WASHINGTON — Body language expert Lillian Glass said Rep. Ilhan Omar displayed what she characterized as “countless signals of deception” in a video asking supporters for donations.
The Minnesota Democrat’s message, posted late Tuesday, was her first on-camera public statement since federal agents raided her Washington, D.C., home the previous week and news emerged of a federal inquiry into her citizenship status.
“It’s a nervous smile, and her eyes are not smiling, so it’s not genuine,” Glass, a Florida-based body language specialist, told The Post while analyzing Omar’s appearance.
Glass, who has served as a behavioral-analysis expert witness in federal and state courts, also cited Omar’s downward-curving lips and raised eyebrows. Those expressions, she said, suggested Omar was questioning her own words.
Glass added that Omar’s raised eyebrows could also indicate surprise, suggesting the congresswoman did not expect the events that unfolded.
In the defiant video, recorded inside the back of a car, Omar said President Trump and his allies were “running scared.” She vowed that supporters would not be intimidated, silenced or frightened.
Omar also asked supporters to contribute $5, $10 or $20 to help push back against the Trump administration.
Homeland Security Investigations agents raided Omar’s home on Monday of the previous week after obtaining a search warrant.
The investigation has raised questions about Omar’s age in 2000, when her father became a U.S. citizen. Because she was listed as a minor on the citizenship paperwork, she obtained citizenship through her father.
Federal investigators are examining whether Omar misrepresented her age and was actually 18 at the time—an age that would have prevented her from receiving citizenship automatically through her father. Omar’s family arrived in the United States as refugees from Somalia in the mid-1990s.
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 family members and other central figures in the investigation.
Omar sought to project confidence publicly while accusing the Trump administration of engaging in “lawfare.” Glass, however, said she detected signs of concern in the congresswoman’s gestures and expressions.
“There are also countless signals of deception, from her raised shoulders to her shaking her head not when she should be shaking it,” said Glass, who says she has four decades of experience in behavioral analysis.
Glass also focused on Omar’s rising vocal inflection on the word “me” in the phrase “trying to intimidate me.” She said the upward inflection made the statement sound like a question and described it as a potential sign of deception.
Glass further cited Omar’s repeated lip-licking, saying the behavior indicated that “her autonomic nervous system is kicking in.”
The Post previously reported that federal investigators planned to use DNA evidence in the fraud case involving Omar, who has served in Congress since early 2019.
