Cover-Up? Staff Emails Show Ilhan Omar’s Office Requested Birth Year Change to Fit Citizenship Story

Staff emails reportedly show that Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (MN-05) congressional office contacted the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in May 2019 and requested that her listed birth year be changed from 1981 to 1982.

The request came several months after Omar was elected to Congress and shortly after a video from a political opponent went viral questioning whether she had accurately stated her age.

For years, the 1981 date had appeared in the legislative library’s records, on Wikipedia, and in media reports, including during her time in the Minnesota House.

That effort appears significant and suggests her staff knew there was an issue with her listed birth year.

Omar has long said she received derivative citizenship through her father when he naturalized in 2000 and that she was still a minor then. A 1981 birth year would have made her 18 or 19 that year, which would have disqualified her from deriving citizenship as a minor.

The New York Post reported that the library director confirmed the staff request in writing, noting that Omar’s office was also working to update the date on Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

“On May 17, 2019, Library staff were informed by Rep. Omar’s congressional staff that her birth year was incorrect and requested that we change it to 1982,” the director wrote days after the change request. “Rep. Omar’s congressional staff are working with Wikipedia and with the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and other sources to correct her birth year on those sites."

Embedded tweet continues:

... that whole year and one year is the difference between her citizenship story working and not. "For derivative citizenship, two things have to be true — one, her father had to naturalize; and two, she still had to be a minor." That one year matters a lot.

The Washington Post later reported that a federal investigation into possible false statements on immigration paperwork is focused in part on her birth date and related citizenship documents, an inquiry that recently included a search of her Washington residence and subpoenas issued to family members.

“HSI was just looking at her file top to bottom,” a Trump administration official told the outlet.

RedState editor Bob Hoge on Tuesday reported that some members of Omar’s family have received grand jury subpoenas tied to the investigation in recent days.

"The stakes just got higher as the Justice Department issued subpoenas to some of Omar’s relatives as they dig into her family’s history and search for evidence of fraud or false statements in immigration paperwork," Hoge wrote.

Embedded tweet continues:

... sister Sahra Noor and at least one other relative while digging through records on whether her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, LIED or OMITTED information on immigration forms before becoming a U.S. citizen. On Monday, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C. home and hauled out boxes of documents after a federal judge signed a court-approved warrant.

President Trump weighed in on the DHS investigation into Omar, suggesting the effort may center on her questionable financial reporting, which RedState has covered extensively.

In May 2025, Omar reported household assets between roughly $6 million and $30 million. By March 2026, she filed an amended disclosure that dropped those figures to $18,004–$95,000 and listed the related businesses as having no net value after liabilities. She attributed the large swing to an accounting error.

"Could it be that her highly paid accountant actually reported the money that was stolen from her fraudulent activities in Minnesota?" Trump wondered aloud in a Truth Social post.

"Do you think the accountant actually gave the right number the first time, 30 Million Dollars, and then she was forced to disavow because she never would have been able to report where that much money came from?"

Whatever criticism may be directed at Omar, she is not unintelligent. And yet we're supposed to believe she didn't initially know what year she was born and miscalculated her financial assets by roughly 99 percent?

The congresswoman continues to assert that any investigation into her citizenship or otherwise is a baseless pursuit by the President against his political opponents.

"For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation," she wrote on X.

"I will not be silenced."

Besides, if it's proven she made false statements that affect her citizenship or her finances, she can continue to feign ignorance and simply "correct" the record.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin suggested the case is more than just political gossip.

“Here’s what I want to make sure we do: if we actually move a case forward, it’s not a political case, it’s an actual case, because they did things wrong,” he said. “If you lied about certain things about your application. There’s no expiration to that. If we can prove it – that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place – we’ll deport you.”

Credit: redstate.com