Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has delivered a bizarrely worded response to explosive allegations that she married her own brother to commit immigration fraud, insisting she was not related to her former husband – at least ‘not to my knowledge.’
The Minnesota congresswoman, 44, was confronted with the extraordinary claim during a television interview on Wednesday, days after federal agents descended on her Washington, DC, home as part of an investigation into alleged immigration fraud.
Omar, a prominent member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ dismissed the long-running accusations as ‘insane’ and blamed right-wing conspiracy theorists for spreading them.
But when MS NOW host Chris Hayes pressed her on whether there was even the slightest possibility that she was related to her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, her carefully worded response raised eyebrows.
‘Not to my knowledge,’ she replied.
The unusual exchange came during Omar’s first major interview since Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at her home last week, seizing phones, computers and other personal belongings.
Hayes introduced the sensitive subject by acknowledging the extraordinary nature of the accusations, which President Donald Trump and other political opponents have repeatedly amplified.
‘There are right wing people who believe that this man was your brother. You have called it a disgusting lie,’ Hayes told the congresswoman.
‘Who was this man that was your husband? When did they start saying that he was your brother? Why?’
Omar claimed the allegations originated on an obscure Somali blog before being seized upon by conservative activists in Minneapolis.
‘It started with the Somali blog. I don’t know if it still exists, but somebody put in there that, you know, that he had to have been my brother or something to that effect,’ she explained.
‘And right wing conspiracy theorists in Minneapolis got a hold of it.’
She accused her critics of finding supposed witnesses who claimed she had introduced Elmi as her sibling.
‘They just kind of went and found random people who were like, she introduced us. She introduced him to us and said he was her brother, which is, you know, insane.’
Omar insisted she did not recognize the individuals making those claims.
Hayes then asked directly whether she had been related to Elmi at all.
When he followed up by asking whether there was any ‘weird kernel of truth’ behind the allegation, Omar responded: ‘Not to my knowledge.’
There is no established evidence that Elmi is Omar’s brother, and the congresswoman has consistently denied the allegation.
The interview also provided Omar’s most detailed account yet of the dramatic federal search that has placed her citizenship and personal affairs under intense scrutiny.
She claimed approximately 15 to 25 agents arrived at her residence at 6am, pounding on doors while she and her family were asleep.
‘I only had two and a half hours of sleep when they came, you know, pounding on the doors,’ she recalled.
Omar said she initially feared an emergency was unfolding outside.
‘I thought something was on fire. I thought something was happening to the neighbors,’ she explained.
The congresswoman said agents spent between four and five hours searching the property, eventually removing 17 items, including several phones, notebooks, a vintage camera and a Somali language book.
She described the operation as ‘intrusive but polite,’ acknowledging that agents treated her belongings carefully and even folded some of her clothes.
Nevertheless, she accused the Trump administration of orchestrating an intimidating spectacle designed to satisfy the president’s supporters.
‘They had to do something, I believe, to say, hey, look, we raided her house,’ she alleged.
Federal investigators are examining possible immigration fraud, with the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office investigating whether false statements were made in immigration documents concerning Omar’s birth date.
Investigators have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including some involving Omar’s relatives.
The congresswoman maintains that she legally obtained American citizenship at 17 through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who became a naturalized citizen in 2000.
She suggested investigators were now focusing on documents completed by her late father, who can no longer defend himself.
‘It’s also very convenient because my dad is no longer alive,’ Omar told Hayes. ‘So it’s another thing they can drag on forever.’
Trump has publicly suggested Omar could face imprisonment if investigators establish that she committed immigration fraud.
‘She could go to jail,’ the president said on Tuesday. ‘They keep talking about deportation.’
Omar, however, insisted she had committed no wrongdoing and accused the administration of pursuing a politically motivated campaign against her.
