Ilhan Omar’s Deleted Father’s Day Post Raises New Questions Amid Claims Ex-Husband Is Her Brother

Ilhan Omar is facing renewed scrutiny over a long-running controversy surrounding her former marriage after a years-old Father’s Day message she posted on social media resurfaced.

The Minnesota congresswoman, 44, praised her father in the now-deleted post, which is gaining traction amid unproven allegations that her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, is actually her brother, with critics claiming she married him to secure him a green card.

According to Newsweek, the June 2013 post sees Omar address her aabo — the Somali word for father — directly and by name, writing on X, then Twitter, “Happy Father’s Day to my aabo Nur Said, I am forever grateful to Allah for giving me the best father.”

Omar, meanwhile, has repeatedly denied that Elmi, 41, is her brother or that their marriage was fraudulent.

The speculation surrounding the resurfaced post comes as federal investigators examine questions surrounding Omar’s immigration records and her past marriage to Elmi.

The congresswoman, who came to the United States at the age of 12 after fleeing the civil war in Somalia, married Elmi in 2009 and divorced him in 2017. The scrutiny largely began in 2020, when a memorial statement from the Congressional Black Caucus identified Omar’s late father as Nur Omar Mohamed, while her deleted Father’s Day post referred to him as “Nur Said.”

The name, which includes part of Elmi’s surname, prompted critics to question whether the two men could be related.

However, the similarity between the names does not establish a family connection, with Newsweek noting that Somali naming conventions, even for women, commonly include a person’s given name, their father’s given name and their paternal grandfather’s given name, which can make family names difficult to interpret without additional evidence.

Omar shut down the claims on MS NOW, telling anchor Chris Hayes that the allegations originated on a Somali blog before being amplified by people she described as right-wing conspiracy theorists.

When asked by Hayes, 47, whether she was related to Elmi, Omar replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

She also suggested that the allegations surrounding her former marriage and claims that she used a fake name when being sworn into office are politically motivated, as President Donald Trump and his administration continue their longtime probe into the politician, with Trump, 80, demanding her resignation and even suggesting Omar be deported.

After her divorce from Elmi, Omar went on to marry Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2018, with whom she shares three children. The couple divorced the following year. In March 2020, Omar wed political consultant and businessman Tim Mynett, to whom she is still married.