Republican Lawmakers Asked IRS in 2019 to Re-Examine Omar's Tax Filings

A group of Minnesota Republican state lawmakers wrote to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in August 2019 asking it to 'conduct a detailed reexamination' of Representative Ilhan Omar's tax filings. According to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, a report by Minnesota's campaign finance board had suggested Omar filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 with a man she was not legally married to.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board issued that report on June 6, 2019. It said Omar had filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 with Ahmed Hirsi, even though she was legally married at the time to another man, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.

The joint tax returns came up during the board's examination of a $1,500 expense by Omar's campaign committee. The board was investigating whether the spending was a legitimate campaign-related expense or whether campaign funds had been used to pay for services that benefited Omar personally. The payment was part of a larger $2,250 reimbursement to the Kjellberg Law Office for legal and other services.

In response to the board's questions, Omar's campaign committee explained that the Kjellberg Law Office had retained the accounting firm Frederick & Rosen to obtain and review financial records as part of efforts to respond to allegations surrounding Omar's marital history. According to the committee, Frederick & Rosen prepared releases for Omar and Ahmed Hirsi to sign so the firm could obtain copies of their filed joint federal income tax returns for 2014 and 2015 from the IRS.

The board concluded that the committee had not demonstrated that the $1,500 expense benefited the campaign, and it required Omar to reimburse the committee.

According to a Newsweek report, Omar married Hirsi in 2002 in their Muslim faith tradition and ended the relationship in that tradition in 2008. She then legally married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in February 2009, according to public records cited by Newsweek. Divorce documents obtained by Fox News Digital show Omar legally divorced Elmi in December 2017.

Carla Kjellberg, a lawyer for Omar and her campaign committee, stated during the board proceedings that Frederick & Rosen's services provided 'some personal benefit to Rep. Omar,' because there was an issue with her tax returns that needed to be corrected regardless of her status as a candidate, according to the board's report.

In a letter to then-IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig dated August 6, 2019, the state lawmakers asked the IRS to undertake a review in light of the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board report. The letter read: 'Due to recent developments, I believe probable cause exists for an investigation into Rep. Omar's tax filings.' It was signed by Minnesota state Representatives Steve Drazkowski, Linda Runbeck, Glenn Gruenhagen, Shane Mekeland, John Poston, Eric Lucero, Duane Quam, Tim Miller, Cal Bahr and Jeremy Munson.

Drazkowski told Fox News Digital that the IRS never responded to the request. The IRS did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment either. Fox News Digital could not confirm whether the IRS followed through with the lawmakers' request. Federal tax confidentiality rules generally restrict what the agency can disclose about individual taxpayers.

Separately, the Republican state lawmakers, led by Drazkowski, also wrote in August 2019 to Cynthia Bauerly, then commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Revenue, asking her to review Omar's joint tax filings. Drazkowski said neither Bauerly nor the Minnesota Department of Revenue responded to the lawmakers' request, and the department did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment either.

The letters came two months after Drazkowski urged Representative Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, to refer his concerns about Omar's tax filings to the House Ethics Committee. Craig told Drazkowski in a letter that he could submit information himself to the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was renamed the Office of Congressional Conduct in 2021. In late October, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Fox News that the federal investigation into Omar over potential immigration and marriage fraud had been referred to the Department of Justice as a 'large case' targeting multiple individuals rather than just one person. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on whether the investigation is looking into the 2014 and 2015 joint tax filings flagged by the state lawmakers in 2019.