Ilhan Omar Denies Brother-Marriage Rumours in First Interview Since Federal Raid on Her Home
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Wednesday denied that she married her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, to commit immigration fraud, and pushed back against claims that they are related. But when asked whether there is any familial relation with her ex-husband, she admitted, 'Not to my knowledge.'
The interview with MS NOW host Chris Hayes was the Somali-born Democratic congresswoman's first time speaking with the media since federal agents searched her Washington, DC, residence on 12 October. She told Hayes she believes the raid was an effort to appeal to Republican base voters and to intimidate voters.
On the longstanding brother-marriage rumours, Omar said, 'It all started with the Somali blog. Somebody put it there, that he had to have been my brother or something to that effect.' In other words, she says the claim originated not in proven fact but in a blog post.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed a court-authorised search warrant as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation into possible false statements in Omar's immigration and naturalisation documents. The Justice Department has not publicly detailed the allegations.
According to court-related reporting, US Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh of the US District Court for the District of Columbia approved the warrant.
Omar has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated. She appeared publicly for the first time since the raid in a video posted to social media from the back of a car, in which she asked supporters to keep sending her money.
Federal authorities have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to members of Omar's family, and seized her cellphone during the investigation, according to The Associated Press.
Fox News Digital reported that Omar's sister, Sahra Noor, spoke with federal investigators last week in the wake of the raid.
Separate from the immigration investigation, another inquiry is examining Omar's campaign finances and financial disclosures. That investigation reportedly began during the Biden administration in 2024. A complaint about the massive wealth disparity in her disclosures was dismissed by congressional ethics hawks but is now being investigated by authorities outside the Capitol, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced last week.
Omar's office has not responded to Fox News Digital's repeated requests for comment regarding the investigations and the raid on her home earlier this month, the report also noted.
All in all, Omar now faces the pressure of two parallel federal investigations — one around immigration documents, the other around campaign money and financial disclosures. She denies all the allegations and calls the process politically motivated; with investigators yet to detail the allegations formally, Washington's attention is now on the next step of the legal fight.
