Minnesota Republican lawmakers asked the IRS in August 2019 to review Rep. Ilhan Omar’s tax filings, citing a state board report that said she had filed joint returns in 2014 and 2015 with Ahmed Hirsi while she was legally married to another man, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
The request followed findings issued by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on June 6, 2019. The board encountered the tax returns while examining a $1,500 campaign expense and whether campaign funds had paid for services that benefited Omar personally. The payment was part of a $2,250 reimbursement to the Kjellberg Law Office for legal and other work.
Omar’s campaign committee told the board that Kjellberg had hired the accounting firm Frederick & Rosen to collect and review financial records as the committee responded to questions about Omar’s marital history. The firm prepared releases for Omar and Hirsi to sign so it could request copies of their 2014 and 2015 federal returns from the IRS.
The board found that the committee had not shown the $1,500 expense served a campaign purpose and ordered Omar to repay the money. During the proceedings, lawyer Carla Kjellberg said Frederick & Rosen’s work had provided “some personal benefit” to Omar because there was an issue with her returns that needed to be corrected whether or not she was a candidate.
Omar and Hirsi married in 2002 under a Muslim religious tradition and ended that relationship in 2008, according to published reports. Omar legally married Elmi in February 2009 and divorced him in December 2017, according to public records and divorce documents.
In a letter dated Aug. 6, 2019, the lawmakers asked then-IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to examine Omar’s filings in light of the state board’s report. “Due to recent developments, I believe probable cause exists for an investigation into Rep. Omar’s tax filings,” the letter said.
The letter was signed by state Reps. Steve Drazkowski, Linda Runbeck, Glenn Gruenhagen, Shane Mekeland, John Poston, Eric Lucero, Duane Quam, Tim Miller, Cal Bahr and Jeremy Munson. Drazkowski later said the IRS did not respond. The agency did not comment, and it could not be confirmed whether it acted on the request. Federal tax confidentiality rules generally limit what the IRS can disclose about individual taxpayers.
The state board’s findings followed two complaints filed by Drazkowski. It rejected the claim that the $1,500 payment covered Omar’s personal divorce proceedings, even though Kjellberg also represented her in that matter. The board separately ordered Omar to repay campaign funds spent on certain travel, including trips to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.
After the findings, Omar said she was glad the process had concluded and welcomed the board’s decision on allegations that campaign money had been used for personal expenses. She did not address the report’s discussion of the joint tax returns. Omar did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate August 2019 letter, the lawmakers, led by Drazkowski, asked then-Minnesota Revenue Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly to review the joint filings. Drazkowski said neither Bauerly nor the state department responded. The department also did not comment.
The letters came two months after Drazkowski asked Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., to refer his concerns about Omar’s tax filings to the House Ethics Committee. Craig replied that he could submit the information directly to the Office of Congressional Ethics, now called the Office of Congressional Conduct. Members of the public and lawmakers may submit information about alleged misconduct, though the independent office and the House Committee on Ethics have separate procedures.
In late October, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said a federal investigation into possible immigration and marriage fraud involving Omar had been referred to the Justice Department as a “large case” involving multiple people. The Department of Homeland Security did not say whether investigators were examining the 2014 and 2015 joint returns raised by the lawmakers in 2019.
