A well-connected Democratic operative in Minnesota just blew up his own party’s talking points on Rep. Ilhan Omar, saying the long-running allegations that she married her brother are “almost certainly true.” Joe Radinovich, a former Minnesota state representative and ex-chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, went on X Thursday and said what a lot of people have been thinking for a decade.
“Democrats should understand that the allegation is almost certainly true,” Radinovich wrote, “and her denials calling it a right-wing, Islamophobic or racist conspiracy are almost certainly not.” So the guy who ran two campaigns against Omar, managed a congressional race, and served as a top aide to the mayor of Minneapolis basically just called the congresswoman a liar. In public. On the internet. While a federal investigation is actively underway. Bold move.
Radinovich didn’t stop at the marriage stuff, either. He went after Omar’s financial record too, writing that he’d be “very, very careful” about defending her on the money questions, where “no meaningful questions have been answered publicly” and where “any objective look at the evidence doesn’t look…great.” That’s a polite, understated way of saying things look bad. Diplomatically put for a guy who apparently still has a conscience somewhere in that Democratic operative brain of his.
A Minneapolis Democratic activist named Briana Rose Lee, who used to work on Omar’s campaign, fired back immediately. “You aren’t stupid. You know this is a baseless and manufactured witch hunt,” Lee wrote. “It’s a new low.” Radinovich’s response? “You’re right. I’m not stupid.” He then noted that a D.C. federal judge signed off on the search warrant for Omar’s home, making it “pretty notable” and leaving him “pretty confident this specific allegation is true.” The activist called it a witch hunt. The operative called it evidence. You can decide who sounds more credible.
For background on the Ilhan Omar immigration investigation, federal agents raided her Washington D.C. home on October 12, seizing her passport, phone, and computer. Investigators are looking at whether Omar or her late father fraudulently provided information on citizenship paperwork years ago, which could potentially affect her citizenship status. The original probe opened under Barack Obama’s FBI in 2016, ran for five years, and was quietly closed in 2021 by the Biden administration. No criminal charges have been filed.
Omar’s campaign, naturally, did not take Radinovich’s comments well. They told Fox News Digital that Joe is “a deeply troubled individual whose demons have sadly manifested as an irrational obsession with Congresswoman Omar” and called him “a shill for Republican and Corporate money.” Nothing says your argument is airtight like attacking the mental health of the guy raising questions about you. Very reassuring. Very normal.
Radinovich’s parting shot summed it up pretty well: “Vibes is what it would take to believe her at this point.” The federal investigation continues, and congressional Democrats are going to have a harder time playing defense now that one of their own insiders has jumped ship. Omar’s office will keep calling it a smear. The feds will keep investigating. And Joe Radinovich will keep being right on the internet, which is apparently the most dangerous place to be if you’re Ilhan Omar right now.
