A consulting firm co-owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband received more than $600,000 in COVID-19 relief funds while taking millions from Omar’s campaign.
Records show that E Street Group received $134,800 from the Paycheck Protection Program and $500,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Omar’s campaign has paid the firm $2.78 million since July 2019, according to Federal Election Commission records. Between July 23 and Sept. 30, E Street Group received $1.1 million from Omar’s campaign for expenses related to advertising, digital consulting, video production and editing, travel and more.
The $1.1 million in payments accounted for 70% of Omar’s third quarter disbursements.
Omar defended her campaign’s financial relationship with E Street Group in a March statement, but announced in November that she is cutting ties with her husband’s firm.
“So we’ve decided to terminate our contract with Tim and Will’s firm,” Omar wrote in an email to supporters, referring to her husband, Tim Mynett, and his business partner, Will Hailer.
“While many of our close supporters know these two well and have recommended we keep them on — I want to make sure that anybody who is supporting our campaign with their time or financial support feels there is no perceived issue with that support,” she said.
Omar’s involvement with Mynett prompted a national nonprofit to lodge an FEC complaint against her, which claimed that the freshman congresswoman used campaign funds for “romantic companionship.”
Omar is also the subject of a House ethics complaint that claims she failed to disclose an advance she received for her May memoir.