Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) has pledged to fight for ordinary people over the wealthy few, but she was spotted Wednesday night attending a secretive meeting of the left's wealthiest donors as they hashed out the future of the progressive movement.
Omar, joined by her top campaign consultant and alleged love interest Tim Mynett, gathered with members of the Democracy Alliance, a secretive network of liberal megadonors, at the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel, where the elite donor club is currently holding its fall investment conference. The donor group, which includes billionaires George Soros and Tom Steyer as members, holds twice-yearly under-the-radar meetings to discuss how to best spend its resources to advance liberal causes.
Omar and Mynett were spotted chatting with Democracy Alliance board member Keith Mestrich, the president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, which has established itself through the donor club as the de facto financial institution for the Democratic Party. Also among the crowd were Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, as well as top activists from liberal groups across the country.
Omar and Mynett were joined at the hip most of the night, eventually grabbing a table together at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel bar.
Omar's decision to hobnob with the party's deep-pocketed donors stands in stark contrast to her statements about the corrosive impact of the wealthy on society more broadly.
"I ran to help build a movement that reflects working people—not corporations or the wealthy few," Omar said earlier this month in a post commemorating the anniversary of her election. She has also said "the rich are getting richer as the people at the top milk more and more from the pockets of workers."
Omar was also recently praised by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) for her willingness to take on the billionaire class.
"She will not back down from a fight with billionaires and the world's most powerful corporations to transform our country so it works for all of us," Sanders said of Omar after receiving her endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary.
Omar has proposed a 70 percent tax rate for the wealthiest Americans and stated a willingness to raise rates up to 90 percent.
Democracy Alliance president Gara LaMarche said that Omar was "not an attendee of the conference itself."
"Far as I know, she was meeting with some people in the hotel bar, as people often do when the DA is meeting," LaMarche said in a Friday email. "She was not an attendee of the conference itself or in any program taking place this time."
LaMarche added that many folks came to the conference's opening reception that were not invited to the conference.
"We generally do not comment on who comes to the conference or doesn’t, but we held a big opening reception to which many organizational and political leaders were invited, and a number of folks came to that who are not otherwise invited or part of the conference program," LaMarche said.
The Democracy Alliance consists of more than 100 millionaire and billionaire partners, each required to spend at least $200,000 annually in support of approved groups.
Documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon at the Democracy Alliance's April investment meeting in Austin, Texas, revealed plans to spend at least $275 million in advance of the 2020 presidential election.
All programming at the event is off the record, and participants are asked not to share the names of other attendees.
Omar's office did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: Nov. 15, 1:45 p.m.: This piece has been updated with comment from Democracy Alliance president Gara LaMarche.