Dear Neighbor,
Greetings from the House, where this week we have spent most of our time working on finance bills that will fund various sections of our state’s next two-year budget.
That process remains a work in progress. For now, let’s shift our focus to a significant development that occurred this week with the release of an audio recording featuring Attorney General Keith Ellison speaking with criminal defendants in the federal "Feeding our Future" trial. It’s disturbing to learn that Ellison met with and offered verbal support to criminal defendants at the heart of the largest pandemic fraud scam in the country. Ellison was even offered campaign contributions in this recorded meeting, which he later accepted.
Even before this audio was released, Ellison’s office was publicly criticized in 2022 by two former senior members of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office for its handling of the Feeding our Future case. They condemned the AG’s failure to use broad investigative powers to collect bank records and other financial documents well before federal authorities got involved. Ellison did not launch an investigation into Feeding our Future until February of 2022, two months after his meeting with the defendants.
The Attorney General must immediately release all public documents and correspondence related to his meetings and conversations with these individuals and explain to the public why he felt it was necessary or appropriate to meet with them, let alone offer the support of his office.
Unfortunately, Democrats twice this session have voted in unison to block legislation I authored (H.F. 20) that would give taxpayers more transparency into the operations of the AG’s office. It happened Feb. 20 and again just yesterday.
Minnesotans deserve transparency in government and my bill directly addresses situations such as this, but Democrats continue to put partisan politics ahead of doing what is best for the people They are so invested in the cover up they didn’t even want me to talk about it on the floor yesterday. They continually interrupted me, stifling any attempt to discuss the importance of sunlight to our democracy. Click here for the brief clip of how it played out on the House floor.
Look for more from the Capitol soon. The House will take a brief break to observe the Easter/Passover holidays and then return to St. Paul for the final push to complete this session’s work and adjourn on time May 19.
Sincerely,
Harry