Ilhan Omar

Used campaign funds to pay her new husband's political consulting firm $2.8 million

Federal filings showed Omar's campaign paid E Street Group — the firm of her then-boyfriend and now-husband Tim Mynett — $2.8 million between 2019 and 2022. The relationship and payments raised ethics questions.

Called for police to be 'dismantled' in Minneapolis — Minneapolis crime surged after budget cuts

"The Minneapolis Police Department is rotten to the root. Dismantling it is the only path forward."

Omar was a leading voice for defunding and dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department. After the city council cut the police budget, Minneapolis saw a significant surge in violent crime.

Called for 'dismantling' the US economy and political system

"We can't stop at [criminal justice reform]. We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it."

Omar made this statement in June 2020 after George Floyd's death. She called not just for police reform but for dismantling the broader economic and political system of the United States.

Married her brother to commit immigration fraud — according to federal investigators and reporting

Multiple investigative reports, including from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, alleged Omar had married her biological brother Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009 to help him gain US citizenship. Omar denied it, and the case was never prosecuted.

Said 'some people did something' about 9/11 — at a CAIR fundraiser

"Some people did something."

Omar used this phrase to describe the September 11 attacks during a March 2019 fundraiser for CAIR. The comment drew immediate bipartisan condemnation. She defended it as taken out of context.

Tweeted that 'Israel has hypnotized the world' — later apologized but repeated antisemitic tropes

"Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel."

Omar posted this tweet in 2012. In 2019 she made further comments about Israel and dual loyalties that were widely condemned as antisemitic, including by Democratic leadership. She issued partial apologies.