WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama has publicly lambasted the Trump administration’s probe of “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar, despite his administration being the first to investigate whether she married her brother.
In 2016, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security uncovered evidence that Omar’s (D-Minn.) marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, long speculated to be her brother, was fraudulent, The Post confirmed.
But ultimately, the feds found that any potential crime took place outside the five-year statute of limitations, resulting in the probe stalling out. It’s not immediately clear what evidence had been uncovered.
Last week, Obama delivered a stern rebuke of the Trump administration over the Oct. 12 raid on Omar’s DC home, which is believed to revolve around accusations that she fudged information about her age on her immigration paperwork. Obama called the raid “appalling.”
“Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case,” the 44th president posted on X.
“Think about that. 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.”
Obama pointed to reports that the raid on Omar’s home and ongoing federal investigation into her is predicated on the theory that she may have obtained her US citizenship illegitimately.
Omar became an American citizen in 2000, about five years after moving to the United States from Somalia as a refugee.
She was given citizenship status because she was believed to be under 17. That’s one of the key aspects of her paperwork that federal investigators are reportedly examining.
If she was actually 18 years old at the time, as the Trump administration apparently suspects, she wouldn’t have been eligible for US citizenship through that avenue.
Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, died in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a dozen grand jury subpoenas have been slapped against Omar’s family members and other key figures.
The Biden administration had also reportedly been tipped off about concerns about Omar’s paperwork to obtain her citizenship, but didn’t act on it.
Omar has not been charged with any crime.
“The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views,” Obama went on.
“Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
Obama did not address questions about Omar’s marriage to Elmi.
Recent court documents by the Trump administration referred to Omar as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.”
Omar, who has denied wrongdoing across the board, has disputed the unproven theories that she once married her brother, calling it “insane” and a right-wing conspiracy. Asked directly about whether she married a relative, Omar told MS NOW: “Not to my knowledge.“
Not much is known about Elmi, but speculation began on a Somali forum that he was actually her brother and the two married as part of a failed attempt to get him a green card.
Omar previously explained in a 2016 statement that she filed for a marriage license with her other ex-husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, in 2002 at the age of 19, but they “never finalized the application and thus were never legally married.”
She later married Hirsi in 2018 and divorced a year later.
However, in between all that time, she was legally married to Elmi from 2009 to 2017. The congresswoman said they split “in our faith tradition” in 2011, but they were slow to complete the paperwork.
