Omar struggles to explain Minnesota fraud on CNN amid federal probe

During a Wednesday interview on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., appeared to struggle to explain how fraud became “so out of control” in Minnesota after federal officials announced an investigation into an alleged Somali fraud network operating in the state.

After being pressed by Tapper to explain how fraud became so rampant within her state, the congresswoman gave a meandering response, attributing the problem to inadequate “guardrails” for COVID relief funds that were subsequently exploited.

“I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these, kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar told the host.

FEDERAL PROBE TARGETS ALLEGED MINNESOTA SOMALI FRAUD ‘NETWORK’ AS COVID-AID CRIME RINGS PERSIST

After the congresswoman’s response, Tapper criticized President Donald Trump for making “shockingly bigoted” comments about not only Omar, but “the entire Somali community in Minnesota,” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

“These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They’ve taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. She should be thrown the hell out of our country. And most of those people, they have destroyed Minnesota. She should not be — and her friend shouldn’t be allowed — frankly, they shouldn‘t even be allowed to be Congress people, okay? They shouldn’t even be allowed to be Congress people because they don’t represent the interests of our country,” Trump told reporters.

After playing the clip for Omar, Tapper asked the congresswoman whether she had any response to the president’s comments about her and other Somali immigrants.

“I’m not shocked because we know that the president oftentimes resorts to very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric when he is trying to scapegoat and deflect from the actual failures that he has himself,” Omar said. “We know that this administration has not fulfilled the majority of the promises that they’ve made, whether it is bringing costs down, whether it is the tariffs that are decimating businesses in the United States, whether it is the possible war crimes that his defense secretary is committing.”

She continued, “And so, to me, it is important for us, one, to remind folks that we are Americans. We’re not going anywhere, and we will continue to be in this country. And two, that Minnesotans are resilient, and we will continue to thrive.”

A representative for Omar did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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On Tuesday, the Small Business Administration announced its investigation into a network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says is tied to a massive COVID fraud scandal highlighting alleged systemic failures by Gov. Tim Walz’s team to properly audit public funds.

Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has become embroiled in a scandal that has already led to charges against dozens of people — mostly Somali — and prompted allegations from state government workers of retaliation against whistleblowers and institutional negligence.

“Numerous individuals and nonprofits indicted in the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, including Feeding Our Future, received SBA PPP loans in addition to other state and federal funding,” Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced on X. “I have ordered an investigation into the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes.”

MINNESOTA GOVERNMENT WORKERS BLAME WALZ FOR ‘MASSIVE FRAUD’ AMID ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SOMALI COMMUNITY

She added: “Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.”

An SBA spokesperson confirmed the probe to Fox News Digital, saying the agency is “investigating all individuals and organizations indicted as part of the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scheme to identify any that may have also fraudulently obtained PPP loans — evaluating their citizenship status, the legitimacy of their nonprofit work, and other requirements for eligibility.”

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Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.