Rep. Ilhan Omar denied this week that the Justice Department is investigating her for immigration or fraud violations, pushing back after Vice President JD Vance claimed otherwise. The Minnesota Democrat said the federal government has not charged her or accused her of taking part in the sprawling Feeding Our Future scheme.
Her denial came as Aimee Bock was sentenced Thursday after prosecutors said she oversaw a network of fake meal sites that stole federal nutrition money meant to feed low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bock, who told The New York Post without evidence that Omar was likely aware of restaurant owners billing the government for false or inflated claims, said, “I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known.”
Omar rejected that suggestion outright. “Any claim that I had knowledge of this scheme is flat-out false,” she said, adding, “As I stated from the beginning, stealing millions of dollars under the guise of feeding hungry children to bankroll lavish lifestyles and extravagant expenses is reprehensible.” She also said she was grateful that Bock and everyone involved in the scheme were being held accountable for defrauding taxpayers and betraying vulnerable children.
The case has become one of the most damaging fraud scandals in Minnesota in years. More than 60 individuals have been convicted in the Feeding Our Future case, and prosecutors say fraudsters pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars from a federally funded child nutrition program. Most of the convicted people are members of the Somali immigrant community, a fact Republicans have seized on while accusing Omar of weakening guardrails around the program and pointing to alleged ties between her and convicted defendants.
Federal prosecutors have not charged Omar or accused her of participating in the fraud. But the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee has kept the pressure on, releasing an 84-page report earlier this month that pointed to several direct ties between Omar and people later convicted in the scheme. The report mentioned Omar’s one-time staffer, Guhaad Hashi Said.
Omar also declined a request from the committee to turn over her communications with Feeding Our Future defendants, along with records tied to her promotion of the program with state officials and constituents. Democrats on the committee blocked an attempt to subpoena those communications, leaving Republicans without the records they wanted while the broader political fight over the case kept growing.
The next step now is not a new charge against Omar but a continuing clash over what her contacts with people in the case meant, if anything. For now, the public record says Bock has been sentenced, more than 60 people have been convicted, and prosecutors have not accused Omar of wrongdoing.
