In her office, a framed motto reads, “I am America’s hope and the president’s nightmare,” encapsulating the bold ambitions of Ilhan Omar, a prominent Left-wing Congresswoman. Known for her assertive presence, Omar doesn’t shy away from making a strong impression.

Her inspirational journey from fleeing war-torn Somalia to establishing a new life in the American Midwest is a narrative that she and her supporters cherish. It stands as a hopeful contrast to the rhetoric associated with former President Trump.

Omar recounts arriving in the U.S. at the age of 12 with only two English phrases in her vocabulary: “hello” and “shut up.” Since then, she has added considerably to that repertoire.

Omar is known for her vocal activism and is a key member of the “Squad,” a group of four racially diverse, progressive Democrat Congresswomen, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York. They have become icons for Gen Z followers, while often drawing criticism or disdain from others.

This includes moderate Democrats who argue that the Squad’s persistent critiques of America and focus on progressive policies could be detrimental in elections, particularly after Trump’s significant victory attributed to backlash against such ideologies.

Among Republicans, Omar is often viewed as the most controversial member of the Squad. They have seized upon various controversies, including the persistent but unverified claim that she married her brother to facilitate his immigration to the U.S., a rumor she has consistently denounced as “absolutely false and ridiculous.”

Critics also deride her as a shameless hypocrite, spouting Marxist politics while wearing expensive Jimmy Choo and Prada sunglasses. And who claims to be a devout Muslim but who – according to his ex-wife – conducted an affair with third husband Tim Mynett (her former campaign adviser) while he was still married.

Now Trump has Omar, a 43-year-old mother of three, in his sights as never before amid an unfolding series of dizzying fraud scandals – amounting to more than $1 billion in stolen state funds – which have captivated America and which were largely perpetrated by Minnesota’s Somali community, whom Omar represents and with whom she closely identifies.

Ilhan Omar and her husband Tim Mynett attend ‘Power to the Patients’ performance in Washington DC on April 27, 2023

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, 2025

On Wednesday, Trump exploded on social media: ‘Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90 per cent, is caused by people that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia.’ He went on: ‘“Congresswoman” Omar, an ungrateful loser who only complains and never contributes, is one of the many scammers.’

Omar has publicly condemned the various frauds – which include fake claims for feeding children during the pandemic, assisting schoolchildren to cope with autism and housing homeless people. And, although she did know some of those who’ve been prosecuted, there’s no evidence she was directly involved in any of the schemes.

Given this, Trump appears to be referring to a more recent controversy that, for Omar, is rather closer to home.

The politician who has previously claimed that she barely has any money now appears to be wealthy, and possibly very wealthy indeed. She has been accused of failing to follow congressional procedures covering the disclosure of her assets and potentially wildly under-representing her husband’s investments.

Her most recent financial disclosure forms to the federal government suggest she and husband Tim Mynett are worth at least $6 million (£4.5 million)and as much as $30 million (£22 million). A mere two years ago, the couple said they had no more than $158,000 (£117,000).

Omar, who is paid a congressional salary of $174,000 (£129,000), has accused the US media of misrepresenting her wealth. However, Washington insiders insist she’s to blame for being intentionally opaque about her finances.

Omar’s most recent compulsory disclosure shows that Mynett has a stake in a venture capital firm valued at between $5 million and $25 million. Her 45-year-old husband, a political consultant-turned-venture capitalist, is also part-owner of a California winery worth up to $5 million.

That does not necessarily mean the couple are worth $30 million, which she has flatly denied. Her office has stressed that the sums on the disclosure form reflect the full value of the businesses rather than her husband’s personal stake.

Congresswoman Omar speaks at a conference calling for an assault weapons ban in Minneapolis on August 28, 2025

Pictured: Nick Shirley outside the Quality Learing Centre in Minnesota

She’s angrily insisted that Mynett is one of ‘several’ partners in the two firms. However, according to California records, Mynett is just one of two partners in the winery – though others could conceivably have joined since then.

Critics say the Congresswoman – while not accused of wrongdoing – has ensured the waters remain muddied by failing to disclose simply and clearly her husband’s stake.

Meanwhile, Mynett’s venture capital firm, Rose Lake Capital – set up in 2022 with business partner Will Hailer – has (if Omar’s financial statements are correct) enjoyed similarly astronomical growth in the past two years.

She said it was worth less than $1,000 in 2023. Now it’s valued at between $5 million and $25 million. According to the New York Post, in recent months the firm ‘quietly scrubbed’ the names and biographies of nine of its executives and advisers – including two Obama-era US ambassadors – from its website. ‘By not reporting the value of Mynett’s stakes, Omar is effectively hiding the extent of her wealth from the public,’ says the Washington Examiner newspaper.

A conservative watchdog, the National Legal and Policy Center, said this week it is now scrutinising Omar’s finances.

Paul Kamenar, the organisation’s lawyer, said: ‘There’s a lot of strange things going on. She was basically broke when she came into office and now she’s worth perhaps up to $30 million… she needs to come clean on these assets.’

And Mynett’s investments are causing headaches for him and his wife in other ways. The wine business, called eStCru and based in Santa Rosa, California, was accused in 2024 of defrauding investors, one of whom alleged Mynett and his partner had failed to honour a pledge to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars. (Mynett has denied the allegations, calling it a contractual dispute.)That Mynett is investing in wine is also perhaps surprising given that, according to Omar’s own spokesman, the couple married ‘Islamically and legally’ in 2020.

