Ilhan Omar’s Ex-Husband Makes Stunning Confession Amid Allegations He’s Her Brother

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s ex-husband, who is accused of being her brother, identified himself as gay in an August academic paper.

Ahmed Nur Said Elmi’s disclosure has drawn renewed attention as federal investigators reportedly examine whether their 2009 marriage was fraudulent.

Former Democratic lawmaker Joe Radinovich said an allegation involving the Minnesota Democrat’s marriage to Said Elmi was credible.

Radinovich, an adviser to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, wrote Thursday that Democrats should understand the allegation was “almost certainly true.”

His comments concerned claims that Elmi, whom Omar married in 2009, is her brother, an allegation she has repeatedly denied.

No court has found that Omar committed immigration fraud, and Radinovich’s assessment does not establish the alleged relationship as fact.

The criticism nevertheless represents a political complication for Omar because it comes from a Democrat with experience in Minneapolis politics.

Radinovich managed Frey’s successful 2017 and 2021 mayoral campaigns and previously served as the mayor’s chief of staff.

He also ran Don Samuels’s Democratic primary challenges against Omar in 2022 and 2024, both of which Omar won.

That history supplies context for his criticism, including his involvement in campaigns attempting to defeat her within their shared party.

Radinovich criticized the credibility of Trump’s Justice Department while maintaining that he considered this particular allegation persuasive, in his posts.

He also questioned whether the timing of the federal raid was appropriate, while noting that a Washington judge authorized it.

His comments came as 175 House Democrats signed a letter demanding an end to the federal investigation, according to the report.

The lawmakers accused the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security of the “weaponization of law enforcement.”

Radinovich additionally urged caution about defending Omar’s financial disclosures, arguing that meaningful questions remained unanswered and criticizing the available explanations.

An academic paper published in August identified Elmi as gay, bringing his own account of his identity into renewed coverage.

Elmi, a doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, described himself as a “gay man of the East African diaspora.”

He connected that identity to his research into violence against gay people in Africa, including interviews with participants in Kenya.

The paper characterized his work as “not just an academic undertaking” and discussed the relationship between personal experience and research.

The academic paper also discusses standpoint theory and fluid insider-outsider research positioning.

His sexual orientation does not establish that the marriage was fraudulent, explain its circumstances, or establish kinship with Omar.

Those questions would require evidence addressing the marriage itself, rather than assumptions drawn from a former spouse’s identification.

According to reported marriage records, a Christian minister married Omar and Elmi February 12, 2009, before their divorce in 2017.

Omar previously held a religious marriage ceremony with Ahmed Hirsi in 2002, and they already had two children by 2009.

The report says Hirsi listed the address appearing on Omar and Elmi’s marriage license as his own home that May.

Omar had a third child with Hirsi in 2012, adding another element to the marital chronology investigators reportedly are examining.

Federal agents searched Omar’s Washington home October 12 as part of an immigration investigation, according to the supplied account.

The New York Times reported that investigators were reviewing evidence concerning an alleged sham marriage between Omar and Elmi.

A redacted Justice Department filing used an alternative name for Omar, a characterization she has disputed in previous statements.

The supplied report links that name to Somali naming practices and archived posts referring to Omar’s father as Nur Said.

Omar has identified her father as Nur Omar Mohamed, while a spokesperson previously described Nur Said as his childhood nickname.

Shared names and patronymics alone do not establish that two people are siblings, particularly without records independently confirming the relationship, Zero Hedge reported.

Investigators are reportedly examining citizenship questions involving Omar’s father and conflicting birth years appearing in accounts of her personal history.