Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is once again hard at work reframing a $1,000,000,000 COVID relief fraud scheme as some kind of emotional hardship for the perpetrators’ community. Because in today’s Democrat-run Washington, even the people who steal a billion dollars from taxpayers apparently deserve sympathy. Classic.
Appearing on Face the Nation, Omar told CBS host Margaret Brennan that she finds it “frustrating” people don’t acknowledge how “upset” Minnesota’s Somali community is about the fraud — a fraud in which roughly 90% of those charged are Somali and taxpayer money reportedly ended up in the hands of a Somali radical Islamic terrorist group. But sure, the real story is the community’s feelings.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer made it clear: the alleged perpetrators “stole nearly $1 billion” from a nonprofit claiming to feed hungry schoolchildren. The Biden-era DOJ even called it the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country. Quite an accomplishment, considering the competition.
Brennan pressed Omar, noting that of 87 people charged, only eight are not Somali, and asked why the massive fraud was allowed to spread unchecked. Omar’s response? Well, Somalis are taxpayers too, so they’re upset that they “could have benefited” from the money that was stolen. An interesting way to frame a billion-dollar criminal operation — but hey, this is Ilhan Omar.
When asked about the organization at the center of the scheme, Feeding Our Future, whose initial defense was to claim racism, Omar quickly pointed out that the woman running the program was Caucasian. Convenient. Aimee Bock — the same woman Omar is now distancing herself from — was convicted in March, along with Somali restauranteur Salim Said.
And yes, Omar held her 2018 victory party at Said’s restaurant, according to the Daily Mail. But of course, she has nothing to do with anything. Totally coincidental.
Brennan later brought up the growing concern — from House Republicans and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — that stolen COVID funds may have been funneled to al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate. Omar replied that she’s “confident” because people have already been prosecuted, and then suggested that if money truly reached terrorists, it would be the FBI and courts’ fault for not catching it. Naturally — why take responsibility when you can blame law enforcement?
Federal counterterrorism sources told City Journal that millions in Minnesota taxpayer funds were sent to Somalia, with some money ultimately landing in al-Shabaab’s possession. One source put it bluntly:
“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
A billion dollars stolen, terrorists enriched, and Ilhan Omar’s priority is making sure people feel bad for the community of the perpetrators. But despite the mess, the truth is coming out — and accountability is finally catching up. And that’s always something to be grateful for.
