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Obama Administration Investigated Omar's Alleged Brother Marriage
Confirmed
In Short: The Obama administration launched an investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar's alleged marriage to her brother in 2016, according to reports by the New York Times and Breitbart.
The investigation, initiated during the Obama presidency, found some evidence suggesting that Omar entered into a fraudulent marriage with a man suspected of being her brother in 2009.
Despite the evidence, the case stalled due to the five-year statute of limitations, preventing prosecutors from bringing charges.
In a recent court filing, the Justice Department referred to Omar as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, even after her divorce from Elmi in 2017.
Former officials told the Times that prosecutors declined to pursue the case because the statute of limitations had expired.
Omar's marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi first surfaced publicly in 2016, when she was running for the Minnesota House.
The allegations raise potential criminal issues for Omar, as federal law prohibits knowingly entering a marriage for the sole purpose of obtaining a green card.
The Trump administration has since opened a separate criminal investigation into Omar's immigration history, focusing on potential misrepresentations on her immigration applications.
Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration's investigation, calling it an effort to intimidate and possibly deport Omar.
Obama accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.
In a post on X, Obama argued that the full institutional weight of the federal government was being directed at Omar simply because of her political views.
What this adds
The investigation under Obama did not result in charges due to the statute of limitations, but it has resurfaced in the current probe under the Trump administration.
The Obama administration's involvement in the investigation has been criticized as hypocritical by some, given past investigations under Obama's presidency.
What's confirmed
- “The F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in summer 2016, during the Obama administration, and found some evidence that it was fraudulent, current and former officials said,” reports the Times.
- In a recent court filing, and even though she divorced Elmi in 2017, the Justice Department referred to Omar as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.
- A technicality… “[T]hat case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded that the potential crime, a felony, fell outside a five-year statute of limitations,” adds the Times.
- The FBI and Department of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama found evidence that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) committed marriage fraud with a man suspected of being her brother, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
- The allegations raise two potential criminal issues for the Democrat congresswoman as federal law prohibits knowingly entering a marriage only to obtain a green card, and all 50 states prohibit siblings from marrying.
- "The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar's political views," Obama wrote.
What's still developing
- Rep. Ilhan Omar has claimed she obtained US citizenship through her Somali-born father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who died in 2020, though no records of her or her father's naturalization have been found.
- Despite his own administration's investigation into Omar at the time she was running for the Minnesota House, Obama condemned the renewed probe, which included a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raid on her Washington, D.C. home on Oct. 12.
- For ten years, Ilhan 'Omar' and her allies have called those who questioned her marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi racists and bigots. 'Omar' has targeted my friend Scott Johnson in particular with those allegations after he and his partners dug up considerable evidence that Ahmed is her brother and that her real name is actually Ilham Nur Said Elmi. 'Omar' allegedly changed her name at some point to cover up her immigration fraud and has used a false identity ever since, according to Scott and others.
- Obama said in his X post on Sunday that her father became a naturalised citizen when she was 17, and not yet legally an adult, which then gave her citizenship.
- Washington Examiner economics columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher said she was shocked that former President Barack Obama is getting involved in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) fraud investigation.
- “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.” Doescher said the statement was hypocritical given Obama’s investigations into people like Carter Page for alleged Russian ties in 2016, as well as the 2010 investigation into Fox News reporter James Rosen for a government leak.
- Obama made the comment Sunday, six days after Homeland Security Investigations agents raided the Somalian-born, Minnesota congresswoman's Washington, D.C., residence.
- He also said the search was to “uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.” The federal probe purportedly centers on whether Omar’s father lied about his daughter's age when she obtained her U.S.
- In a lengthy post on X that drew more than two million views by Sunday evening, Obama argued that the full institutional weight of the federal government was being directed at an elected official in good standing for no reason other than her willingness to challenge those in power.
- "It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can't selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say," Obama wrote.