ST. PAUL, Minn. – State Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, on Tuesday morning announced that he made a formal request to the Office of Congressional Ethics they investigate U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
“U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota may be the most corrupt politician in Minnesota history,” Drazkowski claimed.
“Representative Omar has already been forced in 2017 and 2018 to pay thousands of dollars in campaign finance violations for three separate finance violations. Representative Omar has already been forced to return thousands in kickbacks from colleges whose budgets she oversaw as a member of the Higher Education Committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Representative Omar has already been forced to pay back thousands of dollars she diverted from her campaign donations to pay for personal legal and accounting expenses, as well as, personal travel and lodging expenses to events in five other states. Representative Omar has already been forced to pay a civil penalty for diverting campaign funds to pay for political travels outside Minnesota,” he stated outlining her past history.
“Ilhan Omar has already established a very lengthy and extraordinary record of legal convictions and fines. This is a record upon which a House ethics committee should begin its investigation,” he added.
Drazkowski is in his 7th term representing Minnesota House District 21B in southeastern Minnesota. He serves on the Property and Local Tax Division, Rules and Legislative Administration, and Ways and Means committees.
He has also been a perpetual thorn in Omar’s side since she started running for Congress in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.
He filed two complaints against Omar in 2018 with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board. In June, they found Neighbors for Ilhan (Omar’s campaign) did violate Minnesota law and ordered Omar to pay back the $3,469.23 of campaign funds spent for personal use and assessed her a $500 civil penalty.
Drazkowski also accused Omar in 2018 of violating a House ethics rule that says members can’t accept an honorarium for a service from an individual or organization that has a direct interest in the business of the House. Omar received $2500 in speaking honorariums from two Minnesota community colleges while she served on the Minnesota House Higher Education Committee. The Star Tribune reported that Omar pledged to return the money.
Because of the improper campaign fund use to pay for a law firm to deal with her personal taxes, the Campaign Finance Board investigation revealed that Omar filed taxes jointly with her second husband in 2014 and 2015 before they were legally married.
Drazkowski claims that had the public known about her ethics violations they would not have elected her.
“Representative Omar deceived the IRS to cheat on her taxes when filed jointly with someone who she was not legally married to. She deceived the voters. She lied to them about her sham marriage to Ahmed Elmi. She deceived the members of the Minnesota House of Representatives when she refused to file a statement of economic interest legally instead waiting until after adjournment to prevent a Minnesota House ethics investigation,” he said.
Drazkowski claims the marriage was a sham in order to help Elmi enter the United States committing immigration fraud.
“On the question of federal immigration fraud, we have records that indicate that Representative Omar helped Ahmed Elmi enter the United States in January 2009, marrying him two weeks later, and assisted him in securing immigration status on the basis of a sham marriage. During the period from 2009 to 2011, Representative Omar lived at the same address as Mr. Elmi and Mr. Hirsi (her current husband) even when they all established a new residential address on at least three different occasions during that period,” he stated.
He also accused Omar of bigamy in her marriage to Elmi because of the 2014 and 2015 tax filings with her current husband Ahmed Hirsi and her marriage to Elmi not being legally dissolved until 2017.
There is an unproven accusation that Elmi was Omar’s brother that has not been officially debunked primarily due to a lack of information from Omar herself. Politifact noted in their report, “You see circumstantial evidence that begs for some kind of explanation from a member of Congress, but there’s no smoking gun that she married her brother.”
Drazkowski also stated there is reason to believe that Omar and Elmi made false statements while applying for federal student aid and student housing at North Dakota State University. He also stated that she possibly committed perjury in her divorce filings that she filed under penalty of perjury that she had no contact with Elmi since 2011 when he states court records show he lived ten blocks from Omar in 2012 and claims a social media post shows him in the delivery room when she gave birth to her third child in 2012. He also cites additional social media posts that show them communicating with one another in 2013 and 2014.
He stated that Omar claimed she did not have any way to contact Elmi though social media posts indicates he works with her sister in Nairobi, Kenya.
In total, Drazkowski said there are eight counts of perjury for the ethics committee to consider.
“Given Representative Omar’s record of taking kickbacks, diverting campaign funds to pay for personal travels and personal legal and accounting work and billing her campaign for personal and political activities outside Minnesota, and the clear and screaming probable cause that clearly exists for tax fraud, perjury, and immigration fraud, we believe the House Ethics Committee can and should launch an investigation immediately,” he concluded.
Drazkowski also announced a petition website at OmarTruth.com.
Watch the press conference below: