House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has pledged to intensify scrutiny into the rapidly rising wealth of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), as Minnesota continues to reel from a series of massive welfare fraud scandals linked to organizations within the state’s Somali community.
In comments to the New York Post this week, Comer confirmed that committee staff attorneys are weighing the possibility of issuing a subpoena to Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, to examine his business activities and investment dealings. According to Comer, the dramatic change in the couple’s financial status raises serious red flags that warrant congressional oversight.
“We’re going to get answers, whether it’s through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two,” Comer said. He questioned how the couple could have gone from having relatively modest finances to a net worth estimated as high as $30 million in just a year or two. “I’m a money guy. It’s not possible,” he added, casting doubt on the legitimacy of such rapid wealth accumulation.
Omar has previously pushed back on similar claims. In 2025, she denied being worth millions of dollars and argued that conservatives were targeting her unfairly for political reasons. However, Comer has continued to press the issue, telling investigative journalist Catherine Herridge that Omar’s net worth appeared to have “skyrocketed out of nowhere,” and that authorities believe the funds are connected to two investment vehicles operated by Mynett.
At the same time, law enforcement sources cited by Breitbart News indicate that investigators are examining whether elected officials may have ties to Minnesota’s sprawling welfare fraud cases. Those cases, which now total more than $1 billion in alleged stolen taxpayer funds, have exposed what critics describe as systemic weaknesses in the state’s oversight of public assistance programs.
Omar’s name has surfaced repeatedly in reporting on these scandals due to her associations with organizations and individuals implicated in fraud investigations. Among the most notable examples is Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis, where Omar has reportedly held events and gatherings. The restaurant’s owners, Salim Said and Aimee Bock, were convicted in the Feeding Our Future case, a scheme that defrauded approximately $250 million from federal child nutrition programs.
The political fallout has reached the national level. On January 5, President Donald Trump vowed to halt federal funding tied to fraud and corruption in Democrat-controlled states, specifically naming Minnesota, California, and Illinois. His remarks underscored growing Republican efforts to frame welfare fraud as both a financial and political crisis.
For Comer and his allies, the Omar inquiry represents more than a single ethics question. It is part of a broader campaign to expose what they argue is a culture of corruption enabled by lax oversight and political favoritism. Whether the investigation leads to subpoenas or formal ethics charges remains to be seen, but Comer has made one thing clear: the Oversight Committee intends to follow the money—wherever it leads.