WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s investigation into “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar, even though his administration was the first to examine whether she had married her brother.
In 2016, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security uncovered evidence suggesting that Omar’s marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi — who has long been rumored to be her brother — may have been fraudulent, The Post confirmed.
Federal investigators ultimately determined that any potential offense fell outside the five-year statute of limitations, and the investigation stalled. The specific evidence uncovered by the agencies has not been made public.
Last week, Obama issued a forceful rebuke of the Trump administration over an Oct. 12 raid on Omar’s Washington, DC, home. The search reportedly centered on allegations that she provided inaccurate information about her age on immigration documents.
Obama described the raid as “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 wrote 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 said reports indicated that the raid and the broader federal investigation were based on a theory that Omar may have obtained US citizenship improperly.
Omar became a US citizen in 2000, roughly five years after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Somalia.
She received citizenship after officials believed she was under 17. That detail is reportedly among the key elements of her immigration records now being examined by federal investigators.
If Omar was actually 18 at the time, as the Trump administration appears to suspect, she may not have qualified for citizenship through that particular avenue.
Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, died in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a dozen grand jury subpoenas have reportedly been issued to members of Omar’s family and other important figures in the case.
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The Biden administration was also reportedly alerted to concerns about the documents Omar used to obtain citizenship but did not take action.
Omar has not been charged with a 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 wrote.
“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 surrounding Omar’s marriage to Elmi.
Recent court filings from the Trump administration identified Omar as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.”
Omar, who has denied any wrongdoing, has rejected the unproven claim that she once married her brother, calling it “insane” and a right-wing conspiracy. When asked directly whether she had married a relative, Omar told MS NOW, “Not to my knowledge.”
Little is publicly known about Elmi. Speculation began on a Somali forum that he was Omar’s brother and that the pair married in an unsuccessful effort to help him obtain a green card.
In a 2016 statement, Omar said she applied for a marriage license with her former husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, in 2002, when she was 19. She said they “never finalized the application and thus were never legally married.”
Omar later married Hirsi in 2018, but the couple divorced the following year.
In the intervening years, however, she was legally married to Elmi from 2009 through 2017. Omar said she and Elmi separated “in our faith tradition” in 2011 but took several years to finalize the legal paperwork.
