Pirate's Cove

I wonder if the Credentialed Media considers this a Bad Thing?

Treasury investigating whether Minnesota welfare money went to al Shabaab

The Trump administration is looking into whether Minnesota tax money found its way to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday. And on Wednesday, House Oversight committee chairman Rep. James Comer announced he is launching an investigation into the widespread fraud allegations.

Bessent wrote on X that the Treasury is “investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.”

The Treasury secretary shared a Nov. 19 report in the conservative publication City Journal that alleged millions of dollars from Minnesota state welfare programs had “ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab,” citing law enforcement sources. Several Minnesota Republicans, including Rep. Tom Emmer, pushed federal prosecutors to look into the allegations.

Obviously, this must be a snipe hunt because the report was in a conservative publication.

Walz’s office pointed CBS News to remarks last week in which the governor said he welcomes an investigation into where defrauded welfare money went and would work with investigators.

Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, released an excerpt from a letter he sent Walz, saying the Oversight Committee “has serious concerns about how you as the Governor, and the Democrat-controlled administration, allowed millions of dollars to be stolen,” and requesting “documents and communications showing what your administration knew about this fraud and whether you took action to limit or halt the investigation.”

Let’s be honest, this a massive problem with all levels of government, where taxpayer money ends up where it’s not supposed to go. This case just happens to be worse than usual. Where were the governor’s people when the fraud was happening?

Minnesota has been racked by allegations of large-scale fraud in the state’s public assistance programs. Dozens of people have been charged in a $250 million scheme involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future and its partners, which federal prosecutors say stole federal nutrition aid by falsely claiming to help distribute meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have also brought fraud charges involving housing aid and autism programs in the state.

Many of the defendants in these alleged fraud schemes are members of Minnesota’s large Somali community, a Somali American former investigator in the Minnesota attorney general’s office wrote in an opinion piece last year. The former investigator, Kayseh Magan, added that community members are also frequently victims of the schemes.

President Trump has repeatedly lashed out against Somali immigrants in Minnesota, claiming in a post last month that the state has become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” and announcing an end to temporary deportation protections for Somali people in the midwestern state. Last week, the president alleged, without evidence, that “hundreds of thousands of Somalians are ripping off our country and ripping apart that once great state.”

And, there you go, Blame Trump. Regardless, Walz may want to lawyer up, along with a ton of other people in Minnesota government.