A Minnesota state lawmaker is asking a powerful House committee to subpoena US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into her possible ties to Somali fraudsters who bilked Twin Cities taxpayers out of $250 million.
State Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), who is chairing a fraud oversight investigation in Minnesota’s legislature, wrote to US House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) on Thursday requesting that his panel compel Omar to hand over “her staff’s communications with defendants” implicated in the fraud.
“As you may be aware, Rep. Ilhan Omar has documented ties to criminals convicted in the Feeding Our Future case, including holding her 2018 election party at the Safari Restaurant and appearing in a video promoting the MEALS Act, which was filmed at the Safari Restaurant,” Robbins told Comer.
“In the federal case U.S. v. Bock, several text and email exchanges between Rep. Omar’s office and the defendants in the case were listed in the trial exhibits,” she also said, noting that she sought the information and an interview from the congresswoman — but was rebuffed.
“Although we cannot compel Rep. Omar to turn over the communications, we respectfully request that the House Oversight Committee consider requesting or subpoenaing this information,” Robbins emphasized.
“It is essential to understand the genesis of the largest COVID-related fraud scandal by getting the documents and the facts about Rep. Omar’s and her staff’s communications with defendants in this case.”
A proposed subpoena submitted to the Oversight panel lists internal records related to Minnesota Department of Education food programs, as well as communications “with the owners and staff of Safari Restaurant” about the same programs as well as with Omar’s ex-staffer Guhaad Hashi Said.
Said worked for Omar’s 2018 and 2020 congressional campaigns as an “enforcer” overseeing voter mobilization in the Somali community, according to local conservative outlet Alpha News.
The 49-year-old pleaded guilty in August 2025 to conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering as part of a scheme that defrauded taxpayers out of $3.2 million for a bogus food center called Advance Youth Athletic Development.
The site falsely claimed to be giving as many as 5,000 meals per day to children in need.
Robbins’ suggested subpoena also asked for emails between Feeding Our Future defendant Aimee Bock and Omar’s former community representative in Minnesota, Natasha Rice, as well as information related to a “video aired on Somali TV,” in which Omar had “touted the MEALS Act and highlighted Safari Restaurant as a place where meals were available.”
The MEALS Act, which passed in a March 2020 package that included COVID relief money, had “removed important guardrails in the federal School Nutrition Program which, in turn, allowed restaurants to participate in the program.”
Robbins had tried to issue her own subpoena to Omar, but it was blocked along party lines in a 5-3 committee vote.
Comer, whose reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment, previously told The Post he was weighing a subpoena regarding Omar’s suspiciously skyrocketing net worth — which jumped to nearly $30 million in 2024, per House disclosures.
The Minnesota Democrat later blamed an accounting “discrepancy” for the inflated assets, with a spokesperson insisting Omar was “not a millionaire” after an amended disclosure had been filed this year.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also alleged that the congresswoman may have committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother, which Omar has denied as a “sick” personal attack.
Reps for Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
