LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.
Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.
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FILE - Aaron Paul, from left, Anna Gunn, Bryan Cranston, Betsy Brandt, Jesse Plemons, Laura Fraser and RJ Mitte pose in the press room with the award for outstanding drama series for "Breaking Bad" at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Aug. 25, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Aaron Paul, from left, Anna Gunn, Bryan Cranston, Betsy Brandt, Jesse Plemons, Laura Fraser and RJ Mitte pose in the press room with the award for outstanding drama series for "Breaking Bad" at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Aug. 25, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - RJ Mitte arrives at the Variety and Women in Film's pre-Emmy celebration on Aug. 23, 2014, at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - RJ Mitte arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" at the Regency Village Theatre on Oct. 7, 2019 in Westwood, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, FILE)
FILE - "Breaking Bad" cast members RJ Mitte, from left, Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul pose at a premiere screening to celebrate the final episodes of the television series at Sony Pictures Studios on July 24, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
FILE - RJ Mitte poses for a portrait to promote the film, "Time Share", at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 20, 2018, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP, File)
Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston's chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.
Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills – all key subjects on the show – made him better at his job.
“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”
Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.
He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.
“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor's representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”
His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”
He was also a producer of several independent films.
As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children's. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.
FILE - Aaron Paul, from left, Anna Gunn, Bryan Cranston, Betsy Brandt, Jesse Plemons, Laura Fraser and RJ Mitte pose in the press room with the award for outstanding drama series for "Breaking Bad" at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Aug. 25, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - RJ Mitte arrives at the Variety and Women in Film's pre-Emmy celebration on Aug. 23, 2014, at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - RJ Mitte arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" at the Regency Village Theatre on Oct. 7, 2019 in Westwood, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, FILE)
FILE - "Breaking Bad" cast members RJ Mitte, from left, Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul pose at a premiere screening to celebrate the final episodes of the television series at Sony Pictures Studios on July 24, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
FILE - RJ Mitte poses for a portrait to promote the film, "Time Share", at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 20, 2018, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the final weeks of her reelection bid.
The search of the Minnesota congresswoman's home so close to next month's midterm contests that will determine control of the House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress, who raised questions about the timing given longstanding Justice Department protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an election. Omar, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, said she was being targeted as one of the Republican's “political enemies.”
The scope of the investigation was unclear, though Trump and officials in his administration have repeatedly referred in recent months to the existence of an inquiry into Omar, a Somali-born Democrat whose status as an immigrant to the U.S. and left-wing views have drawn scrutiny from the White House and other Republicans.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last month cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was examining potential fraud in her family's immigration paperwork. “Something's going to happen,” he said in a potential foreshadowing of the search.
In a statement on X on Monday, Omar called the search an “attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”
“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” she said. “I will not be silenced.”
Though the Republican focus on Omar's background dates back years, the search notably took place three weeks before the November midterms, in which Omar is seeking reelection. The Justice Department has historically sought to avoid public investigative actions involving a candidate within 60 days of a primary or general election. Top Democrats seized on the timing as the latest instance in what they said was the “continued corrupt weaponization” against Trump's perceived adversaries.
“For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” said a joint statement from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top congressional Democrats. “Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.”
The search was carried out by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
A DHS spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which said in a statement that HSI agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in the Washington, D.C., area related to an ongoing federal criminal investigation but provided no other details.
The street around Omar's home was blocked off Monday morning as some HSI agents removed boxes labeled “Seized Property Evidence.”
The operation came just days after Trump referred pejoratively to Omar at a rally in Tennessee as coming from a country of “crime and squalor" and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Hours after the search, Trump told reporters he had “nothing to do” with it and it's “really up to the DOJ.”
Vance has in the past accused Omar of committing immigration fraud, an allegation she has denied, and has said the administration was looking for pathways to investigate her.
Omar, who was first elected to the House in 2018, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She is part of The Squad of progressive lawmakers who are a vibrant political force on the left wing of Congress but have also endured repeated attacks from Trump, dating back to his first term. She was one of the first two Muslim-American women in the House and the first African refugee to be elected to Congress.
When Republicans swept control of the House in 2023, they voted to oust Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her anti-Israel remarks.
In January, Trump lashed out at Omar during a rally in Iowa hours before an assailant sprayed the congresswoman during her own town hall meeting in Minneapolis with a substance that turned out to be vinegar. The attacker was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Omar has repeatedly refuted allegations about her marriage and immigration status raised by conservative critics, even before she joined Congress.
According to her House biography, Omar has said she and her family fled Somalia’s civil war when she was 8: “The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in 1990s. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family.”
Conservative online sites have alleged that Omar married a brother to commit immigration fraud. Omar has broadly denied the allegations as “disgusting lies" and called the insinuation “absurd and offensive.”
“It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody's entitled to equal justice under the laws,” Vance told reporters in May. “So we're going to investigate it. We're going to take a look at it. If we think there's a crime, we're going to prosecute that crime. And that's something the Department of Justice is looking at right now."
In an interview last March with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance said without offering evidence that “we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.” Omar’s office at the time dismissed Vance’s claims as fabricated and defamatory.
Last month, when the podcaster Johnson reminded Mullin about Vance's comments on Omar and asked whether anything would happen from that investigation, the Homeland Security secretary responded, “Something's going to happen.”
He cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was examining potential fraud in the family's immigration paperwork.
“If we actually move a case forward, it's not a political case. It's actually a case because they did things wrong,” Mullin said. “If you decided to break the law or lie on the information that you gave to the United States, to be able to come into the United States ... there's no expiration to that.”
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price and River Zhang in Washington, Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pa., and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed.
Homeland Security officers leave the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., after a search, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers carry boxes from the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during a search. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers speak with local residents on 26th Street NE in Washington, early Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during an investigation at the residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers carry boxes from the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during a search. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A Homeland Security officer carrying a box walks out of the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., during a search, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Signs on the property of a neighbor of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., are pictured Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, as Homeland Security officers carry boxes during a search of Omar's Washington residence. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers carry boxes from the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during a search. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers stand on 26th Street NE in Washington, early Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during an investigation at the residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers speak with local residents on 26th Street NE in Washington, early Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during an investigation at the residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers walk down 26th Street NE in Washington, early Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during an investigation at the residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a news conference on Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)
FILE - Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., listens during a Congressional spotlight hearing on Capitol Hill, Sept. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., takes questions during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
