The Minnesota House anti-fraud and oversight committee is asking Congress to issue a subpoena to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for refusing to hand over records of her office’s past correspondence with the ringleader of Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit organization that was implicated in a massive COVID-era fraud scheme.
Lawmakers on the GOP-led Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee suspect that the congresswoman played a part in the sprawling reimbursement scheme that primarily involved Somali immigrants, many living in Omar’s congressional district, stealing more than $250 million from a federal child nutrition program.
Court documents containing communications between congressional staffers in Omar’s office and Feeding Our Future’s convicted mastermind, Aimee Bock, were entered as government exhibits in the fraud kingpin’s federal trial.
The contents of the exhibits, though publicly listed, were sealed by the court because other defendants are still facing charges. However, the entries’ descriptions indicate that members of Omar’s congressional office, including her “community representative,” communicated with Bock on multiple occasions via email and text in 2021, when Feeding Our Future was actively defrauding the federal meal delivery program intended to feed children during the COVID-19 crisis.
Two of the email chains discussed “Help with USDA Food Program” and the federal government’s approval of Pandemic EBT benefits for economically disadvantaged students across Minnesota who were no longer receiving school-provided lunches while learning from home.
Since the court order applies only to parties in the Bock case, the Minnesota House oversight committee has repeatedly requested that Omar voluntarily hand over the email and text exchanges herself, believing they show physical proof of the congresswoman’s alleged involvement in the criminal conspiracy.
Omar missed the committee’s deadline last week to turn over the messages on her own accord, and the eight-member committee, comprised of five Republicans and three Democrats, voted to subpoena Omar at an oversight hearing. The motion, which required a two-thirds majority of six votes in favor, failed due to Democratic opposition.
Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R), who chairs the committee, subsequently sent a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking that he seek a congressional subpoena against Omar for the sealed records.
“Here we needed to have six votes, and the Democrats all united in protecting her,” Robbins said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “But our friends in Congress, on the oversight committee, have a majority, so depending on their rules, they would be able to get the documents.”
If the congresswoman were subpoenaed and she refused to comply, Omar could be held in contempt of Congress, a criminal offense punishable by jail time. Such a threat might compel Omar to turn over the documents, which Robbins says are “sitting on the server in her congressional office” and are considered public records regardless of court restraints.
According to a copy of the written subpoena request shared with the Washington Examiner, Robbins told Comer, “It is essential to understand the genesis of the largest COVID-related fraud scandal by getting the documents and the facts about Rep. Omar’s and her staff’s communications with defendants in this case.”
“As you may be aware, Rep. Ilhan Omar has documented ties to criminals convicted in the Feeding Our Future case, including holding her 2018 election party at the Safari Restaurant and appearing in a video promoting the MEALS Act, which was filmed at the Safari Restaurant,” wrote Robbins.
In 2020, Omar introduced the Maintaining Essential Access to Lunch for Students Act, a bill that removed restrictions on which entities could enroll in the prepared meals program and, accordingly, recoup the cost of meals supposedly served to school-aged children.
Under previous Department of Agriculture regulations, only school-based catering services were permitted to participate. Through the MEALS Act, tucked into a sweeping COVID-19 relief package, outside caterers were granted waivers, permitting them to claim compensation for food they purportedly delivered.
At the time, students from low-income households were unable to rely on free or discounted school lunches due to the government-mandated school shutdowns. These participation waivers, thanks to the MEALS Act, lowered the eligibility requirements to include organizations operating off of school property.
Officials say Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit organization owned by Bock, exploited the program’s expanded enrollment provisions by setting up dozens of fake companies as food distributors and siphoning off millions in reimbursed child nutrition money. Investigators found that many of the fraud ring’s purported meal providers, operated predominantly by Somali-owned businesses in the Minneapolis area, never actually fed any children.
Omar, a Somali refugee, advertised the MEALS Act specifically to her Somali constituents. In a 2020 media appearance aired on Somali TV of Minnesota, Omar taped a promotional video at Safari Restaurant, one of the implicated Feeding Our Future food distribution sites.
The footage featured Omar thanking Safari Restaurant, whose owner was a high-ranking coconspirator later convicted alongside Bock, for “helping those kids’ families in need of food.”
Robbins’s suggested subpoena additionally requested all of Omar’s communications with the staff of Safari Restaurant “regarding how to apply for the program, becoming a site under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, and the planning and production of the video.”
Omar’s history with Safari Restaurant reportedly stretches back years. The restaurant was a frequent venue and caterer for her campaigns, both during Omar’s statehouse days and her congressional run.
As a candidate for state representative, Omar listed Safari Restaurant as a vendor. Disclosure records maintained by the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board show two Omar campaign events paid for catering and event space at the restaurant between 2016 and 2017, costing a combined $1,100. Their relationship continued after Omar sought higher office.
SOMALI FUGITIVE FLEEING MINNESOTA FRAUD CHARGES IS AN ILHAN OMAR DONOR
Omar held her 2018 Democratic primary victory party at Safari Restaurant when she first ran for Congress. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Omar’s congressional campaign repeatedly used Safari Restaurant’s services from 2018 to 2020, charging the site 12 times. She spent almost $10,000 at the locale over those years on food, drinks, and rental fees.
The Washington Examiner contacted Omar’s office for comment.