That the majority of Ilhan Omar’s campaign funds have been diverted to a firm run by her husband has been the source of plenty of controversy for her, but that hasn’t stopped the money from flowing.
Last time we gave an update on Omar’s payments to her husband Tim Mynett’s firm E Street Group was at the end of July, when payments then totaled just over $1.6 million, accounting for nearly half of her total $3.4 million spent on operating expenditures that election cycle.
And in just over two months since, total spending to Mynett’s firm is up nearly 70%.
According to the Washington Free Beacon’s Joe Schoffstall:
Omar 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 and Mynett were married in March of this year. Ilhan announced the marriage in an Instagram post less than two months after denying allegations that the two were having an affair. Had the two been married at the time the payments started, that would’ve immediately raised red flags.
No stranger to campaign finance issues, Omar had previously been ordered to reimburse her campaign $3,500 after the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board found she illegally used campaign funds in 2016 and 2017. She was also fined $500. The violating payments included reimbursements for personal travel expenses, in addition to hiring a law firm for services related to an inquiry into her personal tax returns.
Soon-after she was hit with an FEC complaint in late August for allegedly using her campaign to illegally reimburse the travel expenses of Mynett. The complaint was filed one day after Mynett’s wife alleged he was having an affair with Omar. Travel expenses totaled over $21,000 and were not itemized, which is required.
As Omar would put it; it’s all about the Benjamins baby.
