Minnesota committee fails to subpoena Omar after unanswered records request

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

Democrats on a Minnesota House committee refused to support a subpoena targeting U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar after Republicans accused her of ignoring repeated requests for documents and testimony tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation.

The House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee voted Tuesday on whether to compel Omar, a Democrat, to provide records connected to the investigation. The motion failed after all five Republicans voted in favor, but three DFL members opposed it. Six votes were required.

Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove and the committee chair, said lawmakers had repeatedly asked Omar to testify and provide documents connected to trial exhibits in the federal Feeding Our Future case.

“We have been ghosted,” Robbins said during Tuesday’s hearing. “We have been absolutely ignored by a sitting member of Congress.”

Republicans on the committee have focused heavily on Omar’s sponsorship of the federal MEALS Act in 2020, legislation they argue loosened oversight requirements in federal child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Rep. Omar had some role, whether inadvertent or not,” Robbins said. “She passed the MEALS Act in March of 2020, and that took the guardrails off the federal school nutrition program, which created the conditions for Feeding Our Future.”

Federal prosecutors have described the Feeding Our Future case as one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country, alleging that more than $250 million intended to feed children was fraudulently claimed through fake meal reimbursements.

Robbins said Republicans on the committee became interested in Omar’s involvement earlier this year after learning of communications between her and some individuals who were later convicted of fraud.

“We thought it would be very helpful to understand from Representative Omar’s perspective how she thought the MEALS Act impacted the community, why she brought it, what communication she had with the fraudsters,” Robbins said.

She also pointed to a 2020 video in which Omar promoted meal distribution efforts at Safari Restaurant, a Minneapolis restaurant later identified by prosecutors as a major participant in the fraud scheme.

“In this, she had, according to the trial exhibits, multiple communications between her office and the fraudsters who have been convicted,” Robbins said. “I think it’s important for the public to know what role she and her office played, not only in passing the MEALS Act, but in then communicating the information about how the guardrails are no longer in this program to the people who were later convicted of fraud.”

Robbins explained the committee sent Omar another letter following an April hearing requesting records by Tuesday’s hearing, but said no response was received.

“The only tool left for us as a committee if we want to get these documents is to issue a subpoena,” she said.

Democrats on the committee pushed back against the effort.

Rep. Dave Pinto, DFL-St. Paul, questioned the timing of the subpoena.

“We know the president and federal administration have got no hesitation going after political enemies and investigating them in all sorts of ways,” Pinto said. “If there’s any sort of wrongdoing by Congresswoman Omar—and if there’s no wrongdoing by Congresswoman Omar—I have no doubt the Trump Administration will do all it can with all the resources it has.”

Rep. Isaac Schultz, R-Elmdale Township, argued the subpoena effort was part of a broader push to understand fraud in Minnesota government programs.

“Feeding Our Future is one part of the picture as it relates to what we know is to come in the fraud we’ve seen in Medicaid,” Schultz said. “Now, we have this opportunity to use our tools here in the House of Representatives to issue this subpoena to gain a greater understanding.”

The committee has spent months examining the Feeding Our Future scandal and other alleged fraud cases involving public funds.

Robbins previously told The Center Square the committee’s investigation is necessary to establish a clearer timeline of oversight failures and ensure accountability for the spending of taxpayer funding.

Omar did not appear before the committee on Tuesday. Her office also did not respond to a request for comment from The Center Square.