From the mixed-up files of Rep. Ilhan Omar (8)

The Minnesota campaign finance board deposed Rep. Ilhan Omar in the course of its investigation of her use of campaign funds for personal purposes. I have posted the transcript on Scribd and embedded it below. I have separately posted the deposition exhibits here on Scribd.

Executive director Jeff Sigurdson channeled Omar’s view of the underlying story at page 31 in this preface to a question:

MR. SIGURDSON: More or less right after the primary election, there was a far-right website that published an article questioning your immigration status [Ed.: is he talking about Somali Spot? This is absurd]. Shortly after that, there was a Power Line blog that’s based in Minnesota —

THE WITNESS [Omar]: That’s this Scott Johnson.

MR. SIGURDSON: It referenced the far right si[t]e. And based on that, it then became a story in Minnesota, and there were a series of emails that were provided to us through discovery that show that there were individuals involved in your campaign who were alarmed. This was clearly an issue that needed to be addressed.

And in the end, it results in this crisis management team that we see here described. The reason why it is useful in the email to you — email to us, excuse me, is that it outlines everyone’s role.

In the preface quoted above Sigurdson alludes to the crisis committee emails I reported on in part 2 and posted in part 4.

The deposition of Omar by Sigurdson and assistant director Megan Engelhardt is an incredibly sloppy piece of work. Omar attorney Davis Senseman seems lost in a cloud of unknowing as well, assuming his misrepresentations are not intentional. Not one of them correctly conveys the underlying facts. As for the substance of the matter, Omar doesn’t remember much and is saying even less. It’s probably just as well, as she is not a credible witness in any event.

Quotable quote (page 15):

A I mean people were accusing me of not being married. They were accusing me of other, more drastic things, so. It’s not illegal to be married.

Q So–

A Being married isn’t a crisis.

Q No being married is not a crisis.

A Sometimes.

FOR THE BACKGROUND TO THIS SHORT SERIES, see “From the mixed-up files of Rep. Ilhan Omar.”

72_Rep. Ilhan Omar Depo by on Scribd

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