EXCLUSIVE: Ilhan Omar DID marry her brother and said she would 'do what she had to do to get him "papers" to keep him in U.S.', reveals Somali community leader
- Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm
- Abdihakim Osman is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States
- It has long been rumored that Omar and Ahmed Elmi are siblings, but because of a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia, proof has never been uncovered
- Osman said: 'She said she needed to get papers for her brother to go to school. We all thought she was just getting papers to allow him to stay in this country'
- Omar was married to her second husband Elmi in 2009 by a Christian minister - although she is Muslim
- She was first married to Ahmed Hirsi in 2002 in a Muslim ceremony, before they split in 2008 - but she later had another child with Hirsi while legally wed to Elmi
- Osman said: 'When [Hirsi] and Ilhan got married, a lot of people were invited. It was a big Islamic wedding uniting two large clans in the community'
- He added: 'When she married Elmi, no one even knew about it... No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the certificate years later'
By
MARTIN GOULD IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:26 EDT, 20 February 2020 | UPDATED: 14:14 EDT, 10 March 2020
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'Squad' congresswoman Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm.
And now for the first time one of those friends has come forward to reveal exactly how Omar and Ahmed Elmi scandalized the Somali community in Minneapolis.
Abdihakim Osman is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States, at a time when she was married to her first husband Ahmed Hirsi.
But hardly anyone realized that meant marrying him.
'No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the marriage certificate years later,' Osman, 40, exclusively told DailyMail.com.
Osman's revelations are sure to renew calls for an investigation into the Minnesota freshman representative who has repeatedly refused to answer questions on her marriage to Elmi.
She originally said the idea that the spouses were also siblings were 'baseless, absurd rumors', accusing journalists of Islamophobia, but has since stayed quiet.
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'Squad' congresswoman Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm. And now for the first time one of those friends has come forward to reveal exactly how Omar and Ahmed Elmi scandalized Minneapolis's large Somali community - while she was still married to her first husband Ahmed Hirsi (pictured together)
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It has long been rumored that Omar and Elmi (pictured) are siblings, but because of a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia, positive proof has never been uncovered
Abdihakim Osman (left with Hirsi and right with Omar) is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States. But hardly anyone realized that meant marrying him. 'No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the marriage certificate years later,' Osman, 40, told DailyMail.com
Timeline of Omar's two marriages:
1997: Omar and her family settle in Minnesota after fleeing war-torn Somalia
2002: She marries Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in a religious ceremony but it is not recognized legally. The pair go on to have two children.
2009: Omar marries Ahmed Elmi in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
2010: He enrolls at North Dakota State University to study fine art and lives with Omar
2011: Omar claims she and Elmi split this year and he went back to the UK
2012: Omar and Hirsi have their third child. Elmi is still in the US according to college officials and social media
2013: Elmi starts working in London
2017: Omar divorces Elmi
2018: Omar marries Hirsi in a civil ceremony
2018: The marriage is brought up during Omar's campaign for congress
She denies it and it is largely ignored because of the lack of proof around it
July 2019: President Trump thrusts the rumor back into the spotlight
July 2019: DailyMail.com reveals Omar and Hirsi have separated and she's moved into a penthouse apartment
DailyMail.com also reveals Omar's secret relationship with her married aide Tim Mynett
August 2019: Tim Mynett's wife files for divorce, claiming her husband had professed his love for Omar
Early October 2019: Omar formally files for divorce from Hirsi
November 2019: Omar is granted the divorce from Hirsi
December 12, 2019: Hirsi marries pediatric nurse Ladan Ahmed
December 19, 2019: Mynett is granted a divorce from his wife Beth
Xerta Shekh, which comments on Somali issues, said that Omar kept her marriage to Elmi quiet, with no one from the Somali community invited to the wedding.
He explained: 'When [Hirsi] and Ilhan got married, a lot of people were invited. It was a big Islamic wedding uniting two large clans in the Minneapolis community.
'I would say there were 100-150 people there.'
But, he said: 'When she married Elmi, no one even knew about it.'
Osman said at the time Hirsi was better known than Omar among Somalis. 'He was a footballer, he promoted a lot of Somali shows, he was very popular.
'So the scandal was about [Hirsi's] brother-in-law more than Ilhan's brother.'
It has long been rumored that Omar and Elmi are brother and sister.
But because of a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia where they were both born, positive proof of their relationship has never been uncovered.
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In the late 2000s Elmi (pictured) appeared in Minneapolis, said Osman. 'People began noticing that Ilhan and [Hirsi] were often with a very effeminate young guy. He was very feminine in the way he dressed — he would wear light lipstick and pink clothes and very short shorts in the summer. People started whispering about him. [Hirsi] and Ilhan told me it was Ilhan's brother'
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Osman said: 'When [Hirsi] and Ilhan got married, a lot of people were invited. It was a big Islamic wedding uniting two large clans in the Minneapolis community. I would say there were 100-150 people there.' But, he said: 'When she married Elmi, no one even knew about it.' Pictured: Omar (left) with Elmi (right)
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The leftist congresswoman, 37, spent months denying she had split from husband Ahmed Hirsi despite this website revealing she had left their marital home and was having an affair with a campaign aide. Omar finally filed for divorce from Hirsi (pictured together) on October 7
The first report that Omar and her husband were siblings appeared on the website Somalispot in 2016. It said of Elmi, 34: 'As soon as Ilhan Omar married him he started university at her alma mater North Dakota State University where he graduated in 2012.
'Shortly thereafter, he moved to Minneapolis where he was living in a public housing complex and was later evicted. He then returned to the United Kingdom.'
The
New York Post reported last month that the FBI was investigating the marriage and had met with a source in Minneapolis who handed over 'a trove of documents' related to the marriage.
Any findings were to be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Department of Education, the paper reported. Anyone found guilty of committing marriage fraud faces up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000.
Elmi and Omar married on February 12, 2009 at a Hennepin County office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis, their marriage license shows. Omar said she and Hirsi had separated in 2008, and because their faith-based union was never recognized by law, neither is their separation.
Elmi and Omar said they lived together at an address in Columbia Heights, a suburb on the north side of the city.
The marriage was conducted by Christian minister Wilecia Harris. When DailyMail.com approached her last year, she would not discuss the ceremony or why a Muslim couple would have asked her to marry them.
She and her husband Marcus run the Great and Mighty Works Ministries in Richfield, Minnesota, which is described on its Facebook page as a 'nondenominational, Bible believing, Bible teaching, and Bible living ministry that believes in being a living example of Jesus the anointed one!'
Ilhan Omar's ex-husband has officially remarried
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Osman believes Elmi (pictured with a friend) and Omar sought out someone outside the Somali community to conduct the ceremony because an imam would have known they were related and would have refused to marry them
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Elmi and Omar married on February 12, 2009 at a Hennepin County office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis, their license shows. The marriage was conducted by Christian minister Wilecia Harris. When DailyMail.com approached her last year, she would not discuss the ceremony or why a Muslim couple would have asked her to marry them
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Pastor Wilecia Harris (pictured with her husband Marcus Harris) officiated at the 2009 ceremony of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's marriage to Elmi. The pastor's husband has made it clear his wife is not willing to help shed any light on the matter
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