Watchdog clears Omar of misconduct after probe into financial filings

Congress’s official ethics watchdog has cleared Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of misconduct related to inflated financial filings, according to the office of the Minnesota Democrat.

The Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC) “delivered an overwhelming vote to dismiss any allegations against the Congresswoman,” an Omar spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement.

“From day one, we have been clear: the Congresswoman is not a millionaire,” the spokesperson said.

The OCC, an independent bipartisan panel, had launched an investigation into Omar after she submitted financial disclosures last year claiming that assets she owned jointly with her husband were worth between $6 million and $30 million.

The figures marked a sharp increase above those Omar claimed just a year earlier, and they sparked an outcry from Republicans on Capitol Hill who demanded an investigation into the source of Omar’s wealth.

President Trump piled on, accusing Omar of profiting illegally from a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme plaguing Minnesota’s social services programs — allegations Omar strongly denied.

In April, Omar amended her financial disclosures, sharply reducing the value of her claimed assets. She blamed the inflated figures in the initial disclosure on an accounting error.

The filings caught the eye of top Republicans in the Capitol, including Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who sought records from Omar’s husband earlier in the year.

Omar, a former Somali refugee and one of the first Muslims to serve in Congress, has long been a target of Republicans. She says the controversy surrounding her finances has been manufactured by Trump and other GOP lawmakers as part of that longer feud. On Wednesday, Omar’s office said the OCC’s dismissal of the case validates that position.

“This vote clearly underscores that the Congresswoman did nothing wrong, and attempts by the far right to manufacture controversy and distract from the facts are pathetic and nothing more than a desperate distraction from their own failures,” the spokesperson said.

The news of the OCC’s decision was first reported on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal .

A spokesman for the OCC declined to comment.