Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) broke campaign finance laws by using money from her campaign to pursue a romantic affair with a married man, according to a new Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint.
The story broke on Tuesday when The New York Post reported that Omar was having an affair with Democrat strategist Tim Mynett, according to divorce filings from Mynett’s wife.
A key part of The Post’s report centered around the financial aspect between Omar’s campaign and Mynett. The Post reported:
The 37-year-old congresswoman and mom of three paid Tim Mynett and his E. Street Group approximately $230,000 through her campaign since 2018 for fundraising consulting, digital communications, internet advertising and travel expenses.
The Washington Examiner dove deeper into the ties between Omar’s re-election campaign and Mynett and found that “nearly one in every three dollars spent on her reelection (again, not including transfers to other campaigns or committees) [are] going to her alleged lover.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Andrew Kerr reported that Omar’s campaign “began making payments to E. Street Group for ‘travel expenses'” on April 1 and that six days later, on April 7, “Mynett confessed to his wife that he was ‘romantically involved with and in love with’ Omar,” according to the divorce filings.
Kerr noted that Beth Mynett said in her filing that her husband’s “more recent travel and long work hours now appear to be more related to his affair with Rep. Omar than with his actual work commitments.”
On Wednesday, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed a complaint with the FEC noting the suspicious timing of the alleged affair and the money that Omar was paying Mynett.
“If Ilhan for Congress reimbursed Mynett’s LLC for travel so that Rep. Omar would have the benefit of Mynett’s romantic companionship, the expenditures must be considered personal in nature,” NLPC said in its complaint. “Rep. Omar’s filings do not reveal subsequent reimbursements for Mynett’s travel.”
Kerr further noted that the NLPC’s complaint said that Omar’s alleged actions are illegal and added that Omar and Mynett have been photographed together at “multiple events in recent months.”
“Omar is the second sitting member of Congress alleged to have used campaign funds to pursue romantic affairs,” Kerr added. “Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and his wife were indicted in 2018 for taking more than $250,000 from his campaign to fund personal vacations and their children’s tuition. The Justice Department also alleged that Hunter used campaign funds to fund at least five extramarital affairs.”
Omar did not respond to requests for comment from multiple news organizations over her latest scandal.