Former Frey Chief of Staff Says Omar Marriage Allegation Is ‘Almost Certainly True’
A well-connected Minnesota Democrat broke ranks Thursday, saying the long-running allegation that Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother to commit immigration fraud is “almost certainly true” and warning his party to stop dismissing it.
“Democrats should understand that the allegation is almost certainly true, whatever conclusion they draw from that point could vary, and her denials calling it a right-wing, Islamophobic or racist conspiracy are almost certainly not,” Joe Radinovich wrote, Fox News Digital reported.
Radinovich also warned Democrats about Omar’s finances, where he said “no meaningful questions have been answered publicly, and where any objective look at the evidence doesn’t look…great.”
His résumé makes the remarks hard to wave away as partisan noise. Radinovich served as a Democratic-Farmer-Labor state representative from 2013 to 2015 and managed Democrat Rick Nolan’s 2016 congressional campaign.
He ran Jacob Frey’s successful 2017 campaign for Minneapolis mayor and later served as Frey’s chief of staff. In 2018 he won the DFL nomination in Minnesota’s 8th District before losing to Republican Pete Stauber.
‘I’m Not Stupid’
Briana Rose Lee, a Minneapolis DFL activist who worked in Omar’s campaign operation, pushed back. “Joe. You aren’t stupid. You know this is a baseless and manufactured witch hunt,” she wrote. “It’s a new low.”
Radinovich did not retreat. “You’re right. I’m not stupid. I believe the Trump DOJ has next to no credibility,” he replied, while questioning the timing of the raid on Omar’s home.
He added that “it’s notable a DC judge signed off on it” and said he remains “pretty confident this specific allegation is true.”
In a separate post, he went further. “Vibes is what it would take to believe her at this point,” he wrote. “There’s plenty of evidence and sourcing available if you don’t dismiss it out of hand,” the New York Post reported.
Omar’s campaign hit back hard in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling Radinovich “a deeply troubled individual” with “an irrational obsession with Congresswoman Omar after managing two losing campaigns against her.”
“His claims are false, biased, and without any evidence,” the campaign added, calling him “a shill for Republican and Corporate money.” Radinovich worked with Don Samuels, who unsuccessfully challenged Omar in the 2022 and 2024 primaries.
Omar has denied for a decade that she married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen, in 2009. She calls the renewed scrutiny a political vendetta by President Donald Trump.
Homeland Security Investigations agents searched her Washington home on Oct. 12 under a court-approved warrant, the AP reported. Fox and the Post reported that her passport, phone and computer were seized.
Investigators are examining whether Omar or her late father, Nur Mohamed, falsified citizenship paperwork decades ago, a probe that could put her citizenship at risk.
Sources told Fox News Digital that the Obama administration opened a probe into the alleged sham marriage in 2016, and that it stayed open until the Biden administration closed it in 2021.
Omar has not been charged with any crime. Still, nearly 40 House Democrats declined to sign a letter urging an end to the investigation.
She faces voters Tuesday in Minnesota’s heavily Democratic 5th District, where she is seeking another term.
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