President Donald Trump on Thursday night called on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to resign from Congress, claiming she used a “fake name” when she was elected.
The demand comes after agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided Omar’s home in Washington, D.C., last week, seizing several items including cell phones and laptops. The department is reportedly investigating whether Omar or her late father lied about her age when they sought citizenship after immigrating to the U.S. from Somalia in the 1990s.
FEDERAL FILING NAMES “ILHAN NUR SAID ELMI”
On Thursday, The New York Post reported that prosecutors, in a federal court filing, referred to the congresswoman as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
Omar’s first husband was Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that he is the lawmaker’s brother. Republicans have alleged that Omar married him to help him more easily obtain a green card, an accusation she has denied.
TRUMP TAKES TO TRUTH SOCIAL
Hours after the Post report, Trump went on Truth Social, repeating the husband-brother claim and demanding Omar’s resignation.
“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,” the president wrote.
He argued that her last name was “the exact name of her brother,” adding, “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,” Trump wrote. “Please inform the Speaker of the House of Representatives, James Michael Johnson, that the Dumocrat Party has just conceded her seat.”
The president went on to claim that Omar “has openly admitted to FRAUD, and she will not be legally allowed to be a Member of this August Body from this point forth.”
INSIDE THE CITIZENSHIP PROBE
Citing U.S. officials and others familiar with the probe, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the investigation centers on whether Omar or her father, who had fled war-ravaged Somalia, changed her age on her citizenship application to show she was 17 rather than 18.
The distinction matters. Had Omar been 17 at the time, her citizenship would have been granted automatically along with her father’s. If she was 18, however, she would have needed to become naturalized separately.
Omar’s father brought her to the United States in 1995, and she became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
OMAR FIRES BACK
Following the raid on her home, Omar accused the president of trying to “weaponize federal law enforcement.”
“I will not be silenced,” she said.
Many other prominent Democrats also criticized the search of the congresswoman’s home.
The developments mark the latest escalation in the long-running feud between Trump and the Minnesota Democrat, as the federal investigation into her citizenship continues and the president presses for her to step down from her seat in Congress.
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