A group of Minnesota Republican state lawmakers asked the IRS in August 2019 to “conduct a detailed reexamination” of tax filings by Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

The request followed a June 6, 2019, report from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The report indicated that Omar filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 with Ahmed Hirsi while she was legally married to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.

The joint returns surfaced during the board’s examination of a $1,500 expense tied to Omar’s campaign committee. Investigators sought to determine whether the expenditure was a legitimate campaign expense or whether campaign money had paid for services that personally benefited Omar.

The payment was part of a larger $2,250 reimbursement to the Kjellberg Law Office for legal and other services. Omar’s campaign committee said the law office had retained the accounting firm Frederick & Rosen while responding to allegations involving Omar’s marital history.

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According to the committee’s explanation, Frederick & Rosen prepared releases for Omar and Hirsi to sign. Those releases allowed the firm to obtain copies of their jointly filed federal income tax returns for 2014 and 2015 from the IRS.

The board concluded that the committee had not shown that the $1,500 expense benefited the campaign. It required Omar to reimburse the committee for the payment connected to the accounting firm’s work involving the tax returns.

Omar and Hirsi married in their Muslim faith tradition in 2002 and ended their relationship in that tradition in 2008, Newsweek reported. Omar then legally married Elmi in February 2009, according to public records reported by Newsweek.

Divorce documents obtained by Fox News Digital showed that Omar legally divorced Elmi in December 2017. The board report therefore placed the 2014 and 2015 joint returns with Hirsi during the period when Omar remained legally married to Elmi.

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Carla Kjellberg, an attorney for Omar and her campaign committee, said during the board proceedings that the accounting 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.”

In an Aug. 6, 2019, letter to former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, the Republican lawmakers asked the agency to review Omar’s filings. Minnesota state Rep. Steve Drazkowski and nine other state representatives signed the request.

“Due to recent developments, I believe probable cause exists for an investigation into Rep. Omar's tax filings,” the letter stated. The other signers were 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 also did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment, and Fox News Digital could not confirm whether the agency conducted the requested review.

Federal tax confidentiality rules generally limit what the IRS can disclose about individual taxpayers. The campaign finance board’s findings followed two complaints from Drazkowski, but the board rejected an allegation that the $1,500 payment covered Omar’s personal divorce proceeding.

The board separately required Omar to repay campaign money used for certain travel expenses, including trips to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. Omar later said she was “glad” the process was finished and welcomed the board’s determination regarding allegations of personal campaign spending.

Omar did not address the section of the report concerning the joint returns filed with Hirsi, according to Fox News Digital. She also did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.

In another August 2019 letter, the Republican lawmakers asked Cynthia Bauerly, then commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Revenue, to review the joint filings. Drazkowski said neither Bauerly nor the department responded, while the department did not answer Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The letters came two months after Drazkowski urged Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, to refer the tax concerns to the House Ethics Committee. Craig told him that he could submit the information directly 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 a federal investigation involving potential immigration and marriage fraud by Omar had been referred to the DOJ as a “large case” targeting multiple individuals. DHS did not say whether that investigation included the 2014 and 2015 joint tax filings.

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