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David Hoch testifies before MN House fraud committee
David Hoch, the partner of Nick Shirley who created a viral video that allegedly exposed child care center fraud in Minnesota, testified before the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee on Tuesday about the fraud he is said to have uncovered in state programs that the public should have "torches and pitchforks" in protest against.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Minnesota House fraud prevention committee attempted to subpoena Rep. Ilhan Omar to force her to provide documents related to Feeding our Future, but the effort failed on a committee vote on Tuesday.
Committee looking into Omar
The backstory:
In late April, the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy committee invited Rep. Omar to appear and answer questions about Feeding our Future.
When Omar declined to appear, Minnesota House Rep. Kristin Robbins sent a letter to Rep. Omar requesting information about her relationship with Safari Restaurant – one of the Feeding our Future businesses – and copies of communications between her office and Safari Restaurant.
The letter also sought information on donations and communications from Feeding our Future defendants including ringleader Aimee Bock and more than two dozen other people convicted in the scheme.
The letter also sought information on communications and meetings between Rep. Omar and Feeding our Future convict Guhaad Hashi Said, who worked with Omar's campaign.
Dig deeper:
The lawmakers say they are digging into Rep. Omar's relationship with Feeding our Future due to the fact that Rep. Omar's name appears multiple times on an exhibit list provided by prosecutors for the trial of Aimee Bock.
The exhibit list includes descriptions of emails and texts between Bock and Rep. Ilhan's office in February and March 2021. One of the email chains between Bock and an Omar rep is described as "Re: Help with USDA Food Program."
Republican lawmakers also blame Rep. Omar's law, the MEALS Act, for allowing the Feeding our Future fraud to happen. They say that law relaxed oversight during the pandemic and allowed the fraud to persist.
Subpoena fails
What we know:
Tuesday was the deadline that Republicans had set for Rep. Omar to submit those documents. Since Rep. Omar hadn't submitted the documents, Rep. Robbins said the committee had only one option if they wanted to get them: a subpoena.
"We have been ghosted," said Robbins. "We have been absolutely ignored by a sitting member of Congress… This is part of our process in getting those answers."
However, the vote required a supermajority vote to move forward. The vote on Tuesday didn't garner enough votes to move forward.
The other side:
The exhibits list doesn't include the full emails, so it's not clear what – if any – help Rep. Omar's office ever offered or provided Feeding our Future.
Rep. Omar has never been accused or charged with a crime connected to Feeding our Future.
Rep. Dave Pinto argued that if Rep. Omar had done anything wrong that President Trump would be more than willing to pursue charges against her.
"I do not see any value that comes out of this," said Rep. Pinto. "I don't see, looking broadly at this committee, that this committee would make any decent use of any information that it would receive."
What's next:
The vote occurred during the final meeting of the year for the fraud committee. The committee is expected to issue a report at some point in coming weeks on fraud prevention.
During the same meeting, David Hoch, the man who partnered with YouTuber Nick Shirley to expose alleged fraud at Minnesota day cares, provided testimony to the fraud committee.