A deleted 2013 Father’s Day tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar calling her father “Nur Said” has resurfaced amid a federal probe and long-running questions about her former marriage.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told Fox News Digital that her real name is Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, not the name that appeared in a recent federal court filing tied to a search of her Washington, D.C., home. The filing listed her as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a.k.a. Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
That name clash landed next to an old social media post she scrubbed years ago. In June 2013, Omar wrote a Father’s Day message that referred to her father by a different handle than the one that later showed up in official memorials. The post was deleted on the morning of Sept. 19, 2019, after an archived copy first drew public notice.
Federal agents searched Omar’s D.C. residence on Oct. 12 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into possible false statements on immigration and naturalization documents. No charges are described as filed in the available reporting, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The 2013 message read, in part:
“Happy Father’s Day to my aabo Nur Said, I am forever grateful to Allah for giving me the best father...,”
Omar’s office did not answer Fox News Digital on Friday when asked about the deleted post. A statement recirculated online and attributed to a spokesperson claimed “Nur Said” was a childhood nickname and that the tweet came down because Omar and her family had received threats. That statement was not independently verified in the reporting.
Several other records point a different way. A Congressional Black Caucus memorial marking the father’s death in 2020 referred to him as “Nur Omar Mohamed.” An Oxford University historian quoted in separate coverage also used the “Nur Said” formulation when discussing the father’s background. The gap between those labels is now part of the public record investigators and critics are examining.
Omar has hedged on brother-marriage questions while insisting she did nothing wrong. Her former husband was Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. That marriage ended in divorce in 2017. She legally married Ahmed Hirsi in 2018.
Two people familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital that “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi” may be Omar’s legal name. Omar’s office disputed that characterization. Omar herself put the matter bluntly in her exchange with the outlet:
“Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, you know it,”
and again:
“It’s Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
The court filing related to the search warrant does not explain why the Elmi name appears, and it does not by itself prove she used a false identity. Still, the dual listing is now on paper in a federal matter.
A former Minnesota federal immigration judge told the same outlet that if investigators can show Omar knowingly used a false name on federal forms, the conduct could be examined under the federal false-statements statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Whether that law applies, the judge said, turns on the specific documents, whether any misstatement was material, and proof of intent.
The same probe has already produced related steps. Reporting around the case has described subpoenas aimed at relatives and the seizure of a phone during the raid activity tied to the immigration-fraud inquiry. Omar has called the investigation a political attack.
After the search, she also signaled she would leave her Washington home rather than stay put under the cloud of the federal action.
For years, critics have alleged that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is not only her former husband but her brother. Omar and her office reject that claim in absolute terms. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Omar has “repeatedly and unequivocally denied” what the office called a “baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory.”
In a separate interview referenced by her team, Omar was asked whether her one-time husband may have been a “distant relative.” Her answer:
“Not to my knowledge,”
Somali naming custom generally runs given name, father’s given name, then paternal grandfather’s given name. The reporting notes that name similarity alone does not prove a family relationship. That caution sits beside the hard overlap in the surnames and middle names now in circulation: Nur Said on the old tweet and in some accounts of the father, Nur Said Elmi on the former husband, and Ilhan Nur Said Elmi on the court paper.
Separate coverage has also tracked claims that prosecutors hold DNA material that could test the family relationship question inside the broader immigration-fraud theory of the case. Those claims remain part of the contested public fight, not a resolved finding in the Fox News Digital account.
The core of the criminal inquiry, as described, is possible false statements on immigration and naturalization documents. That is a paperwork crime with real penalties when intent and materiality are proved. It is also the lane where name history, marriage history, and entry documents either line up or do not.
Omar’s public posture has been denial of wrongdoing and an attack on the probe’s motives. Her office has disputed the suggestion that the Elmi formulation is her legal name. At a press conference on a recent Wednesday, she blamed President Donald Trump for death threats and attacks against her. The Justice Department’s silence leaves the investigative side without a public rebuttal or confirmation beyond the search itself.
Tom Homan has confirmed an ongoing criminal investigation into the congresswoman over immigration-fraud allegations, keeping the matter in active law-enforcement territory rather than closed political theater.
Omar has also discussed plans to leave her D.C. apartment after agents went through the residence in the immigration probe, a practical response that underscores how far the inquiry has already reached into her daily life.
Put the verified pieces in order. In 2013 she publicly thanked “aabo Nur Said.” In 2017 she divorced Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. In 2018 she married Ahmed Hirsi. In 2019 the Father’s Day post vanished the same morning scrutiny intensified. In 2020 the Congressional Black Caucus memorialized “Nur Omar Mohamed.” On Oct. 12, federal agents searched the D.C. home under a warrant that produced court papers using “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a.k.a. Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.” Days later she told Fox News Digital the only real name is Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.
Each of those facts is on the record. None of them, standing alone, convicts anyone of anything. Together they explain why a deleted tweet now sits at the center of a name-and-marriage fight inside a live federal investigation. Taxpayers and voters are entitled to straight answers on immigration forms, naturalization papers, and the identities members of Congress use when they deal with the government.
When court filings, old posts, and a lawmaker’s own corrected name do not match, the burden is on the official to clear the fog, not on the public to look away.
