Rep. Ilhan Omar has paid nearly $370K to consulting firm run by man she allegedly had an affair with

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has paid nearly $370,000 to a political consulting firm at which the man she allegedly had an affair with is a partner, according to the New York Post.

Omar's alleged affair with Tim Mynett of the E Street Group was first reported by the Post in August after the discovery of court documents in which Mynett's wife said her husband confessed to the affair with Omar in April. Both Omar and Mynett have denied it.

In August, it was discovered that Omar's campaign had paid $223,000 to the E Street Group since 2018 for various services. Since then, Omar's campaign has paid the firm another $146,712.63.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog organization, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in August. But the FEC can't pursue an investigation because it is short of the four commissioners necessary to vote on complaints. The Senate would need to confirm a fourth commissioner.

"This is something every American should be very concerned about," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the watchdog group Public Citizen, according to the Post. "We have no election cop on the beat. The Federal Election Commission essentially closed its doors so everyone knows they can pretty much do whatever they want to do and that's the status of our political system today."

The complaint focuses on whether a portion of the money paid to E Street for travel expenses — more than $12,000 — was legitimate, or whether it was used improperly to allow Mynett to tag along with Omar's campaign. The travel expenses were not itemized, which is a possible violation of campaign finance law.

During the 2018 campaign cycle, E Street Group earned $145,406 — $62,674 of that came from Omar's campaign.

The Washington Examiner pointed out that most of that money was spent after Omar won a contested primary and while she was running in a noncompetitive election in an overwhelmingly blue district.