Rep. Omar, D-Minn busted for tax fraud and using campaign funds for private travel
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:51 pm
Rep. Omar, D-Minn., was the subject of a stinging editorial in Minnesota's Star Tribune on Wednesday in the wake of her recent campaign finance violations -- with the paper suggesting that it was just the latest "misstep by the first-term congresswoman."
"U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is back in the news again, and not in a good way," the editorial began. "The former state representative who won a seat in Congress last fall continues to be dogged by past missteps, this time eight violations of Minnesota campaign-finance law that will cost her nearly $3,500 in reimbursements and civil penalties."
Minnesota campaign finance officials ruled last week that Omar owed her campaign committee nearly $3,500, as well as a $500 civil penalty to the state, after using committee funds for personal travel and help on her tax returns.
The state's Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board reported that Omar and her husband filed joint tax returns while she was married to another man. Minnesota law only allows spouses to file jointly in civil marriages whereas Omar filed with a man with whom she was only married in "faith tradition."
"It is even more disturbing, therefore, to learn that among the board’s latest findings ... Omar, for two years running, filed joint tax returns with a man she was living with but not legally married to. Complicating matters further, she was legally married to another man at the time, who listed her on his tax returns," the editorial read.
Omar explained to the board that she doesn't understand tax laws and didn't know it was wrong to file jointly with a man not her husband. When the Minnesota's Star Tribune contact Omar for a statement she said she felt she was being selectively prosecuted and harassed because of her religion.
