The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Committee has given Rep. Ilhan Omar a firm May 5th deadline to turn over all records and communications related to her possible involvement in the infamous Feeding Our Future scandal.
The demand follows Omar’s refusal to appear at a scheduled committee hearing earlier this week, despite being formally invited.
Committee Chair Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Republican, confirmed the congresswoman “ghosted” the panel and failed to respond to multiple outreach attempts.
“The fact that she ghosted us — she would not even respond to multiple inquiries to a state legislature where she used to serve,” Robbins said, according to a report from NewsNation. “I think it shows disdain for Minnesota taxpayers that she’s unwilling to even answer these questions.”
- All written and electronic communications between Omar’s office and the convicted owners/operators of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis (a key Feeding Our Future site where Omar held multiple campaign events).
- Communications with more than a dozen individuals who have already been convicted in the massive fraud case.
- Records related to Omar’s sponsorship of the MEALS Act — the 2020 federal legislation that dramatically loosened eligibility rules for child nutrition programs during COVID, which prosecutors say directly enabled the fraud.
If Omar fails to comply, the committee has signaled it will explore further legislative and congressional options, though state lawmakers have limited direct enforcement power over a member of Congress.
The Feeding Our Future case involved the theft of more than $250 million in federal child nutrition funds meant for meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(…) “She created the conditions that allowed all these bad actors to come in and bill for thousands of meals a day,” Robbins said. “One little tiny restaurant serving 5,000 meals a day, seven days a week — it was incomprehensible numbers.”