Ilhan Omar faces campaign finance probe, results are imminent

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) should soon learn the results of an investigation into her alleged campaign misspending.

An exclusive report by ABC 7 News (Sinclair) reported Monday that authorities have recently completed their investigation and are preparing to issue rulings on complaints against the freshman lawmaker.

Omar, a Somalian immigrant to the United States, has been in the limelight since early this year after she tweeted and ranted a series of antisemitic statements, including accusing American lawmakers of being pro-Israel because they are paid to be so.

Complaints against Omar were first filed last year during her election campaign, explained the ABC report. 

Rep. Steve Drazkowski alleged that Omar had improperly spent $6,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including payments to her divorce attorney and on travel. 

 "Representative Omar hasn't followed the law,” Drazkowski told ABC 7. “She's repeatedly trampled on the laws of the state in a variety of areas and gotten by with it."

ABC 7 made multiple efforts to ask Omar for a response but was refused comment. She did not deny the complaints.

On his website, Drazkowski published updates on the cases, including quotations from formal notifications he said he had received from the campaign finance board in which the panel apparently informed Drazkowski that it had commenced the investigation into the two matters. 

"The Omar Committee’s 2017 year-end report shows several non-campaign disbursements for out-of-state travel for Rep. Omar to attend various events,” one notification read, according to Drazkowski. “The information on the committee’s 2017 year-end report does not indicate how attendance at these events would have helped Rep. Omar in the performance of her legislative duties.”

 

ABC 7 said sources close to the investigative process will issue rulings by the end of May, if not before.