Trump Rips Omar Over 'Real Name,' Floats Cuba Warship Stopover and Iran Strike 'Maybe Tomorrow'

President Donald Trump went on offense in the closing stretch of the midterm campaign, telling a Georgia crowd Saturday night that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., “will not be legally allowed” to keep her seat, floating a U.S. warship “stopover” off Cuba and warning reporters that a new strike on Iran could come “maybe tomorrow.”

The remarks came over about 24 hours: at a Friday night rally in Fort Myers, Florida, outside his Palm Beach polling place Saturday morning, and at a Saturday night rally in Perry, Georgia, with the Nov. 3 elections 10 days away. The video above shows all three moments. Quotes are from the Roll Call Factba.se rally transcripts, news reports and HYGO News’ transcription of the video.

”Please Inform the Speaker”

“Please inform the Speaker of the House of Representatives James Michael Johnson that the Democrat Party has just conceded her seat,” Trump told the crowd at the Guardian Centers in Perry. “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, her real name, has openly admitted to fraud and she will not be legally allowed to be a member of this august body” [1].

Trump has hammered the Somali-born congresswoman all week. He made the same claim at a rally in Fort Myers on Friday, where he called on two Florida Republicans in the crowd, Rep. Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, to deliver the message, joking, “You didn’t know his first name was James” [2]. A night earlier in Sioux City, Iowa, he told supporters, “The Republicans have just picked up a seat in the House” [3].

The attacks follow a Wednesday court filing by the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro that identified the congresswoman as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar,” as first reported by Fox News Digital. The filing, a motion to keep the search warrant for her Washington home sealed, used that name in its opening sentence. One source told Fox News Digital the wording “reflected the evidence that has so far been compiled” in the investigation. Elmi is also the last name of Omar’s ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who critics allege is her brother, a claim Omar denies [4].

“So the question is, who is Ilhan Omar, and has she followed all of the laws as it relates to naturalization and immigration,” Pirro said on Fox News [5].

Feds Zero In on Omar’s Citizenship

The raid: Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s D.C. home on Oct. 12 under a court-approved warrant. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the Justice Department said. Agents seized her phone, passport, computers and notebooks, The Wall Street Journal reported [6].
The age question: Investigators are examining whether Omar or her late father listed her age as 17 rather than 18 on immigration paperwork. That would have let her become a citizen through his naturalization in 2000 instead of applying on her own, the Journal reported [7].
Family subpoenas: Federal investigators have subpoenaed Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, and other relatives, Fox News reported [8]. Investigators have also obtained a sample of Omar’s DNA, a source told Newsweek [9].
Her finances: A separate inquiry into Omar’s financial disclosures began under the Biden administration in 2024, Fox News reported [10].

Omar denies wrongdoing. “Whenever the news turns bad, this creep reaches for one name: mine,” she wrote on X. “My name has always been Ilhan Omar” [9]. Approached by Fox News Digital at a Minnesota mall on Friday, she said: “It’s Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.” Her spokesperson called the alias reports “completely false” and the brother allegation a “disgusting conspiracy theory” [4]. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Trump of “targeting Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with unhinged personal attacks and baseless accusations” [1]. The Journal reported that Homeland Security Investigations officials examined a similar allegation under Biden but did not pursue it, citing a lack of evidence of fraud [7].

Can Omar Be Removed?

The Constitution leaves that call to the House, not to either party. Each chamber “shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members” and can expel one only “with the Concurrence of two thirds” [11]. An investigation alone does not remove a member, and revoking a naturalized citizen’s citizenship would require a court case [7][10].

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital he will “demand expulsion immediately” if Omar is found to have committed immigration fraud. “You can’t be in Congress if you’re not a citizen of the United States,” Fine said [10]. For now, Omar remains in office and on the ballot. She faces Republican John Nagel in Minnesota’s 5th District, where she is heavily favored, Newsweek reported, citing prediction-market data [9].

”We’ll Take Care of Cuba on Our Way Back From Iran”

In Fort Myers, someone in the crowd shouted a question about Cuba. “Give me a break. Give me a break. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran,” Trump said. “Actually, what we’re going to do with Cuba is we’re going to come back from Iran. Those beautiful ships will pass Cuba. We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast, they’ll raise up their hands and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.” He added: “We don’t even have to stop, we could just put him in there and he’ll figure it out” [2][12].

