Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has turned to two powerful Washington, D.C., attorneys as she confronts a pair of federal investigations. Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, both partners at Hecker Fink LLP, bring résumés filled with prominent Democrat clients and major legal fights involving President Donald Trump.
CBS reported that Omar hired [1] the pair amid one investigation involving immigration fraud and another involving financial disclosure discrepancies. Both attorneys have represented Democrat clients and pursued left-leaning cases, including matters targeting Trump, his administration and his supporters.
Jeffress is a former federal prosecutor whose biography says she tried more than 40 cases during a decade with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. She also served as chief of the National Security Section and worked as a Department of Justice attaché.
Earlier this year, Jeffress represented former President Joe Biden in his lawsuit against the Department of Justice. Biden sought to prevent the release of audio recordings between himself and Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter for his book “Promise Me, Dad.”
The recordings were made in 2016 and 2017 and became the subject of a 2024 Freedom of Information Act request from the Heritage Foundation. They were cited during special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into whether Biden illegally retained classified information from his time as vice president.
Conservatives also wanted answers about what the audio could reveal regarding Biden’s mental acuity. A court declined to block the recordings, which included frequent memory lapses by Biden, and they became public in July.
Before joining Hecker Fink, Jeffress served as counsel for then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat led House January 6 committee. The committee spent two years investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jeffress represented the committee after Trump campaign spokesperson Taylor Budowich sued over its subpoena for his bank records. She also represented former FBI attorney Lisa Page during congressional scrutiny of the FBI’s handling of the left’s Russiagate conspiracy theory.
Page later sued the Department of Justice over the release of text messages she exchanged with FBI colleague and then lover Peter Strzok. In those messages, Strzok promised Page that the FBI would stop Trump from becoming president and referred to an “insurance policy” against his presidency.
That case was settled in 2024. Jeffress is married to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center could not legally add Trump’s name.
Trump publicly called Cooper “highly conflicted” because of his relationship with Jeffress. The connection adds another distinctly Washington layer to Omar’s choice of legal firepower as the Minnesota lawmaker faces mounting federal scrutiny.
Matz, also a partner at Hecker Fink, graduated from Harvard Law and clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. His biography states, “Joshua’s practice has long included a focus on democracy and elections.”
He represented Pennsylvania while the state defended certification of its election results, including during arguments before the Supreme Court. Matz also served as counsel to House Democrats during both failed attempts to impeach Trump during his first term.
Matz represented E. Jean Carroll in two civil cases against Trump involving his denial of her sexual assault claims. Trump was never criminally charged, but a New York jury found him liable for defamation and sexual assault, while another defamation award totaled $83.3 million.
His other cases included representing students, parents, and teachers who opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act. His biography describes that legislation as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which restricted instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Matz also successfully represented Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear when Beshear was sued over COVID-19 lockdowns, including school closures. He additionally represented victims of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations raided Omar’s Washington, D.C., home as part of the immigration fraud investigation. Earlier this month, Omar posted a video asking supporters to continue sending money and warning that fighting the investigations would be costly.
A group of 175 House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, demanded that the administration stop its investigation into Omar. Democrats warned the probe could hurt her reelection campaign in Minnesota, adding a political pressure campaign to the legal battle already unfolding.
Omar’s attorneys did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The White House also did not respond, leaving Omar’s newly assembled legal team to prepare for two federal probes with some of Washington’s most experienced Democrat aligned attorneys.