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Ilhan Omar Investigated Over Alleged Personal Use of Campaign Funds

Omar accused of using campaign funds on divorce attorney, out-of-state trips as state lawmaker 

Rep. Ilhan Omar
Rep. Ilhan Omar / Getty Images
April 1, 2019

Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar will soon hear the results of an investigation that took place quietly over recent months and which looked into her potential campaign-finance violations, according to a Sinclair report Monday.

Minnesota state representative Steve Drazkowski, a Republican, filed two complaints against the now-congresswoman last year alleging that she had misused around $6,000 in campaign funds during her time as a state lawmaker.

Drazkowsk's first complaint alleged Omar had used the campaign funds to pay for legal fees for her divorce attorney. Drazkowski's second complaint alleged Omar had used campaign funds to pay for out-of-state travel to Estonia and Massachusetts.  

Minnesota's Campaign Finance Board said Omar's "out of state travel may not have been to events that would have helped a candidate in the performance of state legislative duties" at the time it ruled probable cause to move to a formal investigation, Drazkowski posted on his website last November.

"I'm pleased the Campaign Finance Board is taking Representative Omar’s blatant misuse of taxpayer resources seriously," Drazkowski said at the time. "Omar doesn’t get to pick and choose the rules she wants to follow, yet it appears that’s exactly what she’s been doing for the past two years." 

Sinclair reported that the investigations into Omar's campaign spending has concluded and its findings will be announced soon.   

"I had observed a long pattern," Drazkowski told Sinclair. "Representative Omar hasn't followed the law. She's repeatedly trampled on the laws of the state in a variety of areas, and gotten by with it." 

Omar did not answer questions from Sinclair on the investigation and her alleged misuse of campaign funds.