Ilhan Omar's Campaign Funneled Nearly $3M to Her Husband's Firm This Cycle Alone
Radical Democrat pumps $2.8 million into Tim Mynett's consultancy company
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Radical "Squad" Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has funneled almost $3 million in campaign funds to her husband's firm during this cycle alone, data shows.
In the 2019-2020 election cycle, Omar has pumped almost $2.8 million to her husband's political consulting firm so far.
The figure includes nearly 70 percent of her third-quarter disbursements.
From the start of 2019 through July 22, 2020, Federal Election Commission (FEC) data shows that Omar's campaign sent $1.6 million to E Street Group LLC, which is owned by her husband Tim Mynett.
After that, she then plowed an additional $1.1 million into Mynett's company in the third quarter and pumped an extra $27,000 in the following weeks.
That $1.1M constituted almost 70 percent of the total $1.6 million that "socialist" Omar's campaign spent in that quarter.
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The expenses covered a range of services, including cable advertising, "digital consulting," video production, and editing.
Omar handily won re-election last week amid criticism surrounding the way she financed her campaign.
She married Mynett, a campaign consultant, in March after having funneled more than $500,000 to his firm by that point.
The Minnesota congresswoman previously tweeted a lengthy thread in which she defended her expenses.
She claimed that her relationship with her husband began long after her campaign started working with his firm.
My relationship with Tim began long after this work started.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
We consulted with a top FEC campaign attorney to ensure there were no possible legal issues with our relationship. We were told this is not uncommon and that no, there weren’t.
"We consulted with a top FEC campaign attorney to ensure there were no possible legal issues with our relationship," she said.
"We were told this is not uncommon and that no, there weren’t."
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The payments are possible because of a 1960s federal anti-nepotism statute that prohibits members of Congress from hiring relatives for government jobs but does not block family members from doing campaign work, a former chief ethics lawyer from the administration of former President George W. Bush told The New York Post.
"It should not be allowed," attorney Richard Painter said.
"I think it’s a horrible idea to allow it, given the amount of money that goes into these campaigns from special interests."
Painter ran as a Democrat for a Minnesota Senate seat in 2018 but lost to Sen. Tina Smith in the primary.
Omar and Mynett wed after she divorced her then-husband in November of 2019.
Although Omar denied having an affair, divorce papers from Mynett's ex-wife alleged the opposite.
