MINNEAPOLIS — Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is finally addressing the allegations that have dogged her for years, and her answers are raising more questions than they settle.
In her first interview since federal agents searched her Washington, D.C., residence on Oct. 12, Omar told MS NOW's Chris Hayes that she believes the raid was an effort to appeal to Republican base voters and intimidate voters. She denied marrying her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, to commit immigration fraud. But when pressed on whether there is any familial relation with her ex-husband, Omar gave an answer that is now ricocheting across conservative media: "Not to my knowledge."
That is not a denial. It is a hedge — and it comes as federal investigators reportedly have obtained DNA evidence that could resolve the question once and for all.
The Investigation and the Raid
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved the warrant for the search of Omar's home, according to court-related reporting. 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, The Associated Press reported.
Fox News Digital reported that Omar's sister, Sahra Noor, spoke with federal investigators last week in the wake of the raid. The investigation began in 2024, during Joe Biden's presidency. The complaint about her massive wealth disparity in her disclosures was dismissed by congressional ethics hawks but is now being investigated by authorities outside the Capitol, U.S. 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 raid on her home earlier this month. The congresswoman has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated.
The New York Post reported that federal investigators have obtained DNA evidence that could play a decisive role in the investigation. No criminal charges have been reported in connection with the allegations.
Omar married British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009 in a civil ceremony. The couple later divorced in 2017. For years, conservative critics have alleged that the British citizen she married was actually her brother — and that she did so to help him obtain immigration benefits in the United States. Omar has denied the allegations.
'It All Started With the Somali Blog'
Omar traced the controversy back to a blog during her interview with Hayes. "It all started with the Somali blog," she said. "Somebody put it there, that he had to have been my brother or something to that effect."
But that explanation does little to address the core question. If the allegation is baseless, why not say flatly that Elmi is not her brother? Instead, Omar said she has no knowledge of any familial relation. That distinction matters because investigators reportedly have genetic material they are examining to determine whether the two are siblings.
Even if a sibling relationship is established, legal experts note that evidence of a sibling relationship alone would not establish immigration fraud; investigators would need more evidence to support the claims before any criminal charges could be filed.
Omar appeared publicly for the first time since last Monday's raid with a video posted to social media from the back of a car where she asked supporters to keep sending her money. The optics — a sitting member of Congress asking for cash from the backseat of a car while under federal investigation — did not go unnoticed by her critics.
The congresswoman's defenders, including former President Barack Obama, have framed the investigation as political retaliation. Obama said the "full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president," citing examples involving the Attorney General of New York, the former head of the FBI and members of the Federal Reserve.
Omar's father came to the US when she was 12 years old and obtained citizenship five years later, according to reporting on her background.
What Happens Next
The federal investigation is ongoing. It is not yet known what the DNA evidence shows or when investigators might conclude their work. What is known is that Omar's interview did not put the matter to rest — it amplified it. A simple "no" would have been easy. "Not to my knowledge" is something else entirely.
For everyday Americans, the stakes are straightforward: if a sitting congresswoman married her brother to commit immigration fraud, it would be a stunning betrayal of the public trust and a mockery of the immigration system that millions of legal immigrants navigate honestly. If she did not, the investigation will clear her. Either way, the American people deserve answers — not hedges.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what just happened. Ilhan Omar had years to shut this down. Years. She said, "Not to my knowledge."
That is the kind of answer that makes federal investigators lean forward in their chairs. It is the kind of answer that makes voters wonder what else she isn't sure about. And it is the kind of answer that no innocent person gives when accused of marrying their own sibling to game the immigration system.
The raid on her home was approved by a federal magistrate. Grand jury subpoenas went out to her family. Her sister reportedly talked to investigators. DNA evidence has reportedly been obtained. This is not a partisan smear — this is a federal investigation that began in 2024, under Joe Biden, and has now been escalated by the Trump Justice Department.
Patriots, this is what accountability looks like. For years, the legacy media treated these allegations as a fringe conspiracy theory. Now a federal judge has signed off on a search warrant, and the congresswoman is giving answers that sound more like a witness trying to avoid a perjury charge than a public official confident in her innocence.
The American people deserve to know whether their elected representatives respect the same laws they impose on everyone else. If Omar is innocent, she should welcome the DNA test and demand the results be released. If she is not, the full weight of the law should come down on her just as it would on any other American.
So here is the question every voter in Minnesota's Fifth District should be asking: If she can't say for certain that her own ex-husband isn't her brother, what else can't she say for certain?
