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Omar expresses frustration over fraud scheme in Minnesota, says Somalis are taxpayers also

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., expressed frustration with the fraud scheme allegedly perpetrated by dozens of Somali community members.

The massive billion-dollar fraud allegedly committed by Somalis in Minnesota is still being submerged by the broadcast networks in favor of performative outrage at President Donald Trump’s statements at public events disparaging the Somalis and Somalia. 

Early in the week, Curtis Houck at NewsBusters found ABC and NBC only touched on the Minnesota fraud in 21% of their Somali coverage. The vast majority of verbiage was negative evaluations of Trump. Add in CBS, and the fraud fraction went up to 31%, in part because "Face The Nation" host Margaret Brennan interviewed Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar about it. 

First, Brennan dragged out the "no evidence" schtick with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about taxpayer money ending up with the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab:"you have no evidence of that money being used to fuel terrorism, which is what some conservative writers are alleging?" Bessent said a probe is ongoing, but tagged Omar: "Representative Omar tried to downplay it ... said ... it was very tough to know how this money should be used. She was gaslighting the American people." 

When Omar came on set, Brennan raised Bessent’s comments to her: "He alleged that people who were tied to you or your campaign were involved in this broad, brazen scheme to rip off the Minnesota state welfare system. Do you want to respond to that? Do you know what he is referring to?" Omar lied and said, "I really don’t, and I don’t think the secretary himself understands what he’s referring to."

BROADCAST BIAS: NETWORKS BLAST TRUMP ‘TIRADE’ BUT NOT $1B SOMALI SCAM ROCKING MINNESOTA

Somali illegal alien Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, who was convicted of fraud, has been photographed with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., (left) and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (right). (ICE)

Brennan could have easily found the New York Post reportthat underlined the connections, including Salim Ahmed Said, the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party. Said was found guilty in August of stealing over $12 million in COVID-19 funds. In 2020, Omar appeared on video at Safari to praise the (fraudulent) feeding program. 

Then consider that Guhaad Hashi Said worked on Omar’s 2018 and 2020 campaigns overseeing Somali voter turnout. He also pleaded guilty in August to running a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, where he falsely claimed to serve 5,000 meals a day and pocketed $3.2 million out of the food program. 

Why can’t Brennan use Google and get prepared? Can she lament "no evidence" on the Omar story as she refused to look for any?

MINNESOTA’S FRAUD SCANDAL WAS ‘SHOCKINGLY EASY’ TO PULL OFF, IS LIKELY WORSE THAN REPORTED: EX PROSECUTOR 

Somalia coverage boomed again when Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania, where he mocked what he called "s---hole countries." On ABC, Mary Bruce claimed "for over 90 minutes last night, his remarks repeatedly veered off topic and into vicious attacks." Then she repeated: "Trump launched vicious attacks against Somali immigrants, calling them lazy and garbage and continuing to go after Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen" in his "anti-immigrant tirade."