What did Ilhan Omar know about the $1B welfare fraud case in her Minnesota district?

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Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions.

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Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it.

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“[Rep. Omar] knew who these people were. People she personally knew were making tens of millions of dollars in this program,” claimed Bill Glahn, a policy fellow with the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment, to The Post.

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“She had been inside the [Safari] facility on numerous occasions and couldn’t put 2 and 2 together? Either she’s terminally naive, or knew and didn’t care,” Glahn added.

Around $250 million was handed out by the Minnesota government to provide meals to schoolchildren during the pandemic from 2020 onward.

Instead, it was pocketed by corrupt business owners, including Salim Ahmed Said. He’s the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party.

Said was found guilty in August of stealing over $12 million for serving 3.9 million “phantom” meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The free meals were made possible by the 2020 MEALS Act, which was introduced by Omar and passed with bipartisan support.

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As the scam was going on in 2020, Omar appeared on video at Minneapolis’ Safari Restaurant to praise the program.

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Her spokesperson also said she had no knowledge of any wrongdoing.

In 2021, when Minnesota’s Department of Education (MDE) flagged that organization for irregularities and “serious deficiencies” such as incomplete audits, a top aide to Omar, deputy district director Ali Isse, came rushing to their defense, in a newly resurfaced video.

He spoke at a gala praising the “vital work” of Feeding Our Families and blasted state agencies for asking too many questions.

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I’m tired of the MDE thing. How many more do we have to fight against?” the top Omar associate, who has not been indicted or directly linked to the fraud, said during the impassioned speech.

He also blamed the unwanted attention from authorities on racism and rallied the “community” to stick together. Isse did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.

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