MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Even as her state is subject to a federal probe into fraud within the Somali community that could total almost $9 billion, Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan did her virtue-signaling best on Christmas Day, donning a hijab to show “solidarity” with the criminally complicit Somali community, The New York Post reported.
In an appearance on “Somali TV of Minnesota,” Flanagan expressed her love and support for the Somalis.
“I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said. “I am here shopping today and just encourage other folks to show up, support our Somali businesses, support our immigrant neighbors, and I know that things are scary right now,” said Flanagan, a purported Catholic, while role-playing as a Muslim.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, called Flanagan’s appearance a “stunt.”
“...anyone with common sense sees right through this stunt.”
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s tampon-obsessed governor, Tim Walz, and feckless Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spent their Christmas criticizing the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal aliens in the Twin Cities, including the mall where Flanagan appeared, where ICE detained four alleged illegal aliens on Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department and a House subcommittee are investigating Somali-linked organizations and NGOs accused of defrauding taxpayers of at least half of the $18 million in federal funding provided to Minnesota since 2018, The Post reported.
“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” said Minnesota federal prosecutor Joe Thompson. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”
In one scheme, Somali fraudsters from the nonprofit Feeding Our Future took over $250 million in illegal gains to purchase luxury cars and real estate, including in countries such as Kenya and Turkey. That scheme saw dozens of fraudsters convicted.
“The programs are set up to move the money to people,” Walz told The New York Times in November. "The programs are set up to improve people’s lives, and in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes.” Clearly.
Walz’s statement didn’t sit well with employees at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, one of two state agencies that distributed the funds. They slammed Walz the following month and accused him of being “100% responsible for massive fraud.”
Walz initially refused to take responsibility for the fraud, trying to shift blame to a Minnesota judge for forcing some payments from the scheme to resume in 2021.
That same year, Walz honored one of the fraudsters at a separate nonprofit linked to the scheme with an “Outstanding Refugee Award.” To think this guy was within a centimeter of being the vice president.
After news of the fraud became public, Walz sprang into action, launching an anti-fraud task force, having the gumption to tell the Times, “The message here in Minnesota is if you commit a crime, if you commit fraud against public dollars, you are going to go to prison.”
Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has demanded records from Walz, Minnesota’s equally feckless Attorney General Keith Ellison, and other state officials, including nonprofits, by Dec. 17 as part of Rep. James Comer’s (R-KY) probe into the fraudulent scheme.
Comer has criticized the tepid response from Minnesota officials over the Oversight Committee’s demands.
“Minnesota Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have provided initial productions to the Oversight Committee regarding the massive fraud that occurred under their watch, but the response is anemic,” Comer said. “While the Governor’s office claims it will continue producing documents, we intend to hold them to that promise. Any failure to fully cooperate with our investigation into the massive theft of taxpayer dollars will carry consequences.”
As for Flanagan, she might want to be careful about whom she associates with.
During the mall appearance, Flanagan called out a woman standing to her left, Nimco Ahmed, the Somali American state director of the Democratic Farmer Labor Party in Minnesota, referring to her as “a friend of 25 years.”
Ahmed, however, has been quoted in Time Magazine and Minnesota Public Radio as a “friend” and acquaintance of Somali men who left the U.S. to return to Somalia and join al-Shabaab. This terrorist group was the beneficiary of millions of fraudulent welfare dollars due to the fraud.
In a 2011 appearance on Minnesota Public Radio, Ahmed bragged about the “young men leaving here, committing suicide bombings, killing innocent people, and they think they’re doing the right thing.”
“That’s the thing that’s unbelievable to me. So, what’s not possible anymore?” she queried.
Two years later, she told Time, “We feel doubly victimized, to lose our children and brothers to terrorism and to be painted as terrorists ourselves.”
Flanagan, who fancies herself a Senate candidate to replace outgoing Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), is among three candidates, including Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and a political outsider, Billy Nord. Smith has decided not to run for re-election.
Flanagan has become the queen of the virtue signalers when, in 2023, she showed up at a news conference wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt with a knife on it.
“This is life-affirming and life-saving health care,” Flanagan said. “When our children tell us who they are, it’s our job as grown-ups to listen and believe them.”
The image of Flanagan wearing the black T-shirt went viral last August after a transgender gunman shot up a Catholic preschool in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 18 others before killing himself.
“My heart goes out to all those affected by the terrifying act of violence at Annunciation Catholic school this morning,” Flanagan said in a statement after the shooting. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement who responded.”
Emmer says that Flanagan and Craig are running to see who is more radical, accusing the duo of “battling it out in an attempt to win over the far-left radicals in the Twin Cities.”
“While the Lt. Governor was showing her support for small businesses and communities being terrorized by ICE, she was handed a scarf by a friend and briefly wore it out of respect,” Alexandra Fetissoff, a Flanagan spokesperson, said about Flanagan’s appearance at the mall.
“The real outrage should not be a scarf but masked men throwing American citizens into vans and violating the Constitution.”
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