Report: Marriage License Application Reveals Ilhan Omar Appeared Confused About Her Name

MINNEAPOLIS — A 2009 Hennepin County marriage license application shows Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) initially listing her surname as Omar, then crossing it out in favor of Elmi, then restoring Omar, the New York Post reported Friday. The form was filed in connection with her marriage to Ahmed Elmi, the man she has repeatedly insisted is not her brother.

The document will no doubt come into play in a Department of Justice investigation into whether the outspoken Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman committed fraud gaining her U.S. citizenship in 2000 by allegedly failing to use her accurate legal name and birthdate. The DOJ’s recent court filing refers to her as “Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”

A source familiar with the investigation had told the news outlet that Omar is a fictitious name and that she was born with the last name of Elmi, the same as her alleged brother she purportedly married. The application, dated February 12, 2009, also required the couple to indicate whether they were related by blood or adoption; they checked the “no” box. The Post noted that “It’s unclear who filled out the application, but it appears to have been written with just one person’s handwriting.” Unlike the Justice Department’s formulation, the crossed-out revision on the form read “Ilhan Omar Elmi.”

Elmi has described himself as gay. Omar’s office did not respond to the Post for comment on the marriage license application.

Omar has denied the allegations of fraud and called the investigation and questions about her marriage a racist conspiracy theory and a politically motivated smear by Republicans and President Donald Trump. When MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes recently asked her if she was related to Elmi, she answered, “Not to my knowledge,” an odd, and yes, idiotic response that also made headlines.

According to the Post, “An image of the marriage application has circulated online for years and appears to have been first published in August 2016 by the Minnesota outlet Alpha News. It has until now largely gone untouched by major news outlets.”

Scott W. Johnson, a retired Minneapolis attorney who has been investigating the “curious case” of Omar and allegations of fraud for nearly a decade, told the Post “the whole thing is a red flag.”

In a related development, local election officials confirmed that Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system continues to accept whichever name an applicant prefers on any given form, provided the applicant later denounces any resulting questions as racist.

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