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Obama Administration Investigated Ilhan Omar’s Alleged Marriage Fraud in 2016
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigated Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi during the summer of 2016 under the Obama administration. Officials found some evidence that the marriage was fraudulent. Elmi obtained a provisional two-year green card based on the marriage but left the United States and abandoned his petition for permanent status after immigration officials requested additional evidence.
The case stalled because prosecutors concluded the potential felony fell outside the five-year statute of limitations. A Biden-appointed U.S. attorney in Minnesota closed the probe in 2021. Omar has denied that Elmi is her brother or that the marriage was for immigration benefits. The matter has drawn renewed attention after a recent federal raid on her Washington home.
Why It Matters
Allegations that a sitting member of Congress entered a marriage to secure immigration status for a relative test the integrity of the system that grants legal residency and citizenship. When an earlier investigation finds evidence yet stalls on technical grounds, it leaves questions about whether the rules apply equally.
Hackers Release Details of More Than 41,000 Homeland Security Employees
A group calling itself the Department of Peace leaked records on more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees and contractors, including names, work emails, phone numbers, and office addresses. The data, published online by Distributed Denial of Secrets and researcher Maia Arson-Crimp, in a database called Icepick, covers staff at Customs & Border Protection, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. Roughly 21,000 records belong to CBP personnel and nearly 6,600 to ICE.
The files also identify officials tied to undercover operations, surveillance programs, and tools such as Palantir platforms and wiretap systems. The group wrote, “They have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs.” The breach is the third recent targeting of a government agency. Okta said it found no evidence its systems were compromised.
Why It Matters
Publishing the names, contact details, and operational assignments of ICE and DHS agents hands their identities to anyone with an internet connection. Agents and their families already face death threats for enforcing immigration law. This leak turns a security breach into a ready-made doxxing list that can escalate those threats and chill the officers who carry out the work.
Alaska Governor Orders Probe Into Peltola Campaign Over Spoiler Candidate Scheme
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy directed the Department of Public Safety to investigate Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign after reporting that aides and national Democratic operatives recruited a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The effort placed Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, on the ballot alongside the senator, Peltola, and another candidate.
Dunleavy said the reporting “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates—including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator—to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.” He added, “Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections.” Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have denied involvement. A former campaign manager said Peltola was “definitely aware.”
Why It Matters
Recruiting a name-alike candidate to siphon votes from a sitting senator treats the ballot as a trick rather than a choice. It risks undermining the basic expectation that voters cast ballots for the person they intend to support.
Key Figure in Minnesota Feeding Our Future Fraud Sentenced to 30 Years
Salim Said, who operated Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for his role in the Feeding Our Future scheme that defrauded a federal child nutrition program of millions during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, a Trump appointee, imposed the sentence. The government said Said was responsible for $44 million in fraud by vastly overstating meal counts.
Prosecutors said he claimed a “ridiculous daily distribution of 6,000 meals” while FBI cameras showed about 40 people a day collecting food. “The defendant and his sites did not serve thousands of children; he served a calculated, lucrative lie,” they stated. Brasel told Said, “You took more than taxpayers’ dollars to enrich yourself. You took the reputation of our state down with you.” He bought a $1.2 million home and luxury vehicles. Said was convicted in 2025 alongside Aimee Bock, who is serving nearly 42 years.
Why It Matters
Those who treated a child-nutrition program as a personal ATM for luxury homes and vehicles gamed the system for pure greed. Politicians who failed at basic oversight, whether from incompetence or to pander for votes, let the fraud run until the damage was done. The result is stolen money that should have fed kids and a public more cynical about every aid program.
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Study Finds Apple News Featured 84 Negative Headlines on GOP Priorities and None Positive
A Media Research Center study found that Apple News promoted 84 negative headlines about Republican policy priorities and zero positive ones during the two weeks from September 15 to September 30. Researchers examined the top 20 stories featured each morning and reviewed 117 relevant pieces on topics including immigration, the economy, crime, government spending, and national security. Of those, 84, or 72 percent, were classified as negative and 33, or 28 percent, as neutral.
Apple News functions as a news aggregator that curates and promotes stories from other outlets. The platform comes pre-installed on iPhones, giving its selections wide reach. Media Research Center President David Bozell said Apple News “ran 84 negative headlines on Republican priorities and zero positive ones.”
Why It Matters
A pre-installed app that feeds tens of millions of voters a steady stream of negative coverage on one party’s priorities while offering none that is positive shapes the information environment before an election. It turns a supposedly neutral aggregator into an editorial gatekeeper that steers the narrative rather than simply delivering news.
Hasan Piker Calls Republicans Terrorists at Event With Ilhan Omar
Islamofascist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker joined Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at a campaign event in Minnesota on Monday, where he called Republicans “terrorists.” Omar referred to the GOP as the “pedophile protection party” during a Q&A led by failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh. Piker said Republicans are “the most un-American force in this country” and “are terrorizing our neighborhoods.”
Omar told the audience that Minnesota “is not interested in a pedophile protection party” and does not “send people who are corrupt.” Piker also criticized Democrats who treated migrants as a national security threat, calling such views “un-American.” He has faced prior backlash for stating that America “deserved” the 9/11 attacks and was largely sidelined by some Democrat campaigns after an appearance with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Why It Matters
Labeling one of the country’s two major parties as “terrorists” from a stage shared with a sitting member of Congress normalizes rhetoric that treats political opponents as enemies rather than rivals. It coarsens public debate and gives cover to those who view democratic disagreement as justification for escalation.
