Ilhan Omar blames 'political opponents and the media' for her separation from husband Ahmed Hirsi
US Representative Ilhan Omar, shortly after filing for divorce from husband Ahmed Hirsi, suggested, on Monday, that the media and her political foes are partly responsible for the downfall of her marriage.
Omar's lawyer released a statement on the Minnesota congresswoman's behalf on Monday, saying: "Ilhan and Ahmed have been the object of speculation and innuendo from political opponents and the media."
"This has taken a significant toll on Ilhan, Ahmed, and their three children. As with all marriages, this is intensely personal and a difficult time for their family. Just like any other family navigating this kind of transition, Ilhan wishes to have their privacy respected for themselves and their children and will not be commenting any further," the statement added.
The estranged couple's divorce comes amid allegations that the Minnesota lawmaker had an affair with DC-based political consultant Tim Mynett. Omar reportedly filed for the split on Friday in Minnesota, according to The New York Post. The news comes nearly after a month of reports of Hirsi looking to file for divorce after revelation of the alleged affair. The Post, last month, reported their source, a close friend of the estranged couple, as saying that Hirsi was determined to officially separate from the Minnesota Representative after it was revealed in a bombshell court filing that Omar allegedly had an affair with Mynett.
Omar and Hirsi allegedly separated in March, and she asked Hirsi to divorce her at the time because she did not want to file the papers. Reports state that Hirsi refused, saying that if she wanted a divorce, she should do it herself. Their friend of 20 years reportedly told the outlet that Hirsi eventually changed his mind after Mynett's wife filed divorce papers last week, claiming that her husband was having an affair with Omar. Hirsi allegedly became unhappy after the report came out because the allegations of an extramarital affair made him look like a fool.
"I’m surprised he hasn’t filed already,” the friend told the outlet. The source also said that the whole incident left Hirsi "very confused" because he still loved his wife and was not willing to expose their three children to a public divorce battle. After the bombshell report of her alleged affair, the 37-year-old Congresswoman, in an interview with CBS affiliate WCCO, had insisted that she was still with her husband and denied any allegation that she was having an affair with Mynett.
The pair, however, had been living apart since; around the same time she was spotted having dinner with Mynett at a restaurant in California. The source said their separation was an "open secret" in town and Omar has moved into a luxury condo in downtown Minneapolis, living away from her husband. Meanwhile, Hirsi, a senior policy aide to a Minneapolis city councilwoman, is said to be switching his stay between friends’ houses and the luxury condo when Omar is not in town. The source added that their children were currently spending time with their grandfather.
The estranged couple was first engaged in 2002, however, they never legally married and instead had a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony and had two children before splitting up in 2008. Omar, the subsequent year, married "British citizen" Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. They eventually split up and Omar got back together with Hirsi and had a third child in 2012. She officially divorced Elmi in 2017, and legally married Hirsi in 2018. The source told the outlet that the couple began having marital problems ever since she took office earlier this year.