Rep. Ilhan Omar struggled badly on CNN’s "The Lead with Jake Tapper" to explain how fraud became “so out of control” in Minnesota. Tapper pressed the congresswoman after federal officials announced a new investigation into the alleged Somali fraud network operating in her state. Omar responded with a rambling, incoherent defense.
Omar gave a meandering explanation, blaming the massive problem on weak government oversight. She said, “I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these, kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you're oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate.”
She claimed the massive fraud, which reportedly involves billions in stolen funds, was due to inadequate security. Omar added that a lot of the COVID programs “were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created.”
Tapper then played a clip of President Donald Trump's reaction to the investigation. Trump had slammed Omar and the entire Somali community for the staggering theft of taxpayer funds.
Trump told reporters, “These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They’ve taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. She should be thrown the hell out of our country.”
The President added that Omar and her friend should not be in Congress because "they don’t represent the interests of our country." Tapper asked Omar if she had a response to the President’s fierce criticism.
Omar immediately resorted to the predictable liberal talking points. She claimed she was not shocked because the President "oftentimes resorts to very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric when he is trying to scapegoat and deflect from the actual failures that he has himself.”
She then deflected away from the fraud scandal by attacking Trump's tariffs and his Defense Secretary’s alleged “war crimes.” Omar ended by saying, “We are Americans. We’re not going anywhere, and we will continue to be in this country.”
The investigation targeting the Somali fraud network was launched by Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler said she ordered the probe after Walz’s team allegedly failed to properly audit the public funds.
Loeffler said, “Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.” This confirms that Democrats are fighting the cleanup effort every step of the way.