Ilhan Omar married biological brother to get him US citizenship, conservative group claims in ethics complaint
Conservative activist group, Judicial Watch has filed a complaint with the US House of Representatives Office of Congressional Ethics against Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar accusing her of a slew of alleged offenses including immigration fraud, which she allegedly committed by illegally marrying her biological brother.
The group, which claims to be a "non-partisan educational foundation", in its report claims Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who was a longtime citizen of the United Kingdom, in 2009 to provide him an easy passageway into the US.
The report put together by David Steinberg, Preya Samsundar and Scott Johnson on Powerline blog, claims Omar's action helped Elmi secure federal student loans for attending the North Dakota State University, which he wouldn't have gotten if he wasn't a citizen through marriage, the Daily Mail reported.
This comes after a Minnesota congressman, Republican Steve Drazkowski, also asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Omar.
The accusations of wrongdoing against the congresswoman include immigration fraud, illegal tax filings, and campaign finance fraud.
“The mounting evidence here is getting to the point where it’s just hard to not see the fact that there is something solidly, completely wrong here,” Drazkowski was quoted as saying on Tuesday, July 23.
Similar allegations were also brought up by President Donald Trump last week, days after he attacked her and four other minority congresswomen in a tweet that told them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."
"There's a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother. I know nothing about it," Trump said before departing the White House, on July 17. "I'm sure that somebody would be looking at that."
After the POTUS' rhetoric and the release of their investigative report, Judicial Watch filed a complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics, calling for them to launch an in-depth investigation into the congresswoman's alleged crimes.
"The evidence is overwhelming Rep. Omar may have violated the law and House rules," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton wrote in a letter to Office of Congressional Ethics Chairman David Skagg.
"The House of Representatives must urgently investigate and resolve the serious allegations of wrongdoing by Rep. Omar. We encourage Americans to share their views on Rep. Omar's apparent misconduct with their congressmen."
The group, known for filing Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials, wanted the ethics committee to look into the allegations made in the report, including the claim that Omar lied in her "Application for an Order for Service by Alternative Means" during her divorce from Elmi in 2017.
In the document, she had stated her reason for divorce as the fact that she hadn't had any contact with Elmi after June 2011 and had no means of finding him.
Omar signed the document vowing "under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct."
However, the report cited an Instagram photo from 2015 where Omar was seen with Elmi in London as evidence that the congresswoman was lying, which would mean she committed perjury. "The facts describe perhaps the most extensive spree of illegal misconduct committed by a House member in American history," Steinberg said.