Since strict Sunni Islam, to which the hijab-wearing Omar adheres, forbids a Muslim woman from marrying a non-believer, some suspect Mynett must have converted. And Muslims, of course, are strictly forbidden from producing, selling or drinking alcohol.

Omar attends a state dinner in honour of Kenya’s president William Rufo with her husband Tim Mynett on May 23, 2024

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar pictured as a young girl

Omar insists she has no involvement in her husband’s business affairs but, given she frequently cites her faith as a guiding star in her political career, some observers have called for her to break her public silence on his wine business.

Interest in any potential financial irregularities in the Omar household has inevitably been sharpened by the epic level of fraud that has recently been exposed within Minnesota’s sprawling Somali community – estimated to number around 80,000 and concentrated in the city of Minneapolis which Omar represents.

The latest scandal, focusing on empty children’s day care centres handed millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, has helped Trump to push Somali fraudsters near the top of the US news agenda and has led to demands for the resignation of Minnesota governor Tim Walz, the hapless running mate of Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Critics have blamed Minnesota’s ‘bleeding-heart bureaucracy’ – for which Omar is a front-rank cheerleader – and a cynical policy of accusing anyone who questioned the endless, unchecked handouts of racism.

This week, Minneapolis resident Cain Pence, a disabled whistleblower who helped expose a massive Somali-run fraud scheme in the city, told the Daily Mail: ‘There’s a unique reason why [fraud was so prevalent in] Minnesota. We have more social services. We have a liberal political culture and generous welfare systems… and then a group of people exploited that. At the same time the whole George Floyd thing happened [in 2020] and you literally couldn’t say one word against a Somali. So it all worked together to create a tsunami of fraud.’

Walz and other Democrat leaders of the Midwest state – who pride themselves on the generosity of their benefits system – have come in for intense criticism since journalist Nick Shirley released a YouTube video a few days ago that showed empty or abandoned day care facilities were still receiving enormous sums of public money.

He filmed himself standing outside one of them, the ‘Quality Learning Center’ in Minneapolis, with a large sign showing its name spelled incorrectly as ‘Learing’. Shirley pointed out that the premises were empty at midday on a weekday during the school year.

He also filmed two other day care centres that had received millions of dollars despite being seemingly devoid of children (but not Somali ‘staff’, who sent him packing).

In light of the video, which has garnered tens of millions of views and after which Shirley has received a number of death threats, the US Department of Health and Human Services paused $185 million in aid to Minnesota – home of the world’s largest Somali community outside Africa.

Opponents have long accused Trump of racism over Somali immigrants, not least for his encouragement of supporters to chant, ‘Send them back!’ at rallies.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar during a news conference in Washington DC on January 22, 2025.

Trump has now said he doesn’t want any Somali migrants at all in the US, and agents of his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department are reportedly planning an operation in Minneapolis targeting the community. But although some 40,000 Minnesota residents were born in Somalia, the majority of ethnic Somalis have US citizenship or permanent residency. (Omar became a US citizen when she was 17.)

Even fellow conservatives have pointed out that the real

issue isn’t immigration but rampant government benefits fraud that is rife across the US (up by 242 per cent since 2020), and particularly in handout-happy Democrat states.

Notwithstanding the fact that most Somali-Americans are law-abiding citizens, the sheer scale of the fraud in Minnesota and the inescapable truth that this community was deeply involved in it have made it hard for Democrats to dismiss the kerfuffle as politically expedient race-baiting.

Federal charges have already been filed against 98 people in Minnesota, and at least 60 have been convicted. According to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, 85 of the defendants accused of embezzlement of public funds are ‘of Somali descent’, while Minnesota’s Republican House Speaker, Lisa Demuth, claims what has so far emerged ‘is probably the tip of the iceberg’. Last week, Assistant Attorney Joseph Thompson announced that more than $9 billion in federal funds allocated to childcare programmes in Minnesota may have been stolen.

The cases stretch back to 2022 – during the Biden administration – when Minneapolis prosecutors charged 47 defendants with stealing at least $250 million from a child nutrition programme set up during Covid. Those charged claimed they had opened centres that were inundated with hungry children. Instead, they were submitting entirely false child rosters.

A small halal grocery claimed to be feeding thousands of children every day. Its Somali-American owner was convicted of pocketing nearly $1 million which he spent on a honeymoon in the Maldives, a $64,000 pick-up truck and $30,000 in jewellery from Dubai.

The cases expanded to include fraud in Minnesota’s housing and autism-services programmes, again with the accused taking large sums of money for non-existent services. They splashed out on properties in Kenya and top-of-the-range Mercedes and BMWs. A lot of the money went into banks and companies in China, where investigators will find it almost impossible to identify the recipients.

Most shocking of all, the Treasury Department is investigating a report by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, which alleged that millions of dollars in stolen funds from Minnesota were sent to Somalia and ended up with Al-Shabaab, the Somali branch of Al-Qaeda. (Federal investigators told CBS News there’s no evidence for this claim.)

Opponents say Omar is partly to the blame for these benefits scandals as she introduced the 2020 MEALS Act which relaxed oversight of children’s meal schemes during the pandemic.

If the crisis ends up claiming the career of Minnesota’s most famous Somali migrant, Republicans (and not a few Democrats) will not be too distraught.

Additional reporting: Dana Kennedy in Minneapolis