Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison came into his Senate hearing with “real vulnerabilities” ranging from the state’s welfare fraud scandal to federal immigration enforcement.
Ellison testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday about Minnesota oversight.
Ellison “came in with a lot of vulnerabilities and his strategy was deny, deny, deny,” York said.
York pointed out some key moments of Ellison’s testimony that stood out to him, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) saying Ellison encouraged the protesters who were demonstrating against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota.
“Indeed, Ellison had praised the protesters for ‘putting their bodies on the line,’” York said.
York also said Ellison’s hearing highlighted that the Minnesota attorney general had “met with” and “accepted” campaign donations from some of the “worst actors” in the fraud scandal.
York said the “problem” with Ellison is that it appears he “worked closely” with these actors in the fraud scheme, and some of them even came to Ellison’s office to complain about the investigation.
“A lot of the investigation of that fraud scandal, which is in the billions of dollars in Minnesota, is being done by federal prosecutors, so it’s not actually Keith Ellison’s story,” York said. “But it’s really been a controversial part of his time.”
“Right now [Ellison] comes to Capitol Hill determined to not say a thing,” York added.