Moments later, Secretary of State Rubio posted that “now is the time” for change in Cuba, urging Cubans “to seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA,” the Associated Press reported. Trump first floated the warship idea earlier this year. In May, he said previous presidents had considered intervening in Cuba for decades but that “it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.” After his United Nations speech in September, he said he expected the two countries “will make a deal,” adding, “I don’t think we’ll need the military. Cuba is failing very badly.” The communist island has been battered by blackouts, food shortages and inflation, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have left [12].

”Maybe Tomorrow”

After casting his ballot early in Palm Beach with first lady Melania Trump on Saturday, Trump was asked how far along he was on “a possible attack on Iran” [13][15]. “Do you really think I’d tell you that?” he shot back, asking whether anybody from The Wall Street Journal could “ask a question so stupid” [13]. Then: “Maybe tomorrow. … There’s a possibility I will. There’s also a possibility we’ll have a nice, big, beautiful agreement. They want to make a deal, but the problem is, will they hold the deal?” [14].

Trump said a one-and-done strike was never enough. “I could have done the B-2 bomber thing a year ago and left. The problem is over the course of a year, a year and a half, two years, they would have somehow figured a way to make a nuclear bomb. I’ve got to make it permanent,” he said. He closed by saying the question was whether “we finish that” or “make a deal with them, and that’s going to be up to them” [13]. The night before in Fort Myers, he put it more bluntly: “We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree” [2].

The war began Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in an operation the Pentagon named Epic Fury [18]. The U.S. military declared major combat over in May, but a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continues, and Iran has kept attacking commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz [16]. For the fight in Congress over the war, see our explainer on the War Powers Resolution and the Iran war.

By the Numbers

Oil: Trump said the U.S. is “getting more oil out of the Hormuz Strait than we did before the war started.” The Wall Street Journal, citing Kpler ship-tracking data, reported that Persian Gulf oil flows topped prewar levels: more than 24 million barrels a day in the week ended Oct. 18, versus a prewar average of 23.3 million. Traffic through the strait itself was about 14 million barrels a day, or 82% of prewar volume. Saudi and Emirati pipelines carried much of the rest; in September, about 40% of non-Iranian crude leaving the Gulf bypassed Hormuz, up from 17% before the war [16][17].
The blockade: U.S. Central Command said Oct. 22 that its blockade, then in its 100th day, “has helped prevent Iran from exporting at least $25 billion worth of crude oil” [16].
Iran’s military: Trump said U.S. forces destroyed “259 jet fighters” and “259 ships, all at the bottom of the sea.” In March, CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said more than 100 Iranian naval vessels had been destroyed [18].
Iran’s economy: Trump said Iran’s inflation “as of this morning, I just read, was 301%.” The World Bank estimates it averaged 84.8% from April through August 2026 [21]. The International Monetary Fund projects 68.9% inflation for the year and a 6.1% economic contraction, CNBC reported [22].
The B-2 strikes: Operation Midnight Hammer, the strike on three Iranian nuclear sites in which B-2 bombers used bunker-buster bombs in combat for the first time, came in June 2025 [19].
“My uncle invented radar”: Trump’s uncle, MIT professor John G. Trump, became secretary of the National Defense Research Committee’s Microwave Committee in 1942 and directed the British branch of MIT’s Radiation Laboratory from 1944 to the end of the war in Europe. In 1947, the King of England awarded him His Majesty’s Medal for his help to the U.S. Air Force and his cooperation with Britain, according to the IEEE’s history of engineers [20].

What’s Next

Omar: The investigation continues, and any move against her seat would have to come from the House [11]. Voters in her district go to the polls Nov. 3 [9].
Iran: Iranian state-linked media denied reports that Tehran had offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to the blockade [15]. The War Zone reported Israeli Air Force operations, ship movements and messaging that “point to the possibility that the war with Iran is about to erupt again” [16].
Cuba: The administration has been building opposition to the upcoming annual United Nations vote condemning the U.S. embargo of Cuba, the AP reported [12].