‘You Gotta Learn Not to Defraud the American People’ Trump Treasury Secretary Says Somali Fraud Scheme Being Investigated for Terrorism Link

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Somalis who move to the U.S. have to “learn not to defraud the American people,” during an appearance on Face the Nation on CBS on Sunday morning.

Bessent told host Margaret Brennan the Treasury was now investigating a billion-dollar fraud scheme carried out by dozens of Minnesota residents of Somali descent.

President Donald Trump’s go-to economics guy said it was alarming that many of the crooks donated stolen tax dollars to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and state Attorney General Keith Ellison (D); he also said his department was investigating whether the money was used to fund terrorism.

Bessent said:

To be clear, the initial fraud that was discovered by the IRS, for which I’m the acting commissioner, it was discovered by IRS Criminal Investigation Unit. This was not endogenous that the state of Minnesota decided. We had to go in and clean up the mess for them, and this is part of the continued cleanup.

A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud, including those who donated to the governor, donated to representative Omar and to AG Ellison. They have been transferred to something called MBSs… these are Money Bureau Services, and they are wire transfer organizations that are outside the regulated banking system. And that money has gone overseas, and we are tracking that, both to the Middle East and to Somalia, to see what the uses of that have been.

“But you have no evidence of that money being used to fuel terrorism at this point — which is what some conservative writers are alleging,” Brennan followed up.

“That’s why it’s an investigation,” Bessent responded. “We started it last week. We will see where it goes.”

The two discussed the topic, a few days after President Trump ripped Omar, saying she was “garbage,” an anti-semite, and a “terrible person.” The president said he did not want more Somalis like Omar coming to the U.S., because most of them were “ripping off” the American taxpayer.

His searing remarks were made shortly after The New York Times reported on the a “staggering” fraud scheme in which more than $1 billion was stolen.

Bessent said Sunday, “When you come to this country, you gotta learn which side of the road to drive on, you gotta learn to stop at stop signs, and you gotta learn not to defraud the American people.”

Brennan added there is “plenty of criminal behavior from communities well beyond the immigrant community.”

Watch above.

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