Ilhan Omar has rejected allegations that she married her brother to commit immigration fraud, but told a television interviewer she was not related to her former husband “to my knowledge”.
The Minnesota congresswoman made the comment during an interview with MS NOW, her first major broadcast appearance since Homeland Security Investigations agents searched her Washington home last week.
Omar, 44, described the allegation as “insane” and accused right-wing conspiracy theorists of circulating a claim which she said began on a Somali blog before being taken up by conservative activists in Minneapolis.
Asked by presenter Chris Hayes whether her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, had been her brother, Omar said: “Not to my knowledge.”
There is no established evidence in the material presented that Mr Elmi is Omar’s brother. She has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Hayes raised the claim after telling Omar that some right-wing figures believed Mr Elmi had been her brother and that she had described the allegation as a disgusting lie.
Omar said people had produced supposed witnesses who claimed she had introduced Mr Elmi as her sibling, but added that she did not recognise those making the claims.
“They just kind of went and found random people who were like, she introduced us. She introduced him to us and said he was her brother, which is, you know, insane,” she said.
Search of Ilhan Omar’s Washington home
The interview followed a search of Omar’s residence by Homeland Security Investigations agents as part of an investigation into alleged immigration fraud.
Omar said between 15 and 25 agents arrived at about 6am while she and her family were asleep. She said she initially thought there might be a fire or an emergency involving neighbours.
“I only had two and a half hours of sleep when they came, you know, pounding on the doors,” she said.
According to Omar, the search lasted between four and five hours and resulted in the removal of 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a vintage camera and a Somali-language book.
She described the operation as “intrusive but polite”, saying agents handled her belongings carefully and even folded some of her clothes.
However, Omar accused the Trump administration of using the search to create a political spectacle intended to satisfy the president’s supporters.
“They had to do something, I believe, to say, hey, look, we raided her house,” she alleged.
Federal investigators are examining whether false statements were made in immigration documents concerning Omar’s birth date. More than a dozen grand jury subpoenas have been issued, including some involving her relatives.
Omar maintains that she obtained American citizenship legally at 17 through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who became a naturalised citizen in 2000.
She suggested investigators were concentrating on documents completed by her late father, who could no longer respond to questions about them.
“It’s also very convenient because my dad is no longer alive,” Omar said. “So it’s another thing they can drag on forever.”
Donald Trump has publicly suggested that Omar could face prison if investigators establish that she committed immigration fraud.
“She could go to jail,” the president said on Tuesday. “They keep talking about deportation.”
Omar denied wrongdoing and said the investigation was politically motivated.
She also rejected suggestions that she was secretly wealthy after congressional disclosure documents appeared to value business interests linked to her husband, Tim Mynett, at about $30 million.
The reported figure was later revised down substantially, with liabilities reducing the stated valuation to around $20,000.
Omar said she and her family lived a modest life, pointing to their 2016 Toyota Camry, which she described as their only car. She said they rented homes in both Washington and Minneapolis.
