Ilhan Omar Under Fire For Marrying Consultant Whose Firm Was Paid Nearly $600K By Her Campaign

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has come under renewed fire after marrying Tim Mynett – head of political consulting firm E Street Group, which made approximately $586,000 for a “range of services that included digital advertising, fundraising consulting, digital communications and design,” as well as banging their clients behind their wives’ backs, apparently. Mynett was personally paid $7,000 directly for fundraising before his firm was hired.

Payments to the firm in the 2019-2020 cycle for Omar’s reelection campaign comprised 40 percent of total campaign expenses, federal filings show.

Representatives for Omar’s campaign and Mynett’s firm said this week that there was nothing improper about the payments because they were made for legitimate work. –WaPo

On Wednesday, Omar announced on Instagram that she and Mynett had filed for their marriage license that same day, according to the Washington Post.

Of note, a campaign finance violation investigation was launched after revelations of their relationship emerged.

On Friday, E Street Group co-founder Will Hailer said that the payments from Omar’s campaign were for legitimate campaign work, and that most of the advertising-related payments had been passed on to vendors.

The firm has about 18 employees and “on any given day, eight or more people could be touching her account at some point, between design, digital ads, social media, email content creation, high-dollar fundraising, political support and many other things that we provide for the campaign, Hailer said. “Similar to what we provide for countless other clients across the country.”

Hailer said he and Mynett began working for Omar’s campaign after years of political experience in her district and in Minnesota. –WaPo

David Mitriani, Omar’s campaign attorney, said in a Thursday memo echoing Hailer’s comments that the firm provided legitimate services to the campaign at a fair market value.

“There is simply nothing unusual about the services that E Street Group provides to Ilhan for Congress — and nothing inappropriate with a vendor being reimbursed for travel for bona fide services — even if that vendor is run by a candidate’s spouse,” he wrote.

In August 2019, Omar was accused in a divorce filing by Mynett’s estranged wife, Dr. Beth Mynett, of stealing her husband. Tim and Beth have a 13-year-old son together.

“The parties physically separated on or about April 7, 2019, when Defendant told Plaintiff that he was romantically involved with and in love with another woman, Ilhan Omar,” reads the court filing, which adds “Defendant met Rep. Omar while working for her.”

“It is clear to Plaintiff that her marriage to Defendant is over and that there is no hope of reconciliation,” the filing continues.

Omar, meanwhile, filed for divorce against her previous husband in October amid allegations that she was having an affair with Mynett, citing an “irretrievable breakdown” in her marriage.