--- description: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed the investigation on Thursday. title: Attorney General Says Feds Are Investigating Arrest of Ahmed the Clockmaker image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e1357a0faf0652/698873dc3c16393c6b45b05d/ahmed-mohamed-clock-feds-dept-of-justice-investigation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Attorney General Says Feds Are Investigating Arrest of Ahmed the Clockmaker  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 4, 2015 9:44 PM CUT  Ahmed Mohamed, Oct. 2015. Ahmed Mohamed, Oct. 2015.Andrew Harnik—AP  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 4, 2015 9:44 PM CUT The Department of Justice is [investigating the arrest](http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/12/u-s-attorney-general-justice-department-investigating-treatment-of-ahmed-mohamed.html/ "undefined") of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Muslim boy whom police took into custody when he [brought a homemade clock to his school](http://time.com/4035771/irving-teenager-arrested-homemade-clock-hoax-muslim-islamophobia-bomb/ "undefined") in Texas, the U.S. Attorney General said Thursday. Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed the investigation at the annual Muslim Advocates dinner in Arlington, Va., the Dallas _Morning News_ reports. “We have, as you may know, opened an investigation into the case of the young man in Irving, Texas,” Lynch told Farhana Kher, Muslim Advocates President and Executive Director, during [an interview](http://www.c-span.org/video/?401446-1/attorney-general-loretta-lynch-remarks-muslim-advocates&start=3652 "undefined"). “So we will see where that investigation goes.” After the mayor of Irving denied that the city was being investigated, the Department of Justice clarified to the _Morning News_ Friday afternoon that the investigation investigation involves the Irving Independent School District and not the city of Irving and is “regarding both harassment and the discipline of students on the basis of race, religion and national origin.” The Department of Justice did not respond to TIME’s requests for comment. Mohamed, who was President Obama’s [guest at the White House](http://time.com/4078530/ahmed-mohamed-clock-white-house/ "undefined"), and his family announced in October that they were moving [to Qatar](http://time.com/4080463/clock-kid-ahmed-moving-to-qatar/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4137024/ahmed-clock-kid-department-of-justice-investigating-arrest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4137024/ahmed-clock-kid-department-of-justice-investigating-arrest/"},"headline":"Attorney General Says Feds Are Investigating Arrest of Ahmed the Clockmaker","datePublished":"2015-12-04T21:44:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:07:44.780Z","description":"The investigation concerns \"harassment and the discipline of students on the basis of race, religion and national origin\"","url":"https://time.com/4137024/ahmed-clock-kid-department-of-justice-investigating-arrest/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e1357a0faf0652/698873dc3c16393c6b45b05d/ahmed-mohamed-clock-feds-dept-of-justice-investigation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e1357a0faf0652/698873dc3c16393c6b45b05d/ahmed-mohamed-clock-feds-dept-of-justice-investigation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ahmed mohamed clock feds dept of justice investigation","caption":"ahmed mohamed clock feds dept of justice investigation .jpg","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4137024/ahmed-clock-kid-department-of-justice-investigating-arrest/","name":"Attorney General Says Feds Are Investigating Arrest of Ahmed the Clockmaker"}}]}] ```