Watch: Reporters Swarm 'Ilhan Omar' as She Appears in Public for First Time Since Raid
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar made her first public appearance since federal authorities raided her home last week as part of an investigation into potential immigration-related crimes.
Reporters swarmed the lawmaker on Friday in Minneapolis after she cast her ballot at an early voting location, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison appeared with her at the site.
As she was leaving, a reporter asked Omar, “Have you talked to the feds at all?”
She responded, “I have not.”
BREAKING: Rep. Ilhan Omar says she has had no contact with federal investigators since the search of her D.C. home, speaking publicly for the first time since the probe launched.
The search reportedly led to the seizure of her cellphone and grand jury subpoenas for family members. Omar denies wrongdoing and calls the investigation politically motivated. No charges have been announced.
A federal filing identifies her under the name “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 23, 2026
Also asked whether she has been told what the investigation is regarding, Omar answered, “Nothing. They haven’t said anything.”
Another reporter asked, “Do you think this is your last chance to vote here?”
“No, I continue to vote,” Omar replied.
After no-showing news conference, @Ilhan votes early in Minneapolis then rushes to avoid taking questions from reporters about federal investigations. Asked if she’s been briefed on warrants, Omar responds “They haven’t said anything.” @CBSNews @CBSPolitics @NicoleSganga https://t.co/HVur3KNbm9
— Jonah Kaplan (@JonahPKaplan) October 23, 2026
On Thursday, President Donald Trump called for the four-term lawmaker to resign after the Department of Justice filed documents in federal court that asserted her real name is “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.”
CONFIRMED: Two sources, one within law enforcement, tell @pmd_reports that Ilhan Abdullahi Omar is “not her real name.”
The congresswoman’s name, they claim, is Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.
@willchamberlain first pointed out the alias reference in a motion to prevent the unsealing of a search warrant obtained for the raid of her D.C. home last week.
— Katelyn Caralle (@Katelyn_Caralle) October 22, 2026
“It was just revealed that Ilhan Omar’s name is not Ilhan Omar, the one she used to get elected and sworn into Congress, but rather, it’s an entirely different name, Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, and that her last name is, incredibly, also the exact name of her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the person they said she married and had children with,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“When asked whether or not she married her brother, she said, ‘Not to my knowledge.’ In other words, she somehow didn’t know? Therefore, because she used a fake name to be sworn in, I assume she must IMMEDIATELY resign from Congress,” he added.
Omar responded on social media on Friday, saying Trump is peddling “conspiracy theories.”
“Whenever the news turns bad, this creep reaches for one name: mine. So let’s make it crystal clear. My name has always been Ilhan Omar,” she wrote.
Jackie Rogers, a representative for the lawmaker, added in a statement to The Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday that “any other implication is a flat-out lie.”
Fox News contributor Donna Rotunno, who is a defense attorney, said following Omar’s first public appearance, “In terms of the criminal side of this, it’s very strange to me that she’s happy to walk out and say, ‘No, I haven’t spoken to the feds.’ It’s like if they raided my house, and I had nothing to hide, I’d probably want to be knocking on their door to say, ‘What is this about? I have nothing to hide.’”
Instead, Rotunno noted, Omar’s response has only been to say it is a “political hit job.”
The attorney also pointed out that the DNA federal investigators reportedly obtained is “about whether or not they claimed there are family members who are maybe not family members.”
“Maybe her dad is not her dad. Who knows? That is where the DNA portion here is a big deal.”
The New York Post reported, “Omar claims she received automatic U.S. citizenship in 2000 at age 17, granted to minor-age children of naturalized parents — in this case her father, Nur Said Mohamed Elmi, who fled to the U.S. in 1995 from war-torn Somalia.”
In September, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “There may be more to this — the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. But all of this, we’re investigating.”
“If you decided to break the law, or lie on the information you gave the United States… but you didn’t tell us who you actually were; you lied about certain things, about your application, those things, there’s no expiration to that,” Mullin explained.
“If we can prove it — that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.”
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
