ADVERTISEMENT

Ilhan Omar Funnels 70 Percent of Campaign Expenditures to Husband's Company

Firm has received $2.7 million from Omar this cycle

Ilhan Omar
(Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
October 15, 2020

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) funneled an additional $1.1 million to her husband's company, bringing her total payments to the firm to $2.7 million for the election cycle, new filings show.

Omar's campaign filings, released Thursday, show that she sent $1.1 million more to the E Street Group, a political consulting firm owned by her husband, Tim Mynett. The payments account for nearly 70 percent of the $1.6 million Omar's campaign has disbursed between July 23 and the end of September. They have helped cover advertisements, consulting, travel expenses, and production costs.

Omar has faced criticism on a number of issues since she entered Congress in 2018. Among other things, her lack of transparency about her past marriages has come under fire, and the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board has ordered her to repay thousands for a campaign finance violation.

She now faces a complaint for potentially running afoul of House ethics rules in relation to an advance she received for her memoir.

The freshman "Squad" member has showered her husband's company with cash this cycle. The E Street Group is the highest paid vendor from the campaign, and Omar had already sent $1.6 million to the group.

With the $1.1. million in new payments, the firm has now received a total of $2.7 million from Omar's campaign for the 2020 elections.

Prior to tying the knot with Mynett in March, Omar had long denied their romantic involvement. In August divorce filings, Mynett's then-wife accused the congresswoman of having an affair with her husband.

Omar claimed at the time that she was not separated from then-husband Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi.

"I have no interest in allowing the conversation about my personal life to continue and so I have no desire to discuss it," she said.

Mynett, likewise, denied the affair and said his then-wife was attempting to "ruin his career."

Omar's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.