Who Are Ilhan Omar's Lawyers? Fox News Profiles Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz of Hecker Fink, Hired as She Faces Two Federal Probes
Fox reports, citing CBS, that Omar hired two Washington lawyers with a record of representing prominent Democrats. Neither Omar's attorneys nor the White House responded to Fox.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has hired two well-known Washington attorneys as she faces two federal investigations, Fox News reports, citing CBS. One probe concerns alleged immigration fraud. The other concerns discrepancies in her financial disclosures.
The lawyers. Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz are partners at Hecker Fink LLP. Fox says both have represented Democratic clients and taken cases aimed at President Trump, his administration and his supporters.
Jeffress. She is a former federal prosecutor who, according to her biography, tried more than 40 cases in a decade at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, where she led the National Security Section. Fox says she represented former President Joe Biden earlier this year in his unsuccessful suit to stop the release of audio recordings with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. She also served as counsel to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to the House January 6 committee, and represented former FBI attorney Lisa Page. Fox notes she is married to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that adding Trump's name to the Kennedy Center was illegal. Trump called Cooper "highly conflicted" because of that relationship.
Matz. A Harvard Law graduate who clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, Matz was counsel to House Democrats in both first-term impeachments of Trump, defended Pennsylvania's certification of its election results, and represented E. Jean Carroll in two civil cases against Trump. Fox also lists his work for opponents of Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in a COVID lockdown suit, and for victims of the 2017 Charlottesville rally.
Where the cases stand. Fox ties the hiring to the raid of Omar's Washington home and the seizure of her phone in the immigration fraud probe. In a video posted earlier this month, Omar asked supporters to keep donating, saying the fight would be costly.
Note for readers: Fox's profile is framed around the lawyers' work against Trump, and its description of that work is Fox's. Omar has not been charged in anything we have seen in this report. Omar's attorneys and the White House did not respond to Fox's requests for comment. Related coverage of the Omar investigations is on the site.