Records Show Minnesota Lawmaker Rebuffed Plea To Launch Ethics Probe Into Ilhan Omar

Leslie Bolden Sat, October 31, 2026 at 3:18 AM UTC

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Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar

Newly revealed 2019 correspondence obtained by Fox News Digital shows how Democratic Rep. Angie Craig handled a high-profile request from back home to target a member of her own party, steering an in-state Republican lawmaker to public watchdog portals rather than initiating a congressional ethics inquiry into Rep. Ilhan Omar herself.

The exchange unfolded in the summer of 2019, when then-Minnesota state Rep. Steve Drazkowski petitioned Craig to take formal action against Omar, D-Minn., in the U.S. House. Drazkowski, a constituent living in Craig’s district, wanted the freshman congresswoman to bring the matter before the House Ethics Committee in the wake of state-level campaign violations.

Craig declined the invitation to act as an intermediary, according to Fox News Digital. In a reply sent two days later, she told Drazkowski that congressional rules allowed him to pursue the allegations himself through the Office of Congressional Ethics.

“With respect to your request for an ethics inquiry into Rep. Omar, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) of the U.S. House of Representatives is the independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against Members, officers, and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives and, when appropriate, referring matters to the House Committee on Ethics,” Craig wrote. She added that “the OCE accepts and reviews information concerning allegations within its jurisdiction from members of the public.”

Drazkowski’s push stemmed from a June 2019 ruling by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. That state panel ordered Omar to reimburse funds spent on out-of-state travel and found she had misspent $1,500 in campaign money for tax preparation work tied to joint returns filed in 2014 and 2015 with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi. County marriage records show Omar was legally married at that time to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, an eight-year union that ended in divorce in late 2017.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (MS NOW)

Omar responded to the state board’s findings at the time, saying she was “glad” the probe had concluded and “glad” investigators did not conclude the funds were spent for personal benefit, as claimed.

In his appeal to Craig, Drazkowski pointed directly to the state findings.

“Representative Craig, I am your constituent. In that capacity, I formally request that you immediately forward the attached material, and open an ethics investigation in the United States House of Representatives regarding actions taken by Rep. Ilhan Omar leading up to the 2018 election,” Drazkowski wrote. “This month, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board issued a report on Rep. Omar, who found that she broke multiple Minnesota campaign finance laws.”

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Following Craig’s procedural guidance, Drazkowski took matters into his own hands and submitted his case directly to both the House Ethics Committee and the OCE.

“The United States of America is a nation of law and order. No one is above the law, and our elected officials must always be held accountable,” Drazkowski wrote in his complaint. “We demand the highest of ethical standards from every member of Congress.”

When Capitol Hill ethics panels failed to deliver what Drazkowski considered a substantive response, he turned to federal law enforcement in Minnesota.

“I went to the FBI and unloaded all the information I had to them, including names and phone numbers of people,” Drazkowski said, later reporting that agents took no visible follow-up action on the tips.

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Records Show Minnesota Lawmaker Rebuffed Plea To Launch Ethics Probe Into Ilhan Omar

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Source: “AOL Breaking”