Omar gives qualified answer on ex-husband allegation

Rep. Ilhan Omar said in a televised interview that she could not say “to my knowledge” whether her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, was her brother, while denying the long-running allegation that she married him to commit immigration fraud. The allegation has not been established by publicly available evidence. Omar made the remarks Wednesday in her first interview since federal agents searched her Washington home on October 12. Asked by host Chris Hayes whether there was any truth to the claim, she gave the qualified answer and called the allegation insane. She said it began with a Somali blog and later circulated through people who claimed she had introduced Elmi as her brother. The Justice Department said agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Omar said the search lasted four to five hours and agents took 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a camera and a Somali-language book. The supplied accounts of the items and search duration are Omar’s description; the warrant and official seizure inventory were not included in the reporting. Omar said agents arrived while she and her family were asleep and...