Bureau of Prisons, ATF and DEA Employees to Monitor Midterm Polling Places
The Justice Department said in a court filing that employees from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration will monitor midterm elections. The monitors will observe polling places, take notes, and interview willing voters outside after they have cast ballots. They are prohibited from carrying firearms and trained not to interfere with voting.
The declaration, filed in an NAACP lawsuit, said the department is not using sworn law-enforcement personnel with arrest powers as monitors in a law-enforcement capacity. No FBI or Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees will participate. The effort follows practices used in prior election cycles, with monitors required to follow state and local rules at the sites they observe.
Bloomberg Law, Reuters, Just The News
Why It Matters
Assigning monitors from the Bureau of Prisons, ATF and DEA keeps federal observation limited to non-arrest personnel who follow longstanding civil-rights protocols. It provides routine oversight without placing agents who hold arrest powers at polling sites.
Ghost Students Steal Hundreds of Millions in Federal Financial Aid
Officials said Thursday that fraudsters have created “ghost” students who enroll in college, never attend classes, and collect federal financial aid using stolen identities. The schemes, often linked to operations in Kenya, use artificial intelligence to complete applications and homework and pay individuals to appear present in online courses. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald called it “organized fraud at scale” that has cost “potentially several hundred million dollars” since 2021.
California estimated that one-third of its community college applications in 2024 involved ghost students. The Justice Department’s Operation Ghostbusters has charged defendants in Nebraska, New Jersey, and Virginia, with 40 more investigations open. In one Nebraska case, Francis Mogambi, a Kenyan who entered through the Diversity Visa Lottery, cashed school checks and sent funds overseas. Education Department undersecretary Nicholas Kent said restored fraud controls have blocked $600 million in bogus aid.
Why It Matters
Foreign networks, many operating from Kenya, have treated U.S. financial aid as an open till by inventing ghost students and siphoning hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars. The scheme not only steals from Americans who fund the system but leaves real applicants locked out of aid under their own stolen identities.
ON THIS DAY IN 1929:
The Wall Street stock market collapsed in catastrophic panic selling, marking the worst single day in U.S. market history. The crash wiped out billions in wealth and became a major catalyst for the Great Depression.
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Crime Reports Spike Near UK Migrant Hotels as Government Blocks Nationality Data
GB News analysis of police data shows 673 crime and antisocial behavior reports between September 2023 and August 2026 at points next to three Bournemouth hotels housing illegal migrants. Violence and sexual offenses formed the largest category with 259 reports. Across the road from one hotel, those offenses ran at almost three times the local average.
The Home Office continues to insist there is “no evidence of rising crime” at its other sites. The Ministry of Justice is appealing an Information Commissioner order to release national conviction data by nationality from 2018 to 2024. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said of new £150 million funding for large-scale asylum centers: “This shows the Government has no intention whatsoever of stopping illegal immigrants or deporting them.”
The Express, GB News, The Telegraph
Why It Matters
Hiding nationality crime data while local reports show elevated violence and sexual offenses near migrant hotels leaves communities without the facts needed to assess risks. Expanding large sites without deterrence prioritizes housing arrivals over existing residents' safety.
EU Proposes Expanded Frontex Powers for Deportations Beyond Borders
The European Commission has proposed giving the border agency Frontex authority to operate beyond EU territory, organize returns between non-EU countries, and deploy rapid-reaction teams in emergencies. The plan follows a mass breach of an estimated 72,000 mostly young male migrants into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. Frontex could, for example, deport a Pakistani national from Libya directly to Pakistan under agreements with those countries.
Magnus Brunner, European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, said the changes will make Frontex the “central EU actor on returns” and allow it to “act faster. With a quick reaction force that can deploy within 24 hours and spot risks early, before an event becomes a crisis.” The proposal would expand the standing corps to 30,000 through a new reserve of about 17,000 officers.
Why It Matters
Expanding Frontex to intercept and return people before they reach European soil addresses large-scale surges that have strained border states. It shifts some of the burden from reactive national responses to coordinated action against organized flows and engineered pressure on the continent’s edges.
Christine Lagarde to Step Down Early as European Central Bank President
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde announced she will step down on February 7, 2027, roughly eight months before her term ends in October 2027. She informed the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa of the decision. Lagarde, 70, has led the ECB since November 2019.
Lagarde said she is leaving early to speak freely on matters outside monetary policy. “I want to have the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression and the freedom to engage on matters that are not monetary policy matters,” she stated. She added, “I’m interested in the truth, and I see the truth being very often damaged, contradicted by misrepresentation.” The move comes as the eurozone faces inflation pressures from energy costs and concerns over rising bond yields, particularly in France.
Why It Matters
An early exit by the head of Europe’s central bank, as inflation remains elevated and debt pressures mount, leaves the institution navigating uncertainty while a successor is chosen. It raises questions about continuity at a moment when energy costs and French bond yields are already testing the eurozone.
China Elevates Military Leader Zhang Shengmin to Politburo Amid Purges
The Chinese Communist Party named Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, to the Politburo at the fifth plenum of the Central Committee. The appointment, announced Oct. 29 after four days of closed-door meetings in Beijing, fills a vacancy created by purges of senior military officials. It is the first midterm addition to the Politburo in more than three decades.
Zhang is the only remaining general on the Central Military Commission besides Chinese leader Xi Jinping, after the Party removed five of six military leaders. The plenum also formalized the investigation of Liu Jianchao, former director of the Party’s International Department, for serious violations of discipline and law. Attendance reached only 162 full members and 117 alternates, the lowest rate since the Mao era.
Why It Matters
Elevating the last remaining military general to the Politburo after successive purges concentrates control in a narrowed circle ahead of the next Party Congress. It signals continued reliance on loyalty tests over institutional continuity in the armed forces.
