Latest news with #R-Ramsey
CBS News
12-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Leaked audio shows Minnesota AG Ellison vowing to support a group including now-convicted defendants in fraud case
Leaked audio from a December 2021 meeting between Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a group including now-convicted defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud case is leading Republican lawmakers to call for further investigation. The meeting involved Ellison and a group of business owners who claimed to represent the "Minnesota Minority Business Association." Members of the group told Ellison in the meeting they were being unfairly targeted by state agencies because of their race and nationality. "This community has been behind you. We continue to stand behind you," one group member said. "But we're dealing with some very difficult market forces standing against us." Weeks after the meeting, FBI agents carried out search warrants and the largest pandemic fraud case in the United States became public. The meeting audio was supposed to be used in court, says defense attorney Kenneth Udoboik, who represented Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock . Udoboik says he's unaware how the audio got leaked to the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based think tank, earlier this week. What it proves, he alleges, is that state leaders worked with Bock and Feeding Our Future up until federal arrests in early 2022. Attorney General Ellison's office declined an on-camera interview Friday but released a written statement. "The attorney general regularly meets with constituents, hears their concerns in good faith, and does his best to help people who need it, which is exactly what the recording of this meeting shows," the statement said. The statement added that Ellison initially thought he was only meeting one other person. "It is a shame that these fraudsters tried to exploit the attorney general's good faith engagement, but they were not successful. Nothing happened as a result of the meeting," the statement said. On Friday, Minnesota Republicans pushed back — calling for more transparency from Ellison's office. "We need a lot more information about what's happened," Rep Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said. "In that meeting, he's sending emails to people in his staff. We need to really understand what was happening behind the scenes." "We all meet with people – we don't know who we're meeting with at the time," Niska said. "But the reality is within that office, there were cases that the office was involved with representing the department of education against feeding our future. It should have come up to his level." Ellison's office says that while he was unaware of the implications of the December 2021 meeting with the now-convicted business owners, his comments in September 2022 that he spent "years" working to hold Feeding our Future accountable are accurate. "I would rather the attorney general say this – 'look, I was surprised, I didn't know that they were involved in criminality.' That would be the truth," Udoboik said.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Audio of Keith Ellison with Feeding Our Future defendants draws scrutiny
A recording of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's meeting more than three years ago with a group including eventual defendants in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case has House Republicans renewing calls for transparency at the Attorney General's office. During a December 2021 meeting, a group of East African businesses that lost government funding amid suspicion of fraud flexed their political fundraising abilities and asked Ellison to help push back against state agencies standing in their way, audio that recently came to light shows. The meeting came just a month before the FBI raided Feeding Our Future's offices in January 2022. The nonprofit collected payments for millions of meals partner groups never served, federal prosecutors allege. The 54-minute recording is unused evidence from the trial of Aimee Bock, the alleged ringleader of the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, and was first published online this week by the conservative Minnesota think tank the Center of the American Experiment. But the recording was never presented at trial because no state government witnesses ended up testifying. House Republicans and the think tank have suggested that Ellison's telling the group he would check into their concerns with state officials conflicted with his duty to represent state government. They also point to later political contributions from an eventual defendant in the case to his campaign. 'The Attorney General must immediately release all public documents and correspondence related to his meetings and conversations with these individuals, and explain to the public why he felt it was necessary or appropriate to meet with them, let alone offer the support of his office,' said House Floor Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey. Ellison's office has claimed the attorney general himself was not aware of the ongoing dispute at the time, but that his office had been defending the state against Feeding Our Future in court. Brian Evans, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the recording showed Ellison acted appropriately during the meeting, despite 'the Center for the American Experiment's best efforts to smear Attorney General Ellison for partisan political reasons.' 'The Attorney General regularly meets with constituents, hears their concerns in good faith, and does his best to help people who need it, which is exactly what the recording of this meeting shows,' he said in a statement. 