Somali-born Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar has paid nearly $2.8 million to her husband’s political consulting firm so far in the 2019-2020 election cycle, including nearly 70% of her third-quarter disbursements, according to Fox News.
Federal Election Commission data shows that Omar’s campaign sent $1.6 million to E Street Group LLC, which is owned by her husband Tim Mynett, from the start of 2019 through Jul. 22, 2020 for services including cable advertising, “digital consulting,” video production and editing. After that, she reported an additional $1.1 million in the third quarter and $27,000 in the following weeks. That $1.1 million constituted nearly 70% of the $1.6 million that Omar’s campaign spent that quarter.
Omar, who divorced her previous husband in November of 2019, had previously tweeted a lengthy defense of her expenses, claiming her relationship with her Mynett began long after her campaign started working with his firm. The couple wed in March after she funneled more than $500,000 to his firm. Although Omar denied having an affair, divorce papers from Mynett’s ex-wife alleged the opposite.
“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.”