Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) responded to long-standing allegations that she married her brother, following a federal search of her home earlier this month as part of an immigration-related investigation.
While she spoke to MS NOW’s Chris Hayes, the embattled House lawmaker was asked about claims about her marriage.
“Not to my knowledge,” Omar said in response when she was asked by Hayes whether there is any “kernel of truth” regarding the claims she wed her brother.
Hayes at one point said that “there are right-wing people who believe” that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a man she was married to, is her brother. Omar has been married to Tim Mynett since 2020.
“Somebody put in there that, you know, he had to have been my brother or something to that effect,” Omar said, adding that it started on a “Somali blog,” without elaborating.
Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, before she moved to the United States in the mid-199os after her family gained asylum.
Omar also blamed “right-wing conspiracy theorists in Minneapolis” for spreading those claims, adding that they “found random” people to echo the allegations she called “insane.”
The lawmaker was also asked about her father’s naturalization process when he came to the United States, to which Omar responded that it is “so convenient” because her father “is no longer alive” and cannot provide the paperwork that he filed. Her father had served as a colonel in Somalian Marxist dictator Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime before it collapsed in the early 1990s amid civil war.
Omar, in the interview, was asked about her finances as well as claims she and her husband are worth around $30 million. Responding to the claims, Omar said she is “working class,” living “paycheck to paycheck,” and that she lives a “basic life” with a 2016 Toyota Camry.
“I have a Toyota Camry that’s from 2016. It’s our only car. I rent my [Washington] D.C. place and my Minneapolis place, and so I mean, I don’t know, that sounds like not the majority of Congress, but there’s some of us that don’t come from wealth and don’t have wealth,” she told Hayes.
Agents with Homeland Security Investigations executed a warrant in the Washington area, the Department of Justice told news reporters on Oct. 12, although federal officials have provided few details about what they are looking for or what charges may be filed.
White House border czar Tom Homan also said that it was Omar’s home that was searched earlier this year, while President Donald Trump said earlier this month that officials are “looking at her very carefully.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Omar said she was rattled by the search weeks out from the Nov. 3 midterms, which will decide control of the House and Senate. She is running for reelection in a deep blue district centered in Minneapolis and is expected to retain her seat.
House Democratic leaders have said that the search was politically motivated and criticized the Trump administration, noting the timing shortly before the Nov. 3 midterms.
“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,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.