Ilhan Omar dodges questions on Feeding Our Future fraud investigation

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., refused to engage when asked by Fox News Digital if she would cooperate with the investigation into Minnesota’s “Feeding Our Future” scheme.

The progressive lawmaker is accused of having ties to those involved in the scandal that federal prosecutors say cost taxpayers roughly $250 million. But when asked about her connections, Omar stayed silent.

“Did you ask Minnesota Democrats to block the subpoena for the investigation of feeding our future on the state level?” Omar was asked when confronted in the halls of Congress on Monday, but did not respond.

She then ignored a second question: “Would you cooperate with that subpoena and provide documents if they request it here in the House Oversight Committee?”

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It’s thought that Omar’s MEALS Act, a federal COVID-19 relief measure she sponsored in 2020, ties her to the massive scandal. Many Republicans argue her bill enabled the fraud by rapidly expanding USDA waiver authority at meal sites.

Despite the concerns, the Minnesota Democrat has declined multiple opportunities in recent months to directly answer questions or provide information on her alleged ties to the fraud, including documented ties to some of the convicted fraudsters.

The Minnesota  House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee invited her to testify this month, requesting documents tied to the fraud scandal. Omar missed the response deadline, triggering a failed subpoena vote that received only five of the six votes required to pass after Democrats blocked the GOP-led effort.

“She didn’t even respond, ghosted us,” state Rep. Kristin Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital in April when Omar did not respond to requests for information.

The committee asked Omar to turn over communications showing how she promoted expanded access to federal child nutrition programs, including emails, texts and meeting records with the Minnesota Department of Education and constituents. 

The request also zeroed in on Omar’s public promotion of a Minneapolis restaurant that later became linked to the program. Robbins cited a Somali-language TV appearance in which Omar highlighted Safari Restaurant as a meal distribution site and asked for all communications related to the video and the restaurant’s participation.

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The committee also asked for records of any contact between Omar and a long list of individuals charged or implicated in the Feeding Our Future case, including nonprofit founder Aimee Bock and dozens of alleged co-conspirators.

Bock is currently facing a possible 50-year prison sentence for her role in the scheme, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.

“A lot of the sites were working directly with her, being that a lot of the operators were from the same Somali community,” Bock recently said about Omar in a jailhouse interview with the New York Post. “There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff — and I presume her personally — to work through some of those gaps with the waivers.”

Just last week, an 84-page report released by the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee accused Gov. Tim Walz’s administration of fostering a “culture of tolerance” that allowed fraudsters to steal billions in taxpayer dollars. 

The report comes after two dozen hearings and hundreds of whistleblower tips alleging oversight failures and ignored internal warnings.

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An estimated $300 million in federal meal program fraud and up to $9 billion in Medicaid fraud were stolen from taxpayers, a cost significantly higher than initially believed, according to the committee.

It also said Omar’s MEALS Act loosened anti-fraud safeguards in federal nutrition programs, making it harder to verify if children were actually being fed by the Feeding Our Future program.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Omar and Walz’s office for comment but did not hear back.