BLAME GAME: Ilhan Omar Attempts To Paint Alleged Perpetrators Of $1 BIL Fraud Scheme Into Victims

December 7, 2025

From the Daily Caller: Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar appeared to suggest Sunday on CBS News that the victims of a massive COVID relief fraud scheme in the state — in which nine-in-ten of those charged were Somali — were other Somali.

During an appearance on “Face the Nation,” Omar told host Margaret Brennan it is “frustrating” to her that people do not acknowledge Minnesota’s Somali community is “upset” about the COVID relief fraud — which reportedly resulted in taxpayer money winding up in the hands of a Somali radical Islamic terrorist group. The scheme’s alleged perpetrators “stole nearly $1 billion” from a nonprofit which claimed to feed hungry schoolchildren, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer stated.

“The Biden-era Justice Department called it the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country, and this was pocketing COVID-era welfare funds, more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money that was stolen,” Brennan told the Somali-born congresswoman. “Of the 87 people charged, all but eight are of Somali descent, and that has added to the spotlight being put specifically on your community. Why do you think this fraud was allowed to get so widespread?”

“I want to say, you know, this also has an impact on Somalis, because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota,” Omar said in response. “We also could have benefited from the program and the money that was stolen. And so it’s been really frustrating for people to not acknowledge the fact that we’re also — as Minnesotans, as taxpayers — really upset and angry about the fraud that has occurred.”

Omar declared she had already refunded all donations from anyone involved in the fraud scheme, and claimed she was one of the first people to voice her suspicions that fraud might be occurring to the Agriculture Department during the Biden administration.

Watch the full interview below:

FULL INTERVIEW: Rep. @Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on @FaceTheNation with @margbrennan. https://t.co/x7OPJ9Y6X2 pic.twitter.com/1BrfwTkm95

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 7, 2025