Since the Department of Homeland Security’s Oct. 12th raid on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence, top Democrats have circled the wagons around her. Earlier this week, 175 House Democrats signed a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin condemning the investigation as politically motivated and demanding that they refrain from further actions that could influence the upcoming election.
While the reported reason for the raid was to determine whether Omar or her late father misrepresented her birth date so she could obtain citizenship through him as a minor when he naturalized in 2000, DHS’s investigation extends well beyond a single issue.
One of the issues has followed her for more than a decade: the allegation that Omar married her brother in 2009 to help him obtain U.S. immigration benefits.
For years, Democrats have insisted this charge is baseless.
Yet on Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Obama Department of Justice had investigated Omar in 2016 for this very reason. The report said that FBI and Homeland Security investigators found some evidence that Omar’s marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi was fraudulent, including evidence suggesting they were siblings. But the article said the specific evidence supporting the sibling allegation remains unclear.
According to the Times, prosecutors did not pursue the case because they concluded the suspected marriage fraud fell outside the five-year statute of limitations.
[Note: A source told Fox News the investigation remained open until 2021, when the Biden administration closed it.]
In a Thursday post on X, prominent Minnesota Democrat Joe Radinovich broke ranks with his party, calling the allegation “almost certainly true.”
Democrats should understand that the allegation is almost certainly true—whatever conclusion they draw from that point could vary—and her denials calling it a right-wing, Islamophobic or racist conspiracy are almost certainly not.
In a separate post, Radinovich addressed the additional allegations against Omar. He advised those defending her to be “very, very careful about how I qualified on allegations around her finances—where her defense looks similar and where no meaningful questions have been answered publicly, and where any objective look at the evidence doesn’t look…great.”
Facing pushback from an Omar supporter who called the charges absurd, he wrote:
@Badgers89_ Going to need more than “that’s absurd” given the mounting evidence in support of the allegation. The other interesting thing about this allegation is that it’s more empirically provable than just about any other type of allegation, so I suspect we won’t have much to debate soon.
Radinovich, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Minnesota’s affiliate of the national Democratic Party, served as a Minnesota state representative from 2013 to 2015. Fox News describes him as “a well-connected DFL operative with ties to the party’s state, federal, and Minneapolis political establishments.” He also “managed Democrat Rick Nolan’s 2016 congressional campaign, ran Jacob Frey’s successful 2017 campaign for Minneapolis mayor and later served as Frey’s chief of staff.”
Responding to Fox News’ request for comment, the Omar campaign issued a withering statement:
Joe is a deeply troubled individual whose demons have sadly manifested as an irrational obsession with Congresswoman Omar after managing two losing campaigns against her. His claims are false, biased, and without any evidence. While he was once seen as a rising star within the party, Joe is now widely recognized as a shill for Republican and Corporate money.
Fox noted that Radinovich was involved in two primary challenges against Omar. Still, his response to criticism from a fellow liberal shows he is hardly trying to curry favor with the Republican Party.
An X user wrote: “You aren’t stupid. You know this is a baseless and manufactured witch hunt. I’m actually surprised to see this from you. It’s a new low.”
Radinovich replied: “You’re right. I’m not stupid. I believe the Trump DOJ has next to no credibility and that it’s unclear to me the timing of the raid was appropriate—though it’s notable a D.C. judge signed off on it—but I’m pretty confident this specific allegation is true.”
https://x.com/BrianaRoseLee/status/2115875060632506538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://x.com/joeradinovich/status/2115878430726299919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Omar is entitled to due process, and investigators must substantiate their allegations. But her defenders cannot make legitimate questions disappear by branding everyone who asks them a racist or a Republican shill. When even a well-connected Democrat who openly distrusts Trump’s Justice Department finds her denials unconvincing, perhaps it’s time to stop attacking the questioners and start answering the questions.
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