Vance says 'something fishy' about Ilhan Omar's marriage as he confirms DOJ is hunting a crime to prosecute

By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT Published: 21:16, 19 May 2026 | Updated: 21:18, 19 May 2026 Vice President JD Vance made a few curious remarks about Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her 'fishy' marriage as he revealed she's under federal investigation.  Filling in for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during her maternity leave, Vance stood behind the White House briefing room podium to field questions from the media.  Vance delivered updates as head of the White House's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud - including looking into a COVID-era scam involving Minnesota businesses.   And he also seemingly confirmed that the Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, is the subject of a federal investigation.  Omar has raised questions over her marriage, her finances and her potential links to Minnesota-based fraud schemes.  The progressive has long been plagued by allegations that she married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009 while she was legally married to Ahmed Hirsi.  The Congresswoman has long denied the claims, calling them absurd and rooted in Islamophobia. It is unclear if the DOJ is investigating her past marriage to Elmi.  'I don't want to prejudge an investigation,' Vance said. 'I mean, you read the things about Ilhan Omar, and about who she married, and whether she didn't marry this person or that person.' Vice President JD Vance said that the Department of Justice is investigating Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Tuesday Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been a frequent foil for the Trump administration. The President has repeatedly lambasted her over the years  'It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody's entitled to equal justice under the laws. So, we're gonna investigate it. We're gonna take a look at it.'  Previously Vance said that Omar 'definitely committed immigration fraud' while speaking with conservative commentator Benny Johnson in March.  He appeared to walk back that claim, in part, by claiming that the DOJ will determine whether a crime was committed.  'If we think that there's a crime, we're gonna prosecute that crime, and that's something the Department of Justice is looking at right now,' he said on Tuesday.  Omar has also been linked to individuals prosecuted for a major fraud scheme in Minnesota regarding a COVID-era program that received $250 million from the federal government.   Salim Ahmed Said, the owner of Safari Restaurant, which is where Omar held her 2018 campaign victory party, was convicted on 21 counts including wire fraud and money laundering in March 2025.  He allegedly pocketed $5 million from the scheme funneling money through Feeding Our Future, a COVID-era food program, for his own enrichments rather than for child nutrition.  'She [Omar] has been at the center of a lot of the worst fraudsters at the center of the Somali community,' Vance previously told Johnson in March.  Omar and her current husband Timothy Mynett at a Washington, DC, event in September 2025 Omar held her 2018 election party at this restaurant owned by a convicted fraudster  Omar, who has since remarried to Timothy Mynett, has also raised eyebrows over her family wine business that has skyrocketed in value in a single year.  House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican, announced in February that his panel will probe Mynett, a political consultant and entrepreneur. In a letter to Mynett, Comer asked for financial information regarding Rose Lake Capital LLC, his business consulting firm, and eStCru LLC, a wine company, in which Omar holds a stake. According to Omar's federal financial disclosures, Rose Lake went from being valued between $51,000 to $250,000 in 2023 to $5 million to $25 million in 2024. The increase in value from $250,000 to $5 million, the minimum the LLC could've risen in a single year, according to the forms, is 1,900 percent. Meanwhile, eStCru LLC ballooned in valuation from $15,000 to $50,000 in 2023 to $1 million to $5 million in 2024, also a 1,900 percent increase. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.