The federal judge on criminal duty in Washington during the week of the search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home is a registered Democrat who has donated to Hillary Clinton, according to public records and statements from legal analyst Jonathan Turley.
Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh, the federal judge on criminal duty in Washington, D.C., during the week of the search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, is a registered Democrat who has donated to Hillary Clinton, according to public records and statements from legal analyst Jonathan Turley.
Turley noted that the warrant was reportedly approved by Sharbaugh, describing him as "a registered Democrat and a Democratic appointee" as well as "a Hillary Clinton donor, who was sworn in by Judge James Boasberg."
"A registered Democrat and a Democratic appointee... a Hillary Clinton donor, who was sworn in by Judge James Boasberg." — Jonathan Turley
Court schedules show Sharbaugh was the magistrate assigned to criminal duty from October 3 through October 16, 2026, covering the date Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant at Omar's D.C. residence. Voter records list him as affiliated with the Democratic Party, and campaign finance filings document contributions to Hillary for America and the Hillary Victory Fund.
The filings put numbers on it. Federal Election Commission records show Sharbaugh, then an attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, gave $250 to Hillary for America on October 23, 2015, followed by contributions of $200, $42 and $56 to the Hillary Victory Fund during the 2016 cycle. Sharbaugh took the bench on October 28, 2024, sworn in by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg to an eight-year term. He was picked for the seat by the Democrat-controlled D.C. federal court at the end of the Biden administration. The former Morgan Lewis partner had twice clerked for Judge Robert L. Wilkins, an Obama appointee.
The Department of Justice confirmed that a court-authorized search warrant was executed as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Search warrants are sealed, so the attribution to Sharbaugh rests on the duty roster and public reporting rather than a released court document. Magistrate judges are selected by the district court rather than appointed by the president.
That is why the sign-off carries weight beyond Omar's complaints. As Article III Project founder Mike Davis put it, judges do not authorize home raids lightly — a search warrant for a home means a federal judge found probable cause that evidence of a crime would be found inside it. Davis also flagged the venue: the D.C. District Court has long been stacked with Obama- and Biden-appointed judges who have been among the most aggressive in anti-Trump rulings, which makes a home-search warrant signed there no small feat.
Omar has called the search an attempt to target political enemies. The investigation has been described by sources as related to immigration paperwork issues.
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