'It is a shame that these fraudsters tried to exploit the Attorney General's good faith engagement, but they were not successful.' A little less than a month after the meeting, the FBI raided the offices of Feeding Our Future. Ellison's office said it never acted on any of the group's requests from the meeting and has said it has 'no intention' of keeping funds contributed by someone tied to the meeting that was charged more than two years after the initial raid. Federal authorities have charged 70 people in the case since September 2022. As of March, 37 had pleaded guilty, 7, including Bock, were convicted at trial, and two have been acquitted. In the recording, a group calling itself the Minnesota Minority Business Association pushes on Ellison to help them challenge state officials freezing reimbursements to meal sites, claiming agencies were discriminating against East Africans. The Minnesota Department of Education attempted to freeze money going to rapidly growing meal sites that were reporting what officials saw as improbable levels of growth under looser rules during the pandemic. However, in June 2021, a Ramsey County judge found the department in contempt for not paying Feeding Our Future reimbursements for meals in a timely manner. Judge John Guthmann said the department 'voluntarily' resumed payments for meals. Ellison spent much of the meeting asking the group questions about their issues, despite his office representing MDE against them. 'This is the first I'm really hearing about it,' Ellison said, telling the group his office has about 400 staff and that he doesn't check on every single case they receive. When someone on the recording mentions the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provided the federal money the state was giving to Feeding Our Future, Ellison asked for an explanation. 'Wait a minute, what is that?' Ellison asks. At the meeting were soon-to-be federal fraud defendants in the Feeding Our Future case, including Salim Said, who was convicted at trial last month alongside alleged ringleader Bock and owned Safari Restaurant, one of the main meal sites in the case. Also present was Ikram Mohamed, who was indicted in February 2024. Throughout the recorded conversation, the group repeatedly touted its potential for fundraising and offered financial support to Ellison's campaign, though Ellison is never heard asking for contributions or engaging in discussion about taking money. Less than two weeks after the meeting, Ellison received a $2,500 contribution from Gandi Mohamed, the brother of Ikram Mohamed, who was also charged last year, the Center of the American Experiment noted in its online article containing the audio. Others present at the meeting also made contributions, though they haven't been charged in the fraud case, according to the article. Ellison's office says it has returned contributions tied to other Feeding Our Future fraud defendants, and that his campaign has 'has no intention of keeping the funds' from Gandi Mohamed, who was charged in February 2024. In response to the group's requests for help with challenging state agencies, Ellison first asked for information on which agencies and administrators were a problem for the group, and in which programs. He also asked for information on which meal provider nonprofits were struggling most so he could bring them to the attention of Education Department officials. 'I'll call them in my office and demand some explanations,' he said. Kenneth Udoibok, Bock's defense attorney at the trial, said the reason they had considered using the recording as evidence during the trial was that it would help show that his client was 'as surprised' as some state officials claimed they were by the fraud at Feeding Our Future. But the recording was never presented at trial because no state government witnesses ended up testifying, Udoibok said. Following the publication of the audio, House Republicans on Thursday attempted to reintroduce a bill they tried to pass earlier in the session which would open more investigative records at the Attorney General's office — a move which they argue would boost transparency. DFLers opposed that bill when it first came up in February, and it failed again in a tied party line vote as Republicans have 67 seats, requiring at least one member of the other party to join. House DFLers say they oppose the bill because it could reveal sensitive investigative data. Proposed tax on social media platforms in Minnesota could raise over $300M New MN office for missing, murdered Black women and girls aims to build awareness MN House bill aims to assist families with child care costs Push to release Sen. Nicole Mitchell arrest video gets new chance on appeal St. Paul nonprofit pays $7.3M to turn Bandana Square hotel into emergency shelter
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican-backed bill fails in first floor vote in Minnesota House
A Republican-backed bill before the Minnesota House aimed at opening more records at the state attorney general's office failed on party lines Thursday in the chamber's first floor vote of the legislative session. The measure would have changed the wording of a state statute to open more of the attorney general's investigative records. Many of those are private because of a 2022 state Supreme Court decision that regarded the records of groups and organizations as subject to the same protections as individuals. House Majority Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, told reporters at a Thursday news conference that the decision gives Democratic-Farmer-Labor Attorney General Keith Ellison special protection against public scrutiny other state agencies don't enjoy. 'This should be an obvious gimme vote for everybody; to say we are for transparency,' he said. 'We are for the government not hiding what it's doing when there's no privacy interest that needs to be protected of an individual person.' It's worth noting: The Minnesota Legislature has protections of its own. Lawmakers' records are exempt from the Minnesota Data Practices Act. Niska said he didn't think that exemption should change. The 2022 Supreme Court decision came as the result of a lawsuit filed by Energy Policy Advocates against Ellison seeking information about outside groups believed to be funding positions helping the office with its lawsuit against the petroleum industry. Justices narrowly sided with Ellison 4-3, with Justice Paul Thissen in his dissent describing the majority's interpretation of state open records law as 'somewhat Orwellian' for applying a different definition to the attorney general's office. DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison said the push was tied to his office's ongoing litigation against oil companies like Exxon Mobil for allegedly misleading the public that fossil fuels aren't linked to climate change. Ellison and DFL lawmakers said they doubt Republicans' declared intent of helping government transparency. They instead tied the bill to the ongoing legal battles. 