Ilhan Omar Moving Out of D.C. Home After Federal Raid as Trump Slams Her “Not to My Knowledge” Answer

Breaking

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said she will move out of her Washington, D.C., home, which federal agents searched earlier this month, because the attention from the raid has made her feel unsafe there, according to the Associated Press. The Washington Examiner reported that Omar tied the decision to death threats she has received since becoming the subject of a federal investigation. Omar made the remarks in her first interview since the search, a sit-down with MS NOW host Chris Hayes that aired Wednesday, Oct. 21.

During the interview, Omar called the long-circulating claim that she married her own brother “insane.” But when Hayes asked whether she was related to her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, Omar answered, “Not to my knowledge.” The clip spread quickly across social media, and President Donald Trump weighed in when reporters asked him about it. “Yeah, well, ‘not to my knowledge’… that’s not a good answer,” Trump said. Omar has not been charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing.

Details & Background

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s home before dawn on Monday, Oct. 12, under a judicially authorized warrant. Omar said agents arrived around 6 a.m. and searched for four or five hours, seizing 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a children’s book and a vintage camera, according to the AP. She described the agents as “intrusive but polite.” The Justice Department has said little beyond calling the matter an ongoing federal criminal investigation. A person briefed on the case told the AP that authorities are examining potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork and have issued grand jury subpoenas to some relatives.

Omar was born in Somalia, came to the United States at age 12 after her family obtained asylum and became a citizen in 2000. She legally married Elmi in 2009, separated from him in 2011 and divorced him in 2017, according to Fox News Digital. The allegation that Elmi is her brother has followed her for years. Omar has repeatedly denied it, and fact-checkers have not found credible evidence that the two are siblings. The legal fight is still moving: according to court filings reported by Hot Air, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office has opposed Omar’s request to delay the remaining searches covered by the warrant and proposed a Nov. 9 deadline for all responses.

Reactions

Omar cast herself as determined not to show weakness. “I am not going to let them see me break because I know they want that,” she told Hayes. She also said she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong,” and she has called the probe political retaliation. Omar said she and her husband are living “paycheck to paycheck,” and earlier this week she asked supporters for small-dollar donations to help cover what she called an expensive fight.

Republicans have been far less sympathetic. Trump said in May, “I believe she married her brother, which is totally illegal,” and on Tuesday he told reporters Omar “could go to jail.” Vice President JD Vance said in a March podcast, “we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud,” a claim Omar’s office called defamatory. White House border czar Tom Homan has said Omar could face denaturalization if fraud is proven. Democrats have rallied around her, and former President Barack Obama called the investigation “appalling.”

Why This Matters to You

At the center of this case is a simple question: did false information help someone obtain U.S. citizenship and, eventually, a seat in Congress? Immigration fraud cases are pursued against ordinary immigrants every year, and the federal government has the authority to seek denaturalization when citizenship was obtained unlawfully. Whether that same standard applies to a sitting member of Congress is now being tested in real time.

Omar has not been charged, and investigators have not made their findings public. But her own words have put new pressure on her. A lawmaker who calls the allegation “insane” but answers “not to my knowledge” when asked directly has handed her critics an opening just 12 days before the midterm elections. What this investigation finds will shape Americans’ trust in both the immigration system and the Justice Department for years to come.