American Experiment broke the story last week of an hour-long recording of Attorney General Keith Ellison meeting with participants in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal. During the meeting Ellison appeared unaware of the developing scandal, pledged to use the power of his office to help, and entertained a conversation about campaign contributions flowing his direction. “Money is freedom” Ellison was heard saying on the recording, presumedly from his state office.
You have to admire the boldness of people actively engaged in fraud deciding to complain loudly to the state’s top law enforcement officer. Then we ran across this quote from none other than Elon Musk:
“I’ll tell you a lesson I learned at PayPal. You know who complained the loudest, the quickest and the loudest and with the most amount of righteous indignation? The fraudsters. That’s who complained first, loudest, and they would generally have this immense overreaction. That’s how we knew they were the fraudsters.”
Salim Said was in the December 2021 meeting with Keith Ellison complaining loudly about unfair and racist behavior from two state agencies. He contributed $600 to Ellison’s son’s campaign a few days later. In March 2025, Said was convicted of 21 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bold strategy, Cotton.
After a slow start, the rest of the media caught up with this bombshell story, except of course the Minnesota Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio. The recording raises two important questions about Minnesota’s relationship with our embattled attorney general.
Question one: Who prosecutes the state’s top prosecutor?
In 1996, Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe was accused of using state resources for campaign purposes. A whistleblower on his staff told prosecutors she was directed by Moe to stuff campaign envelopes on state time in her state office at the Capitol. Moe and his top aide were indicted by a grand jury under the direction of Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner. Moe was accused of violating statute 43A.32
Subdivision 1. Prohibition. No employee shall, directly or indirectly, during hours of employment solicit or receive funds for political purposes, or use official authority or influence to compel an employee in the classified service to apply for membership in or become a member of any political organization, to pay or promise to pay any assessment, subscription, or contribution or to take part in any political activity.
Moe’s legal defense amounted to “everybody’s doing it,” which was no longer true. By that time, the House Republican Campaign Committee under the direction of Steve Sviggum had already moved all campaign activity out of the Capitol complex into a rented office in St. Paul (one of your authors helped negotiate that lease). In nearby Wisconsin, State Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen’s rising political career was cut short in 2002 when the Republican was charged with three felonies for using state resources for campaign purposes.
Jensen had to resign but was later exonerated by a Wisconsin appellate court. Moe’s indictments were dismissed by a Ramsey County judge who said there wasn’t enough specific evidence to convict. Moe was the DFL nominee for Governor in 2002, losing to Tim Pawlenty.
We’ll leave it to the attorneys to determine whether Ellison is in violation of Chapter 43A. But if he is, who would bring charges against him? Susan Gaertner was practically kicked out of the DFL Party after she challenged the powerful Roger Moe in 1996. Would current Ramsey County Attorney John Choi have the guts to take on Ellison? We doubt it. House Republicans, led by Rep. Harry Niska, took to the House floor immediately to revive a bill that failed earlier this session seeking more transparency from Ellison’s office. Although Democrats defeated the motion, Ellison could be compelled to testify at an oversight committee hearing on the day Republicans have the gavel.
As media attention grew this week, Ellison’s office issued two different statements on the matter. The second one attacks your authors and Center of the American Experiment for smearing him for political purposes. They also portray the attorney general as a victim, blaming the fraudsters for “exploiting the attorney general’s good faith engagement.”
The events, statements, facts, political donations and circumstances don’t need our help to smear Ellison’s reputation.
Question two: Why do we listen to politicians like Keith Ellison and Tim Walz after they are caught lying on the record?
Ellison issued a press release on September 26, 2022, that said: “Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his office have been deeply involved for two years in holding Feeding Our Future accountable.” The audio recording we released this week was from a meeting on December 11, 2021. During that meeting Ellison claimed to know nothing about the developing fraud scandal and promised attendees he would look into it on their behalf.
The press release was an attempt to assure the public Ellison and his staff were on top of things, working behind the scenes, protecting taxpayer resources. But it was a lie.
When a politician lies to the public, the most important consequence should be that we no longer trust anything they say. In Minnesota, politicians like Walz and Ellison keep getting caught in lies and somehow retain credibility with the press and some Minnesotans.