Observations on the Ilhan Omar Scandal

Details continue to emerge about the deceptions and frauds that Ilhan Omar has perpetrated over the last decade. For now, though, I want to step back and make two bigger-picture observations about the Omar story.

First, the question of whether Omar married her brother in 2009 is really secondary. It is, of course, an attention grabber. (“There’s a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother. I know nothing about it.”) But it also can be a distraction. Some liberals–for example, the New York Times–try to narrow the scandal by posing only that question. But the real issue is whether Omar entered into a sham marriage in 2009 for fraudulent purposes. No one suspects her of incest. The relevance of the groom being her brother (which now appears highly probable) is that it confirms the marriage was a fraud. Given everything we now know, the sham nature of Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is beyond a reasonable doubt. Omar married Mr. Elmi for some dishonest and perhaps illegal purpose, and has lied about it ever since. At this point, whether he is her brother is relatively insignificant.

Second, liberals in the media and politics have consistently dismissed questions about Omar’s history as unproven. This pseudo-journalist derided Scott’s original work on the Omar story as “speculation.” Actually, Scott undertook to investigate a report from the Minneapolis Somali community. It obviously wasn’t proven at that point. The Omar story has been driven entirely by investigations carried out by three nontraditional journalists. If it were up to the liberal press, the issues surrounding Omar’s history would remain “unproven” and “speculative” forever, since they never would be investigated.

We are dealing here with a trail of fraud, lies and perjury. David Steinberg has itemized eight crimes which the evidence suggests Omar likely has committed, yet the liberal media averts its eyes. Contrast the media’s reticence on the Omar story with the fervor with which liberal reporters go after the barest rumor of scandal if it involves a Republican.

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