Somali bodyguard was indicted in a bid to incriminate Ilhan Omar

Ernesto Londoño reported from Minneapolis, and Abdi Latif Dahir from Beirut, Lebanon.

Prosecutors used statements made during a green card interview to pressure a former bodyguard to provide evidence against the Minnesota congresswoman, his lawyer said.

Representative Ilhan Omar at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in December.Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times

Federal prosecutors filed a felony charge earlier this year against a man who briefly served as a bodyguard for Representative Ilhan Omar in what his lawyer described as an unusual gambit to obtain incriminating information about the lawmaker.

The case against the bodyguard, Abdullahi Mohamed, who was accused of lying to a government official under oath, provides new insight into the Justice Department’s efforts to build a criminal case against Ms. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who last week won a fifth term in Congress.

Federal prosecutors are reviewing Ms. Omar’s family immigration history as part of a sprawling criminal investigation that focuses in part on whether she entered into a sham marriage to help a man suspected of being her brother obtain a green card — a claim she has repeatedly denied. Mr. Mohamed’s case reveals that investigators have simultaneously been scrutinizing the lawmaker’s financial dealings.

Mr. Mohamed’s lawyer, Bruce Rivers, said that prosecutors spent months trying to turn the bodyguard into an informant to bolster their case against Ms. Omar. In a move he described as shocking, Mr. Rivers said that prosecutors repeatedly told him and Mr. Mohamed that the investigation into Ms. Omar was “100 percent being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” the address of the White House.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my almost 28 years practicing law in federal court,” said Mr. Rivers, a veteran criminal defense lawyer in Minneapolis.

Justice Department officials — who dropped the charge against Mr. Mohamed in September — declined to answer questions about the case. In an emailed statement, the department said it was “completely unrelated to any current investigations.” Reached by phone in Nairobi, Kenya, Mr. Mohamed declined to comment last week, saying he intended to discuss his experience when the “time is right.”

The case against Mr. Mohamed drew virtually no notice, and its link to the Omar investigation has not been previously reported. Two people familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation, said that federal law enforcement officials identified Mr. Mohamed’s green card application as an opportunity to gather evidence against Ms. Omar.

The president and top administration officials have repeatedly made clear their interest in investigating Ms. Omar. In March, during an event in the Oval Office to launch an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, Mr. Trump said he hoped Ms. Omar would be investigated, calling her “one of the ringleaders.”

Later that month, Mr. Vance told a conservative commentator that he had discussed Ms. Omar’s case with Stephen Miller, the top White House aide who was promoted to chief of staff last week. Mr. Vance said the two had discussed how to hold her accountable for immigration fraud.