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Laura Ingraham reruns old MAGA conspiracy theory about Ilhan Omar marrying her brother
The theory about Omar marrying her brother reappears despite numerous fact-checks refuting the claims; Fox anchor Laura Ingraham posts old report on X
Conservative commentator and Fox News host Laura Ingraham posted a long-debunked claim from a five-year-old report that U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar supposedly married her “own brother.”
Fact-checkers and evidence point to a straight no about the allegations; however, prominent conservative media voices keep amplifying the narrative.
Read more: Trump vs Ilhan Omar heats up; POTUS asks lawmaker to go back to Somalia
How did the allegation come to be?
According to the fact-check site Snopes, the story began circulating in 2016 during Omar’s campaign for the Minnesota House of Representatives. The claim appears to have originated from a now-deleted anonymous post on a Somali-American internet forum (SomaliSpot).
The 2016 post alleged that Omar’s 2009 civil marriage to Elmi was a sham. The post claimed that Elmi was her biological brother. The post was then amplified via conservative blogs, notably Powerline, which published about the rumor in August 2016, Snopes reported.
Since then, the allegations and questions have been recurring and pointed out by conservative social media platforms on X and blogs, demanding comment from Omar and fact-checks.
Read more: Team Trump's ‘marry your brother’ retort to Ilhan Omar in fresh war of words
No credible evidence found as of now
Snopes, a site for fact-checking, reviewed the allegations and reported them “unfounded.” No records, including birth certificates or DNA evidence, linking Elmi to Omar as a sibling were found.
Public records, including refugee-resettlement documents Omar once shared, list her as the youngest of seven children. None of them match the name Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. This suggests Elmi is not part of her known sibling group.
PolitiFact and other fact-checkers similarly rated the rumor “false” or “unproven,” citing lack of verifiable data and reliance on hearsay.
Snopes also noted that the U.S. law does not require a sibling to resort to a “sham marriage” to gain legal status. Under existing immigration rules, siblings of citizens may apply for lawful permanent residence directly. So even if the claim were true, it makes little sense as a “fraud strategy.”
Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations
Omar herself has consistently rejected the allegation, calling it “absurd and offensive.”
In the recent showdown between Trump and Omar at the White House, multiple posts directed against Omar were posted on X in terms of the rumor. She wrote on X, “The only thing that is confirmed is your stupidity. Hope that helps.”
