We told you there was more.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported over the weekend reported that newly released documents raise questions as to whether Rep. Ilhan Omar married her own brother as a means to “skirt immigration laws.”
The opening paragraph of the left-wing newspapers report on Saturday is pretty alarming in and of itself:
New investigative documents released by a state agency have given fresh life to lingering questions about the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and whether she once married a man — possibly her own brother — to skirt immigration laws.
The publication reports that Omar has since corrected the issues legally, but the fact that they happened in the first place raises some significant alarm bells.
Trouble Brewing
In early June, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board have ruled that Omar (D-MN) repeatedly violated campaign finance law by using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses while serving on the state legislature in 2016 and 2017.
Tucked away in those reports, and not initially covered by major outlets including the Star-Tribune, was the fact that, according to the Board’s findings, Omar filed joint tax returns with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, in 2014 and 2015.
What makes this problematic is that she was still engaged in civil marriage with Ahmed Nur Said Elmi up until 2017. She married Hirsi in 2018.
The Star-Tribune reports that in 2016, Omar’s campaign was “rocked by allegations in a Somali news forum and the conservative Power Line blog suggesting that Elmi is her brother and they married for unspecified immigration benefits.”
“Dozens of official documents suggest that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was living w/her current husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, throughout her entire legal marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, contradicting the story she tells to explain her multiple marriages.” https://t.co/n3D9vXR6fE
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 24, 2019
TheTribune adds that Omar refused to provide a list of questions to her siblings and father and that Elmi did not respond to inquiries. They add that “Omar declined to make her tax and immigration records available for this report.”
Tax Fraud?
Aside from the egregious allegations of marrying her brother to obtain immigrant status, the multiple filings appear to be a violation of state tax law.
Fox News reports: “Tax experts say the IRS only permits joint filings if a couple is in a state that legally recognizes the couple as married.”
The report states that @IlhanMN and Ahmed Hirsi filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015.
Yet they were not married. @IlhanMN was married to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi from 2009-2017.
According to both federal and MN law, this is illegal. (3/x)
— David Steinberg ?? (@realDSteinberg) June 6, 2019
The documents suggest Omar may have filed illegal tax returns for several years, depending on when her multiple marriages began and ended from a legal standpoint.
The Star-Tribune also notes that Omar and her campaign took great lengths to “keep the story of her marriage to Elmi out of the press, arguing that detailed coverage would legitimize the accusations and invade her privacy.”
Why do you think she wanted that to remain hidden?
As conservative commentator Michelle Malkin recently asked her readers, is it “time to get federal IRS officials involved?”
We’d say it’s well beyond that point.
