Rep. Ilhan Omar: If Any Money From Somali Community Goes To Terrorism, “That’s A Failure Of The FBI”
Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” dismissed concerns that money from recently discovered fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community was sent overseas to foreign terrorist groups. “If there was a linkage in the money that they had stolen going to terrorism, then that’s a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out and basically charging them with these charges,” she said. “But if that is the case, if money from U.S. tax dollars is being sent to help with terrorism in Somalia, we want to know. We want those people prosecuted. We want to make sure that that doesn’t ever happen again.”
MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS: We heard the head of Medicare and Medicaid say they will have a new policy that applies to Minnesota. The Treasury Secretary said they are investigating. There’s another thread here, because House Republicans and the Treasury Secretary talked about a link to terrorism – a possible link. He said they are beginning to look into it. How confident are you that that’s a false claim? REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): I’m pretty confident at the moment, because there are people who have been prosecuted and who have been sentenced. If there was a linkage in the money that they had stolen going to terrorism, then that’s a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out and basically charging them with these charges. So I do know that for many years this sort of alarm – that there’s money being transferred through the airport in bags and going to terrorism – that accusation has always existed. There’s never been here and there in those accusations. But if that is the case, if money from U.S. tax dollars is being sent to help with terrorism in Somalia, we want to know. We want those people prosecuted. We want to make sure that that doesn’t ever happen again.
