Ellison Defends State's Actions In Feeding Our Future Fraud

By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer:

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Tuesday defended the state’s actions which led to the FBI’s investigation and indictment of 49 people for allegedly participating in the nation’s largest pandemic aid fraud to date.

The case has garnered national attention, and Republicans have seized on the scandal, questioning whether Minnesota’s top constitutional officers and the Minnesota Department of Education did enough to stop the fraud.

Federal charges say local nonprofit Feeding Our Future misappropriated $250 million from a pandemic child nutrition program. On Tuesday, Ellison took to WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar to defend the actions of his office and of Gov. Tim Walz.

“We cooperated with the FBI to make sure that a criminal investigation went forward on fraudsters, and that’s what we did and we caught those fraudsters,” Ellison said Tuesday. “The non-partisan FBI has not cast any blame on anyone at the state, but in fact praised people at the state because we have gotten these people and they’re going to be held accountable.”

Ellison said this is a “success story” of coordination between state and federal officials. MDE and Ellison’s office suspected fraud from Feeding Our Future, leading them to alert and provide evidence to the FBI.

Ellison is running for reelection in November against Republican Jim Schultz in what polls suggest will be a tight race for attorney general. Schultz on Monday held a press conference attacking Ellison for “failing to halt such fraud.” Republicans have also criticized Walz for failing to stop the fraud sooner.

Walz has defended his administration, noting that MDE cut off payments to Feeding Our Future in 2021. Walz then said Ramsey County Judge John Guthmann ordered MDE to resume payments, which the judge later refuted.

Republican nominee for governor Scott Jensen also held a press conference on Monday in which he accused Walz of trying to use the judge as a “scapegoat” for his actions. Republicans have also called for MDE Commissioner Heather Mueller to resign.

Sawkar on Tuesday asked Ellison to provide a timeline of when Walz and himself knew of the alleged fraud, but Ellison said he couldn’t answer because he is ethically prohibited due to attorney-client privilege.

“Scott Jensen wants people who don’t understand that to say ‘Oh, something wrong is going on here.’ Nothing wrong is going on here,” Ellison said.

Ellison said the FBI hasn’t accused any state agencies of failing to cooperate but rather has praised officials for their assistance.

“It’s extremely sad that Republicans are now trying to cast blame and act like something was done improperly,” Ellison said.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..