Donald Trump used a joke about his sisters on Sunday to repeat an unproven claim that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) married her brother. The president made the comments in Salina, Kansas, while campaigning ahead of the midterm elections.
Donald Trump’s remarks about his sisters came during a Kansas campaign rally
Trump told the Salina crowd that people once asked him whether he dated his sister. He did not say who asked. The audience laughed as he answered.
“People years ago, they asked me, ‘Is it true that you’re dating your sister?’” Trump said. “I said no. … I have two beautiful sisters. One of them passed away, fantastic person, federal judge, top, top federal judge, and the other was a beautiful sister. But I’ve never had an interest in dating her, marrying her. … Never even crossed my mind.”
Trump used the tangent to echo his allegation that Omar married her brother. He has offered no proof. Authorities recently raided Omar’s home, and the Justice Department is reportedly investigating her citizenship.
Omar, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, has served in Congress since 2019. She has called the allegations false and politically motivated. After all, the president has made similar attacks before. He repeated the claim at a rally in The Villages, Florida, where coverage described it as long debunked.
Elizabeth Trump Grau, 84, is the president’s only living sibling. His other sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, served as a federal judge before she retired. She died in 2023 at age 86. Trump also joked about his sisters at a recent rally in Daytona Beach, Florida.
All in all, the Salina event followed a recent campaign stop in the state of Iowa, and Trump frequently veered off topic at both locations, even claiming he would have won the 1955 Vietnam War within a week.
