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Ilhan Omar’s Ex-Husband Identifies As Gay

Ahmed Nur Said Elmi described himself as gay in an academic paper, renewing marriage scrutiny.

· Pano rates the coverage Mostly Right

16 news and 7 opinion

What happened

Updated Oct 30, 3:39pm ET

Ilhan Omar’s ex-husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi described himself as a gay man in an academic paper. Democratic operative Joe Radinovich said the brother-marriage allegation was “almost certainly true,” while also questioning the Trump Justice Department and the raid’s timing. Omar legally married Elmi in 2009 and divorced him in 2017, after years of disputed claims that he is her brother and that the marriage involved immigration fraud. The FBI and Homeland Security examined the marriage in 2016, but prosecutors let the case stall over the criminal time limit. Omar denies wrongdoing and calls the probe political.

How the left told it

Left-leaning outlets we track didn't cover this story.

How the right told it

Right-leaning outlets cast the new detail as another blow to Omar’s denials and to Democratic defenses of her. The New York Post treated Elmi’s self-description as evidence supporting a sham-marriage theory, while arguing that calling the probe partisan ignored its Obama-era roots. FOX News framed Radinovich’s remarks as a sign that Omar’s Democratic firewall may be cracking.

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23 articles from 16 outlets. Open any headline to read it on the outlet’s site.