way that is not detailed. It's not like your tax return that you're submitting for the public record to see. But that is a big increase, though. So you could understand why people would ask questions. Yeah, yeah. But I'm pretty sure it'll get, like, adjusted at some level when those ranges are looked at. And I think I saw that your husband was asked to turn over some documents but didn't comply. Is that true?

To from who? I don't know. I guess it. The Department of Justice, I don't know. The House Oversight Committee and the Government Reform Committee. That was what was reported, that I think it was early on, like, January, February that he was asked to turn over, like, emails and different things. Yeah, there is no oversight that the oversight committee has over my husband or me,

so why would you submit documents to an entity that has nothing to do with you? Oh, okay. Yeah, like, that's, they have oversight over the government and ethics is the one that has oversight over the member, not the spouse. And so that's why you said earlier, you would like let them. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's like I get, I remember, like I've had maybe like, I don't know, five campaign finance complaints like they file a complaint every other day.

And it, and they want the headline. And then once those things get closed, no one writes about the fact that there was nothing there. And I'm pretty sure. once, you know, this over, whatever happens with whatever Comer and them are trying to insinuate,

like nothing will be reported out of it because there's only the accusations that ever get picked up. But I've like never been fined. I've never had any sort of like financial issues. What about the fraud case in Minnesota? Which is, again, I think that is

the reason they are trying to create this thing. It's because they think this supposed 30 million or what did the president say, 44 million, is because of the fraud in Minnesota. They think like I've somehow gotten something, which is insane. But it's a huge problem. I think it's, what, now 230 million that has been... Well, 250 is what they say.

Yeah, yeah. $2.50 and misuse funds meant for child nutrition. Yeah, $2.30 to $250. There's been about 77 or so that have been indicted. Many of them have taken plea agreements. They've got to make it hard for you, right? Just in general. Not because you got anything to do with it.

Yeah. But when he can point and say, well, this actually happened. I mean, it doesn't make it hard for me, but it does make it hard for, you know, the average. Somali business owner. There you go. It makes it hard for the average immigrant business owner.

It makes it hard for the average black business owner because it does create this cloud of suspicion. And obviously it's become very politicized and it will continue to be politicized as we get closer to November. And the level of harassment people are dealing with. You know, even you'll have people go to restaurants, coffee shops, with their cameras harassing all of these business owners. And daycares.

And daycare centers. Where people have not been able to take their children because they're scared. And so that aspect of it is hard when people ask, like, what can I do? You know, how can you help? Like, that is where it's challenging. because there isn't, again, there aren't any, there isn't anything happening to them, but they are afraid.

And then they're asking for help. And then because the government is not doing anything, we can't get any information for them or we can't tell them it's going to be okay. So it's just, it creates a lot of fog for us as their liaison to the federal government, but it also creates a lot of fog as they think about, growth, development, sustainability, especially in an economy where everything is hard, because in

Minnesota, we're also very much hit by tariffs. We're a border state. We have a lot of, a lot of entrepreneurs who get goods from places like China and others. So the tariffs are also causing a lot of economic heartache. I've got a few more questions. You've been a frequent target of misinformation. Yes. What's the biggest lie I told about you that people still believe? People believe. I still spread me. That I'm illegal in this country,

which is like the easiest one to prove, but people still hold on to the fact that I'm not a citizen that there was fraud in my immigration or I committed immigration fraud. Yeah, that's probably the biggest one, because that's what fuels, my deportation headlines.

That's why they're offering me tickets. They use that for shut down any criticism you have. Whenever you're critical in the country, they're like, you're critical in the country. She's not even American. She's not here.

You click it and you read at the bottom it says, we investigated this and it found no evidence. But like that is the always. Yeah. No, it's a, it's a, it's, I mean, it's again like the Obama birther hoax, right?

He produces his birth certificate. They're still, you know, still lingers, or I don't know if you guys saw Hillary Clinton's deposition where they were asking her about the children in the basement that doesn't actually exist. There is no basement. And so, you know, there's stuff like that that that's out there that probably will never go away. Do you think the media holds you to a different standard than your colleague? And if so, why?

