Washington: Ilhan Omar denies claims she married her brother
Washington — US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has dismissed long-running allegations that she married her brother, calling them “crazy.” She made the remarks in her first interview after federal agents raided her Washington, DC home.The Democrat from Minnesota said the claims originated on a Somali blog and were later amplified by conservative commentators. Asked whether she…
Washington — US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has dismissed long-running allegations that she married her brother, calling them “crazy.” She made the remarks in her first interview after federal agents raided her Washington, DC home.
The Democrat from Minnesota said the claims originated on a Somali blog and were later amplified by conservative commentators. Asked whether she had married her brother, she replied: “Not to my knowledge.”
Omar also defended her family’s financial situation, saying they are a “working class” family living on salaries. She described the reported figure of nearly $30 million in combined assets with her husband as a mistake.
She also rejected reports that investigators obtained her DNA during the raid. However, some reports noted that she did not completely deny being related to her former husband.
The allegations, circulating for more than a decade, claim that Omar married her biological brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in a sham marriage to obtain a US green card. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether her 2009 marriage involved a deliberate violation of US immigration laws.
President Donald Trump reacted to Omar’s response, saying: “That’s not a good answer. It’s an answer a lot of people would assume.”
