The political fight over a Minnesota congresswoman has moved to a new front, centered on a single line in a legal document.
President Donald Trump on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, called on Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, to resign after a federal court filing referred to her by a different name. Omar’s office says the claims against her are false.
What did the court filing say?
The filing, submitted Oct. 21 by the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in Washington, referred to the congresswoman as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, also known as Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.
The court filing asked a judge to delay the government’s deadline to respond to requests from The New York Times and other news outlets seeking to unseal records tied to a search warrant for Omar’s home.
The court filing does not establish that Omar used a fraudulent identity, and she has not been charged with a crime.
What did Trump say about Ilhan Omar?
In a post on Truth Social and at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, Trump claimed that Omar was elected and sworn into Congress under a name that is not her real one, and said she should resign immediately. He also told the crowd that Republicans had effectively gained a House seat.
He also revived a longstanding, unproven allegation about her former husband, whose surname is Elmi, claiming he is her brother. Omar married him in 2009.
Trump’s claim that Omar used a false name to take office has not been established. Omar has served in Congress since 2019 and has won reelection several times.
How has Omar responded?
A spokesperson for Omar said Ilhan Omar is her real name and called the claims completely false.
In a recent interview on MS NOW, Omar called the allegation that she married her brother insane. Asked whether there was any truth to it, she said not to her knowledge, and said the claim began on a Somali blog. She did not elaborate on the blog’s origins.
Omar has denied the allegation about her former husband for years. Omar, who was born in Somalia, came to the United States as a refugee as a child and became a citizen in 2000.
Why might the court filing use a different name?
It is not clear why prosecutors used the name. Traditional Somali names typically combine a person’s given name with the names of their father and grandfather rather than a fixed family surname, which can lead to different versions of a name appearing in records.
In a Fox News interview, Pirro repeated the name but declined to say whether Omar was serving in Congress under an alias. The filing itself did not explain the use of the name.
What else is happening in the Omar case?
The court filing is part of a broader federal inquiry. Earlier this month, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at Omar’s home as part of an immigration investigation. No charges have been filed in that investigation.
Pirro has also said her office is reviewing Omar’s financial disclosures, and the administration’s border czar has said Omar could face denaturalization if investigators find she lied to obtain citizenship. Omar’s office has called the latest claims a desperate smear, according to reports.
Supporters of the president argue the court filing raises legitimate questions, while Omar’s allies say the claims are a recycled attempt to discredit one of Trump’s most prominent critics. The dispute is likely to continue.
Whether the court filing leads to anything more may become clearer as the fight over the warrant records plays out in court.