Media in what way? Like I'd say, it's media in general, especially conservative media. Oh, I mean, I don't think media holds me too much to a different standard. I think when you're different than everyone else in some ways, there's a little, there's always suspicion that, you know, there is like always misunderstandings. I've always been comfortable in the fact that, you know, I'm, I come from a country whether a lot of Americans are not exposed to. I have a faith that has always been demonized in pop culture.

So I, you know, I'm the first black woman to represent my state. You know, it comes with, you know, a lot of new or firsts comes with challenges. But the right is obsessive. and that you know they're there's different kinds of obsessive and I notice that they usually have those obsessions with like women of color who have

a platform but also just have like name recognition right because the clicks are tied like I think if nobody really knew who I was and I was a member of Congress would I get the attention that they give me I don't think so, right? I think they know, you know, if you put Ohan Omar in a headline,

people will open it, people read it. And so I do think that they have different levels of obsession. You know, they've got their weird sexualized obsession with AOC or Alex. They have their, you know, angry black woman obsession with, yeah, or whatever weird. awful racist that I'm not going to say on the radio that they think black women are that they have for her and then they've got this scary immigrant Muslim obsession with me. So, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a thing.

And I do believe it has a lot to do with the fact that they have no exposure culturally too much. the fact that they are missing something in their lives and just cannot understand how women that they deem less have achieved more than them and I do believe it also has to do with like the who they think deserves what. It's weird because

in some ways our our ability to stay in the news is like mostly because of their obsession with us but then they get upset that people pay attention to us so it's like just maybe leave us alone and then you know we could have a peaceful life too yeah

I guess my last question how do you fight those narratives when they spread faster than facts I mean I know who I am I know that my constituents know who I am. I've had, you know, my first primary, they spent $20 million. I had one of the most expensive primaries in the history of Congress. I was outspent four to one crazy stuff on TV. And I won that primary by over 20 points.

And so I feel blessed in the fact that I. I have a very engaged constituency and very active constituency. You know, we have one of the highest voter turnout in my district and in our state. And so I, the way I fight it is by knowing that my people got me, my people know who I am, my people know my story. And, you know, and, you know, we laugh about a lot of. this stuff actually, you know, because it's just almost every single

thing they say I did wrong is something that if you were part of an administration, it would take you two minutes to indict me. Right? Like if I'd committed immigration fraud, like there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to to, that's your job.

That is what you do. more than it is about that. And like if I'd, you know, if you looked, you know, they looked at my finances. If you looked at my finances, you indict people for less. If you say somehow I stole 30 million. That's right.

Like, by all means, you know, everybody you've indicted in Minnesota, what are they like, a million each or something? Like the member, sitting member of Congress who you're saying, stole 30 million is not the person you were going to, you know? Like, so to me, I, I, I, believe that there's a level of intelligence that is required in order to civically participate.

And I am blessed, that I am elected and represent people that have that level of intellect to understand that these things are created for a reason and, you know, that they are not, They're not there. And I also will say, and I know Jasmine used to talk about this, their desire to code us with all of this garbage is to stop future ambitions that we might have. And that's kind of what they do, right? Like there's a rising star that is a person of color. They try to find some way to make them a boogeyman.

And it hasn't worked. and I'm still here better than ever. Thank you for joining us, Congresswoman. Yes, thank you. What's the website if they want to donate to your campaign? Yeah, elhanomar.com. I-L-H-A-N-O-M-A-R dot com.

Well, thank you for joining us. We wish you nothing but peace, prosperity and safety. Thank you. Thank you all. This was fun. Il-Han Omar is the Breakfast Club. Oh, no. Every day I wake up.

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Do you all finish or y'all done? When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that, trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends, trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, back to you, back to you. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones.

It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is love trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura,

Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ten, shots five, City Hall building. How could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder. This was one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics. I scream, get down, get down.

Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten. end of mystery. That may or may not have been political. It may have been about sex. Listen to Roershack, murder at City Hall, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Lori Siegel, and this is mostly human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. An in-depth conversation with a man

who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to Mostly Human on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.