The newly elected representative from Minnesota is facing a fine for some illegal activities in her campaign.
Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar has been ordered to reimburse her campaign account about $3,500 and to pay a fine of $500. This is the outcome of an investigation that found she illegally used campaign funds in 2016 and 2017, according to a report released on Thursday.
The illegal donations are connected to when Omar, who represents a district in Minnesota, served as a state representative.
A report revealed that the allegations include a $1,500 payment to a law firm that her campaign hired to respond to unproven allegations that she married her brother as part of a “immigration scheme.” This is according to a report in the Star Tribune.
There was other money used illegally in her campaign for travel expenses to cities that include Boston, Chicago and Washington DC for political events, the newspaper reported.
The Board of Campaign Finance found that on five different occasions that Omar paid for travel and hotel expenses on out-of-state trips in 2017, including a rally for a local candidate in Boston, that Omar had “categorized as expenses of serving in public office.”
The investigation started in 2018 after Minnesota GOP state Rep. Steve Drazkowski filed a complaint to the board.
“This just really adds on to the litany of disrespect for the law that Rep. Omar has,” Drazkowski told the Washington Examiner after the board’s report was released Thursday. “You have eight violations here.”
“I’m glad this process is complete and that the Campaign Finance Board has come to a resolution on this matter,” Omar told the newspaper in a statement.
She also said she plans to close the account from the state race and give the money to organizations that help first-time candidates “so that the next generation of candidates and their teams know how to adequately track and report campaign expenses.”
Credit: NY Post
