Rep. Ilhan Omar paid new husband Tim Mynett’s political consulting firm more than $878,000 since 2018 — including $189,000 just weeks after the couple announced they had gotten married, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.
In just the first quarter of this year, Mynett’s E Street Group has pulled in $292,000 from Omar’s campaign, fees the campaign says were paid for digital advertising, fundraising consulting and research services.
“The payments between the Minneapolis Democratic congresswoman and Tim Mynett prompted at least one ethics complaint in 2019 after The Post first revealed allegations — made by Mynett’s then-wife in her divorce filing — that Omar was having an affair with the member of her political consulting team, who was at the time married to another woman. Omar was married to her second husband at the time,” The Post wrote.
In total, Mynett has received a whopping $878,930.65 from Omar’s campaign since he began working for her in 2018, raising eyebrows among watchdogs and political law experts who say the practice is rife with cronyism.
The majority of those payments were made after the Somali-born lawmaker’s victory in the solidly Democratic district in the November 2018 midterm elections.
Omar is by far the E Street Group’s biggest client, according to Open Secrets data, with nearly one in every three of Omar’s campaign dollars going to her alleged lover’s firm as of last August, according to the Washington Examiner.
Omar wrote on Twitter in March that she and Mynett received approval from federal authorities to continue their business relationship, even as they were newly married.
“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,” Omar wrote.
Omar also said “we pay fair market value for these services, but spend relatively little on fundraising compared to how much we raise, allowing us to invest more in organizing work to pass a bold progressive agenda.”
The second thing they would see: we pay fair market value for these services, but spend relatively little on fundraising compared to how much we raise, allowing us to invest more in organizing work to pass a bold progressive agenda.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
