MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Republican John Nagel, who is running against Dem. Rep. Ilhan Omar in her Minneapolis district, spoke to Fox News Digital about the responsibility she holds in the unfolding massive fraud scandal that has garnered national headlines.
“Where did this actually start?” Nagel told Fox News Digital. “She passed legislation. Her legislation actually started and it allowed people to get into Feeding Our Future.
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Nagel is referring to allegations that the free meals at the center of the massive fraud scandal were made possible by the 2020 MEALS Act, introduced by Omar and passed with bipartisan support. He told Fox News Digital the public deserves to know who helped her craft that legislation.
Members of Omar’s inner circle personally profited from the $1 billion welfare fraud scandal in her district that has placed her Somali constituency under a White House microscope, Nagel said. He also said that Omar held events at one of the restaurants, Safari Land, which was named in the fraud case, knew one of its now-convicted owners and had a staffer who was also convicted.
Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of having ties to individuals embroiled in the Minnesota fraud scandal by her opponent, John Nagel. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Guhaad Hashi Said, sometimes referred to as an “enforcer” for Omar’s campaign, is one of the over 70 people who have been indicted for his role in the Feeding Our Future scandal. Nagel told Fox News Digital the public deserves answers on that relationship and what Omar knew about the fraud.
“There’s a lot of really deep, deep ties,” Nagel said.
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The Small Business Administration is investigating a network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says is tied to the scandal, and a House Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s role.
Despite the accusations of widespread fraud, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has said that Minnesota is a “prosperous state, a well-run state.” (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
President Donald Trump last week criticized Omar and blamed the Somali community for the scope of fraud occurring in Minnesota.
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“A whole lot of people that were convicted donated a whole lot of money. Omar says that she gave the money back,” Nagel said. “Well, if you go into public records, she gave some money back, but there’s a whole lot more money there that she didn’t report. And I think if people were just to go through the everyday records that are out there, you’ll find out that her involvement in the money that she has is questionable.”
Nagel told Fox News Digital, “If she truly cared about the fraud, her name wouldn’t be attached all over to these other people. She came on and she made a statement about how terrible it is to basically steal food from children. Yeah, okay, that’s a really nice thing to say, but you have way too many people that you’re associated with that actually did that. Now she yells racism anytime somebody puts any pressure on her.”
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The sun shines on the Minnesota State Capitol. (Steve Karnowski/Associated Press)
“The things that we can do to fix this is you get yourself a new competent, honest governor, you get yourself a new honest, competent AG,” Nagel said.
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Nagel described the fraud situation in Minnesota as a “cancer” that will continue to “spread” unless “you cut the entire cancer out.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for comment.
“I think what happened is that, you know, when you have these kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar said last week.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
* Original Article:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-politics-newsletter-omar-accused-opening-door-massive-minneapolis-fraud