Skip to content

Ilhan Omar to divorce husband a year after remarriage

Storyline:National News

Somali American congresswoman Ilhan Omar has filed for divorce with her husband Ahmed Hersi whom they remarried last year.

The U.S newspaper Washington Post reported Monday the congresswoman sought to end her marriage with Hersi terming it irretrievably broke’. The two were reportedly married in 2002 then later divorced before remarrying in 2018.

According to the Post, Omar filed the suit amid allegations the Somali born lawmaker is involved in an affair with a former campaign official.

Omar’s new divorce filing is straightforward and doesn’t mention an affair. But a D.C. physician has alleged that her husband maintained a romantic relationship with Omar. In late August, Beth Mynett — medical director and health services administrator of the D.C. Department of Corrections — filed for legal separation from her husband. In documents filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Beth Mynett said Timothy Mynett told her that he was “romantically involved with and in love with another woman, Ilhan Omar.” The separation filing states that Timothy Mynett met Omar while working for her. Timothy Mynett’s counterclaim, also filed in late August, states that “he had not engaged in any physical or sexual relationship with any other woman during their marriage.”

Shortly after these allegations of an affair became public, Omar was asked in a television interview whether she was dating anyone or was separated from her husband. “No, I am not,” Omar replied.

“I have no interest in allowing the conversation about my personal life to continue, and so I have no desire to discuss it,” she told WCCO, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis.

On Monday, Omar’s office declined to comment on the divorce filing or the affair allegations. Her divorce filing was entered in a Minnesota court on Friday. E Street Group, Mynett’s consulting firm, did not respond to a request for comment.