A federal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s marriage history began under the Obama administration in 2016, The New York Times reported, less than two weeks after former President Barack Obama condemned the Trump administration’s current probe of the Minnesota Democrat.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security examined Omar’s 2009 marriage in the summer of 2016 and found some evidence it was fraudulent, but dropped the case because it fell outside the five-year statute of limitations, MPR News reported, citing the Times.
Fox News said it had confirmed the probe began under Obama, and reported, citing an unnamed source, that a U.S. attorney appointed by President Joe Biden closed it in 2021.
Omar has long denied the claim that her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, is her brother. “Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory,” her spokeswoman, Jackie Rogers, said, Newsmax reported.
Obama’s criticism of the Ilhan Omar probe
In a post on X on Oct. 18, Obama wrote that “the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.”
“But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota,” he wrote. He said agents were trying “to uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago” and called the citizenship claim an “unsubstantiated theory.”
Search of her Washington home
Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s Washington home on Oct. 12. The warrant remains sealed, and the Justice Department said this week it would not release it, MPR News reported.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro argued in a court filing that unsealing the warrant now “imperils the investigation.” She said a decision on whether to bring charges would follow once the warrant is fully carried out.
The Justice Department has not said what it hopes to prove. The Wall Street Journal reported that the probe aims to build a case to strip Omar of her citizenship, though officials have not confirmed that. Omar came to the United States from Somalia as a child and became a citizen in 2000 through her father’s application, when she was 17. Some officials have claimed she was 18 at the time.
Legal experts weigh in
Amanda Frost, a University of Virginia law professor, told MPR News it would be unprecedented for the government to bring such claims against a sitting lawmaker. She said the statute of limitations would likely bar criminal charges tied to Omar’s 2000 naturalization, though a civil case could still be possible.
Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at the University of St. Thomas, said “there’s definitely traditionally been a strong weight against doing anything public in the 60 days before an election.”
Omar has denied any wrongdoing. “I think ultimately their goal is to intimidate and scare people from wanting to participate and vote,” she said in an interview with MS Now. She faces Republican John Nagel on Tuesday in her Minneapolis district, where she won her last two races with more than 70% of the vote.