Rep. Ilhan Omar refused to answer questions or turn over documents to a Minnesota legislative committee investigating her ties to the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, and a vote to compel her testimony fell just one vote short on Tuesday, Fox News Digital reported.
The subpoena needed a two-thirds vote from the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee to pass. It got five votes, one short of the six required. That left committee chair State Rep. Kristin Robbins with no mechanism to force the Democratic congresswoman to cooperate, and a May 5 deadline for Omar to respond to written questions passed without a reply.
The failed vote marks the latest chapter in a yearslong scandal that federal prosecutors say drained at least $250 million from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs. And the congresswoman at the center of the committee's questions has now declined every invitation to explain her role.
Robbins told Fox News Digital that her committee tried multiple avenues to get Omar to engage before resorting to a subpoena vote.
"We have reached out to Representative Ilhan Omar on multiple occasions, inviting her to testify and inviting and requesting documents."
The committee's written request to Omar was specific. Robbins asked for communications showing how Omar promoted expanded access to federal child nutrition programs, emails, texts, and meeting records with the Minnesota Department of Education and constituents. She also sought all communications related to Omar's Somali-language TV appearance highlighting Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis as a meal distribution site. That restaurant's owner was later convicted in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud.
Beyond the restaurant, Robbins requested records of any contact between Omar and individuals charged or implicated in the case, including Feeding Our Future executive director Aimee Bock and dozens of alleged co-conspirators. Omar provided nothing.
Last month, Omar also skipped a committee hearing focused on the MEALS Act, the federal COVID-19 relief measure she sponsored in 2020 that Republicans say stripped away safeguards in the federal school nutrition program.
At the heart of the committee's investigation is a straightforward question: did Omar's legislation create the conditions that allowed the fraud to flourish? Robbins has been blunt in her assessment.
"We have endeavored in multiple ways to get access to [information] because, as everyone knows, Representative Omar had had some role, whether inadvertent or not. [She passed the MEALS Act] in March of 2020, and that took the guardrails off the federal school nutrition program, which created the conditions for [fraud]."
The Washington Examiner reported that the committee played footage of Omar promoting Safari Restaurant, a Feeding Our Future-linked meal site, during a hearing where members argued her 2020 legislation relaxed eligibility rules for non-school meal distributors, opening the door to exploitation.
Republicans contend that Omar's bill did not merely expand access during the pandemic. It removed verification requirements that had previously kept bad actors from siphoning federal dollars. The fraud scheme that followed became one of the largest pandemic-era scams in the country.
FBI agents raided the offices of Feeding Our Future in St. Anthony, Minnesota, and the home of its executive director Aimee Bock in January 2022. The nonprofit's partners stood accused of defrauding the federal government of millions. The broader scope of welfare fraud in Minnesota is now estimated at roughly $1 billion, according to Newsmax, which reported that Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth rejected Omar's explanation that pandemic programs were simply created too quickly.
Demuth said she did not know whether Omar was directly involved but noted that Minnesota's reputation for generosity "has been taken advantage of by fraudsters."
With the subpoena vote behind her, Robbins acknowledged that the committee's leverage over a sitting member of Congress is limited. Asked about the committee's remaining options, she offered a single word.
"They're fading."
But she did not close the door entirely. Robbins said she would reach out to allies in Congress to explore whether federal lawmakers might be willing to issue their own subpoena. Omar's refusal to cooperate with a state committee does not insulate her from a congressional one, and Robbins argued the matter remains squarely within federal jurisdiction.
"I'll certainly talk to our friends in Congress to see if they would be willing to issue a subpoena. I don't know if they are, but they would have the same authority and it's still relevant to them because it's a federal program that's been swindled. So I don't know if they would be willing to do it, but it's worth asking."
She tempered expectations, noting that Congress has a full plate. "They have so many [investigations] going on, I don't know where this falls on the priority list," she said.
Omar's broader conduct has drawn scrutiny well beyond the Feeding Our Future case. Her financial disclosure filings have raised separate questions, including a discrepancy involving a net worth listed at up to $30 million that she attributed to an accounting error.
Robbins made clear that the subpoena setback would not end the committee's work. She said the investigation extends far beyond Omar.
"I do think the subpoena is important. This is one of dozens, if not hundreds of things we are investigating. We have had hundreds of whistleblower reports. They continue to come in weekly."
Even without official hearings going forward, Robbins said the committee would keep digging. "Even though the committee will no longer have official hearings we will continue to investigate these whistleblower reports and webs of fraud," she stated.
Just The News reported that the committee's April 22 hearing specifically questioned Omar's role in the scandal, with Robbins telling colleagues that Omar "took the guardrails off, so billions of our tax dollars could be stolen." Omar did not attend that hearing either.
In a written message to Omar after the failed vote, Robbins did not mince words: "Minnesotans and the Members of the House Fraud Prevention & State Oversight Committee were disappointed that you failed to appear before our committee to answer questions."
She followed up on X with a broader indictment of the pattern she sees repeating itself across the scandal. "It's the same story every time. Fraud is committed, information is suppressed, and the dysfunction continues."
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar's office for comment. The article did not include any response. That silence is consistent with Omar's approach throughout the committee's inquiry, no testimony, no documents, no answers. Meanwhile, fellow Minnesota lawmakers have grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of her refusal to engage.
What makes this episode so galling to the taxpayers left holding the bill is how cleanly Omar has managed to avoid any accountability mechanism. A state committee asked politely. Then it asked formally. Then it tried to compel. Each time, the congresswoman simply declined to show up, respond, or produce a single document.
The committee needed a two-thirds vote to enforce its request. It fell one vote short. The fraud scheme that Omar's critics say her legislation enabled drained a quarter-billion dollars from programs meant to feed children. Hundreds of whistleblowers have contacted the committee. And the person whose name is on the bill that allegedly made it all possible will not answer a single question about it.
Robbins may yet find a willing partner in Congress. But the fact that a sitting member of the U.S. House can simply ignore a state oversight committee, on a matter involving hundreds of millions in stolen federal funds, tells you everything about where the incentives lie.
When fraud is this large and cooperation is this absent, the silence says more than any testimony could.
