Republican challenger John Nagel is accusing Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of being closely linked to the $1 billion Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, which is based in her Minneapolis congressional district. Nagel, who is running against Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, claims that legislation introduced by Omar contributed to the circumstances that allowed the fraud to take place.
“If you look at where the fraud is, it’s primarily her district, the district that I’m running in against her,” he said. “And it’s really odd to think that all the fraud just happened in a particular area.”
Omar introduced the Maintaining Essential Access to Lunch for Students Act, known as the MEALS Act, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill allowed states to provide free meals to children during school closures through alternative methods such as grab-and-go distribution and eased eligibility requirements. Omar has denied any wrongdoing.
The legislation was passed by Congress with bipartisan support.
Nagel further alleged that individuals connected to Omar’s political circle financially benefited from the fraud scheme. He said Omar held campaign events at Safari Restaurant, a business tied to the Feeding Our Future investigation, and claimed she had personal familiarity with one of the restaurant’s owners who has since been convicted.
Nagel also asserted that Omar previously employed a staff member who was later convicted in connection with the case. Omar has not publicly addressed those specific allegations.
Last week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., spoke on the Senate floor Thursday about a large fraud scheme uncovered in Minnesota involving nonprofit organizations linked to the state’s Somali community.
During his remarks, Tuberville accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Omar of failing to prevent the fraud and of defending individuals involved in the scheme. Federal prosecutors have said the case involves the misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds through child nutrition and other assistance programs.
“Fox News recently reported that members of Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar’s inner circle, people working for her, were personally profiting from this fraud,” Tuberville said. “Omar held at least one event at one of the restaurants named in the massive fraud scheme. And by the way, one of Congresswoman Omar’s staffers has already been convicted for his role in the fraud. It runs very deep.”
“All of this has taken place inside of Omar’s congressional district, and she’s doing everything she can to defend these Somali criminals,” he added.
Tuberville criticized Walz for permitting a scam involving a Somali non-profit that falsely claimed to be a housing assistance program.
“These people were empowered by the woke and clueless so-called governor Tim Walz, whose government handed the funds to these Somali criminals. He turned a blind eye,” argued Tuberville.
“For example, one of the scams run by the Somali nonprofit disguised itself as a housing assistance program. Sounds great,” he continued. “The initial budget for this program was $2.6 million. However, the annual budget quickly increased to over $100 million due to fake billing and fraud. And whose money is that? The American taxpayers.”
The senator urged for Walz to be jailed due to his complicity, also highlighting the governor’s expected tendency to label critics of the fraud as racists.
“Tim Walz had every opportunity to see this, investigate, and stop this fraud and corruption,” noted Tuberville. “Instead, he looked the other way. That makes him complicit. He should go to jail for this. Anybody else would. Now he’s trying to deflect by calling those who are angry about the Somali fraud ‘racist.’ That’s the word they always use.”
“This has nothing to do with racism. Somali immigrants stole more than $1 billion and counting from the American taxpayers. Again, proven. That should make every single American’s blood boil,” he added.
