Minnesota lawmaker probes Ilhan Omar ties to Safari restaurant fraud scandal

A Minnesota House committee moved deeper into its review of Ilhan Omar’s links to Safari Restaurant after the Minneapolis lawmaker missed a scheduled hearing, with State Rep. Kristin Robbins demanding records and written answers tied to the restaurant and the broader Feeding Our Future fraud case.

Robbins, who chairs the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, sent Omar a letter on April 22, 2026, and gave her until May 5 to turn over records and respond in writing. The committee is seeking Omar’s written and electronic communications with the convicted owners of Safari Restaurant, Salim Said and Salim Ahmed Said, along with communications with more than a dozen people convicted in the Feeding Our Future scandal.

At the center of the inquiry is Safari Restaurant’s role in the pandemic-era meal distribution network. During the hearing, Robbins played a 2020 Somali-language television clip in which Omar discussed Safari Restaurant as a meal distribution site and praised its participation in the program. In the clip, Omar said, “I’m very thankful for Safari for being part of those places where food is being given out.” She also said Safari was giving out 2,300 family and kids’ meals each day.

The hearing sharpened the political fight over Omar’s MEALS Act, which Republicans on the panel said loosened safeguards in the federal child nutrition program. Democrats defended the bill as a pandemic necessity, arguing that it was designed to get food to children and families quickly during an emergency. Robbins and other Republicans framed the issue as part of the state’s effort to trace who benefited from a fraud scheme authorities say involved more than $250 million in misused taxpayer funds.

For restaurant operators, the case underscores how quickly a dining room can become part of a much larger public money investigation. Safari was not just a neighborhood restaurant in this story. It became a meal site, a campaign stop and now a focus of document demands that could shed light on how restaurant spaces, nonprofit meal programs and political contacts overlapped during the pandemic.