Ilhan Omar Targets FBI in Massive Scandal

Representative Ilhan Omar (MN-5) just appeared on television to expose who she believes is truly to blame for the Somali fraud scandal in Minnesota. The controversial member of “The Squad” appeared on Face the Nation yesterday and labeled any alleged link to Somali terrorism as a “false claim.” According to Rep. Omar, the party to blame here isn’t terrorists or corrupt lawmakers – it’s the FBI.

As reported by CBS News:

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar said Sunday that any link between allegations of fraud by members of the Somali community and terrorism would be a “failure of the FBI” amid calls to investigate a series of multimillion-dollar alleged pandemic fraud schemes in Minnesota.

During the Biden administration in 2022, federal prosecutors in Minnesota filed charges in what they described as the “largest pandemic fraud in the United States,” which revolved around a welfare program that partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute meals to children.

The Treasury Department said last week that it will investigate whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s public assistance programs made their way to the al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, which is based in Somalia. And House Republicans on the Oversight Committee launched an investigation last week into Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the fraud cases.

So, according to the Congresswoman, there was no link, but then she essentially conceded that there may be one, but if there is, it was the FBI’s fault. As Omar stated:

If there was a linkage in that, the money that they had stolen going to terrorism, then that is a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out. . . . But if that is the case, if money from U.S. tax dollars is being sent to help with terrorism in Somalia, we want to know and we want those people prosecuted, and we want to make sure that that doesn’t ever happen again.

The Biden Administration’s own DOJ called it the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country. That’s not coming from conservatives – that’s from Team Biden.

And now we’re learning that some of this money may have made its way, directly or indirectly, to al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate. That changes the conversation from “COVID fraud” to something far more serious.

The sad reality is that Rep. Omar’s not entirely wrong about the FBI’s failure. She just didn’t say which FBI. But we all know which era she’s talking about – even if she won’t say it publicly. It was the Biden-run FBI that spent its time targeting parents at school board meetings, pro-life activists, and whistleblowers instead of focusing on actual national-security-level fraud happening under their noses.

We have to be mature enough to look at this honestly. Minnesota has one of the largest Somali American populations in America – maybe the largest outside Somalia itself. That’s not controversial; that’s a demographic reality, and even the community acknowledges it.

But demographics don’t equal guilt. The vast majority are legal residents or citizens, building lives and families. But the facts of this situation are that 87 people have been charged, and 79 of them are of Somali descent.

In no way does that make the entire community responsible, but it does raise legitimate questions about who was positioned inside these COVID-era programs and how easily the system was exploited. And when the elected official who authored the very Meals Act program that funneled $250 million into this fraud washes her hands of it and essentially says, “Don’t look at me – blame the FBI,” that deserves scrutiny.

As does everyone involved, top to bottom.

Several failures appear to have enabled this fraud to take place, and questions need to be answered. How did the state of Minnesota, under Governor Tim Walz, have systems in place that were so loose that fraudsters were able to turn public-assistance programs into cash machines – to the tune of a billion dollars? Why did the Biden FBI take its eye off the ball? Why didn’t the Biden DOJ uncover the terrorism-related angle at the time?

Something tells me this scandal won’t be going away for a while because it’s not just about theft. It’s about where the money went, and what it enabled. Some defendants spent the stolen money on houses, luxury cars, and shopping sprees. But other streams appear to have gone overseas, into a Somali economy heavily controlled by al-Shabaab. Even if some defendants didn’t intend to fund terrorism, the effect may be the same.

This Minnesota Somali fraud scandal is the kind of story politicians would love to bury – because it implicates systems, legislation, oversight, and competence, not just criminal behavior.

And when the very people who wrote the checks are now trying to redirect the blame, that tells you everything.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion of the latest in the Minnesota fraud story as it continues to unfold. We were also joined by ACLJ Senior Counsel CeCe Heil, who gave us updates on the ongoing fight to defund Planned Parenthood, and ACLJ Senior Counsel Jeff Ballabon, head of our Jerusalem office, called in live from Israel with an update on what’s happening with the ceasefire.

Watch the full broadcast below: