Ilhan Omar says she's frustrated since Somalis are also victims in 'Feeding Our Future' scam

Rep Ilhan Omar D-Minn expressed frustration Sunday with the framing of the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme that's embroiled members of the Somali population in her state saying a multitude of Somalis were casualties as well since they could have benefited from the effort Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan called the extent of the scam shocking noting it was the Biden-era Department of Justice that announced it was the largest COVID- fraud scheme in the nation and the majority of the informed offenders were Somalis adding to the spotlight on Omar's neighborhood Why do you think this fraud was allowed to get so widespread Brennan appealed I want to say this also has an impact on Somalis because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota Omar reported We also could have benefited from the initiative and the money that was stolen 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 WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MINNESOTA S FEEDING OUR FUTURE FRAUD AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP S LATEST CRACKDOWNBrennan required Omar if there had been a failure by the Minnesota state establishment which is dominated by Democrats That is what I alluded to in my letter that I had sent to the Secretary of AG was to see where things were going wrong How can this amount of money disappear fraudulently without there being alarms set off Omar petitioned And it is something that you know we have to continue to investigate We have to continue to ask those questions President Donald Trump and other functionaries have zeroed in on this and other alleged fraud schemes in latest weeks arguing that the criminal activity is a end of mismanagement and incompetence from Minnesota Gov Tim Walz a Democrat and former vice presidential candidate MS NOW HOST CALLS MASSIVE MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME ISOLATED IN INTERVIEW WITH M ATTORNEY GENERALTrump and Omar have traded barbs in current days as well with Trump calling Somalis garbage and saying they should return to their home country Omar and other critics have called the remarks bigoted and revealed Trump is trying to distract from his own approach failings The back-and-forth comes as Minnesota has come under fresh scrutiny for alleged mismanagement of federal funds including in distributing money for the nonprofit Feeding Our Future effort Prosecutors have labeled the fraud scheme in the state as the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the country stemming from accusations that the Minnesota nonprofit and its associates defrauded federal child-nutrition programs for hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID- aid The New York Times informed last month Over the last five years law enforcement functionaries say fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars worth of social services that were never provided BILLION REPORTEDLY STOLEN IN FRAUD UNDER MINNESOTA GOV WALZOmar announced she was one of the first members of Congress who inquired about what she called a reprehensible scam Omar previously informed local outlet KARE News The alleged fraud scheme orchestrated by Feeding Our Future is reprehensible Using the guise of feeding children to funnel millions of dollars toward extravagant expenses is abhorrent and anyone who participated in this scheme must be held accountable Fox News Digital's Brenna Deppisch and Hanna Panreck contributed to this document