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"Not To My Knowledge": Ilhan Omar Can't Quite Rule Out Marrying Her Brother In Wild Interview... And Trump Noticed

Tyler Durden's Photo
by Tyler Durden
Authored...

As the investigation into whether Ilhan Omar married her brother to scam US immigration, the Minnesota Democrat just stepped in it, big time. 

In her first interview since Homeland Security Investigations agents searched her Washington home last week, the Minnesota Democrat sat down with MS NOW's Chris Hayes, about as friendly a venue as exists on cable. She called the decade-old claim that her ex-husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is her brother "insane." Then Hayes gave her the layup, asking whether there was some "weird kernel of truth" to it. Her answer was "Not to my knowledge."

Regular readers will recall that earlier this week we flagged a report that federal investigators are using DNA to probe the "married her brother" claim. So the timing could have been better. The clip went everywhere within the hour:

In other words, the one question her own side's friendliest interviewer was guaranteed to ask is the one she didn't answer with a "no." Below we walk through what she actually said, how fast the White House pounced, and why "not to my knowledge" is a strange hill to stand on with a federal grand jury in the background.

"Which Is Insane"

Omar claims the allegation started on a Somali blog and was picked up by "right-wing conspiracy theorists in Minneapolis":

"...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 insane."

HAYES: "He was not - you were not related to him at all? Not that there's not some weird kernel of truth that through some-"

OMAR: "Not to my knowledge."

The generous reading is that Hayes's question was oddly phrased (a "kernel of truth" through "some" mechanism) and Omar was hedging against a hypothetical rather than admitting anything. The less generous reading is that when the stakes are denaturalization, people tend to choose their words very carefully. Make of that what you will.

"That's An Answer A Lot Of Us Assume"

It took the president about an hour and a half. After his South Carolina rally, Trump was asked about the clip, according to Townhall:

That's an answer that a lot of us assume." The rest of the online right was less restrained, and we will spare readers most of it.

Omar's brother hasn't made it easy on her. In a 2012 Instagram post after Ilhan's daughter was born, her brother/husband posted "Nieces, fresh out of the vagina!" 

About That Raid

The brother line overshadowed the rest of a fairly revealing interview. According to the New York Post, Omar said:

  • Agents "went room by room" and "took 17 items," including cellphones, her daughter's old phone, her husband's notebooks, a Somali phrase book and a camera.
  • She disputed reports that investigators got her DNA in the search: "I would have seen if they did take anything that had contained DNA."
  • She called the search "intrusive but polite," adding that agents "even folded some of my clothing that were not folded." Service with a smile.
  • Asked about the financial disclosure that once put her household's net worth at about $30 million (later revised), she described herself as "working class" and living "paycheck to paycheck," with a 2016 Toyota Camry and two rented homes.

She also said the people who searched her home "literally have" her late father's naturalization papers, which is the crux of the case, since she says she became a citizen at 17 through him. That line got its own viral moment:

What The Feds Are Actually Probing

Per the Post, the immigration case is run out of the Minnesota US Attorney's Office and may involve possible false statements about her birth date on immigration documents. A separate probe into her and her husband's finances is being run out of the DC US Attorney's Office. The Wall Street Journal reported more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to relatives. A source told the Post that if her citizenship was obtained through concealment or misrepresentation, by her or by her father, the administration will seek to denaturalize and deport her. Omar denies any wrongdoing: "I'm confident in my truth."

Put differently, the "brother" question isn't just tabloid fodder: if the 2009 marriage was a sham for immigration purposes, it goes to the heart of a fraud case, which is why "no" would have been the obvious answer to give.

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