'This is bad legislation motivated by the fossil fuel industry,' Ellison said. Further, Ellison said the bill would potentially expose sensitive information held by his office, including the trade secrets of corporations his office is suing. The potential for exposure of sensitive information could make other states less likely to invite Minnesota to multi-party consumer protection lawsuits, Ellison said. One example he pointed to was Minnesota's involvement in a settlement with pharmaceutical companies blamed for causing the national opioid addiction crisis. Despite the failed House floor vote Thursday, the bill could come back in a different form later in the session. Republicans voted to table the bill after it failed. Right now, House Republicans are using their current one-seat majority at the Capitol to advance bills to the floor, using what could be a temporary advantage over their DFL colleagues before the chamber potentially returns to a 67-67 tie next month after a special election in a Roseville-area district. Even though Republicans have an organizational majority, they are one vote short of the 68 needed to pass bills. Republicans say a big part of the reason they brought the bill to the floor Thursday was to get DFLers' votes on the record. 'It was important to us that we move this bill forward while we have the procedural ability to do that,' said Niska, who told reporters there would be more similar Republican-backed measures on the floor in the coming weeks. Politics | DFL lawmakers, Ellison back legislation to purchase, then forgive, Minnesotans' medical debt Politics | Senate GOP files new ethics complaints against Nicole Mitchell, state senator facing felony burglary charges Politics | Trump moves on budget, policy spill over to Minnesota Legislature Politics | SPPS Board of Education to vote on cell phone policy Tuesday Politics | Minnesota GOP files first petitions aimed at unseating DFL House members
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Minnesota House GOP files lawsuit to force absent DFL members back to Capitol by fining them
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon presided over the House chamber on Jan. 27, 2025, as Democrats continued to boycott the Capitol. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer. House Republicans on Thursday filed a lawsuit with the Minnesota Supreme Court to compel boycotting Democratic-Farmer-Labor House members back to the Capitol by fining them. House Democrats have been deliberately staying away from the Capitol for more than two weeks — since Jan. 14 — in an effort to deny Republicans quorum and control of the chamber. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the House needs 68 members for a quorum, leaving Republicans unable to conduct business. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has been presiding over the chamber in the absence of a speaker, and every day this week he has declared there's no quorum and adjourned. House Republicans have been attempting to propose a motion to get Democrats back to the Capitol, but Simon won't 'recognize' them, meaning the members can't speak up, according to House rules. Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, told reporters that this is beyond Simon's authority as a presiding officer, so the caucus is asking the Supreme Court to compel Simon to recognize their motion. Republicans want House members to be fined an amount equal to their salary during the days that they are absent and revoke their per diem privileges for the entire 2025-2026 session. 'Secretary Simon is illegally obstructing our ability to compel absent members as specifically stated in the constitution. Because he refuses to allow a motion on the House floor to hold Democrats accountable, we are taking legal action to make sure it happens,' Niska said in a statement. 'Democrats are obstructing House business, and it needs to stop.' Niska accused Simon, a Democrat, of 'playing politics' by denying their chance to offer a motion. House Republicans are using Niska's law firm to represent them. Unlike the last case in front of the Supreme Court, House Republicans won't be using the taxpayer's dime to fund the legal fees, Niska told reporters. In a statement, a spokesperson for Simon said his office doesn't comment on pending litigation, but Simon's position is that 'absent a quorum and an organized House of Representatives, the only item in order is adjournment.' This is the latest development in the power struggle stifling operations in the Minnesota House, which is currently home to 67 Republicans and 66 Democrats. Negotiations to resolve the power struggle have stalled, and both sides appear to be dug in: House Democrats want written assurance that Republicans will refrain from attempting to unseat one of their members. Republicans want to elect a speaker and control House committees for the next two years — even after a special election for an open seat in the north metro that's expected to bring the chamber back to a 67-67 tie. Republican leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, told reporters she hasn't had contact with House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman about continuing negotiations. Hortman in a statement said she was at the Capitol to negotiate on Thursday morning, but Demuth refused to meet with her. Republicans say Hortman never requested a meeting. At stake is the status of Rep. Brad Tabke, a Shakopee Democrat who won his reelection by 14 votes in a contest marred by 20 missing ballots. A judge ruled in an advisory opinion that Tabke would have won anyway, and a do-over is not needed. The Minnesota Constitution grants the House the power to seat its own members, however, and Democrats fear Republicans will refuse to seat Tabke.
