The City Journal column by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo has taken on a life of its own. Among other things, Thorpe and Rufo report that Minnesota taxpayers are the largest funder of al Shabab via the Feeding Our Future fraud and others, all of which I think it is fair to say we have covered to a fare-thee-well on Power Line.
The Thorpe-Rufo column has created a furor. President Trump has taken note. House Speaker Mike Johnson has taken note. Minnesota Rep. and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer demands an investigation. Minnesota House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth demands an investigation.
Last night Fox News Special Report devoted a story to the Thorpe-Rifo column in “Minnesota politicians demand answers after a report alleges taxpayer dollars going to a Somali terror group.” Alpha News reports “Republicans call on US attorney to investigate allegation of Somali fraud schemes funding al-Shabaab.” Everyone demands an investigation.
I wrote about the possible al Shabab connection in this context in the 2018 City Journal column “Mogadishu, Minnesota.” No one told me math would be requird, but I believe that was seven years ago. It is very old news.
With the Feeding Our Future case and related frauds, the story has moved on. The response to the Thorpe-Rufo column is rapidly spinning into a hurricane Category 5 fiasco.
The case has been investigated. With the two Feeding Our Future trials prosecuted by Joe Thompson and his colleagues in the Office of United States Attorney for Minneosta, the the investigaiton is a matter of public record.
Seventy-eight indictments have been handed up in the Feeding Our Future case. Thompson has also announed the nature of the new public-programs fraud cases and how he was led to them by the Feeding Our Future case itself. Indeed, the new cases feature some of the old defendants.
There is no secret here. It’s not a terrorism problem. It’s a greed problem.
I have written another column for City Journal laying this out. The column is based on my coverage of the Feeding Our Future trials and by chief prosecutor Joe Thompson’s public statements about the entire constellation of fraud in Minnesota public programs. I believe it will be published soon. In the meantime, I offer up this footnote as a diplomatic corrective to the Thorpe/Rufo column.
