Keith Ellison’s attorney general office has long faced controversy for left ties

An enormous fraud scandal places Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison within the highlight, reigniting questions on his controversial ties to progressive environmental points.

Ellison, who has been lawyer common since 2019 after greater than a decade in Congress, has lengthy drawn conservative criticism for aligning his workplace with left-wing priorities, from local weather disputes to political fights over immigration enforcement.

With a federal investigation underway into what prosecutors allege was a large scheme to siphon taxpayer cash supposed to feed youngsters in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellison is receiving growing consideration — and his long-dormant, controversial ties to the atmosphere are underneath renewed scrutiny.

The lawyer common has joined native Democrats in denouncing the fraud scandal, with Ellison calling it a “actually despicable act” whereas additionally criticizing the Trump administration, most lately for the presence of federal regulation enforcement in Minneapolis and the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison speaks throughout a information convention after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Jan. 12, 2026. (Tim Evans/Reuters)

The newest flashpoint focuses on Ellison’s 2021 assembly with Somali group figures linked to Feeding Our Future, described by prosecutors as one of many nation’s largest pandemic-era fraud instances, which reportedly value taxpayers lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and would function a precursor for investigators uncovering different fraud schemes within the state.

Ellison got here underneath fireplace earlier in January after particulars of that assembly resurfaced — together with audio beforehand obtained by Fox Information Digital, during which members focus on securing extra funding after which concentrate on political donations forward of Ellison’s 2022 re-election.

“The one means we will shield what now we have is by placing ourselves within the political enviornment … by placing our bucks in the suitable place,” one participant says on the recording, referring to the endorsement candidates who will “shield our pursuits.”

“That is proper,” Ellison replies.

Ellison has denied wrongdoing, arguing that he had no data of the alleged crimes on the time. In a single Opinion piece April 2025 within the Minnesota Star Tribune, he stated he attended the assembly “in good religion” and insisted he “did nothing for them and took nothing from them.”

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A Minnesota girl convicted within the scheme alleged that Gov. Tim Walz and Ellison have been conscious of the widespread fraud earlier than it hit the nation’s radar, which Ellison vehemently denied.

“She is a liar, fraud and manipulator of the very best order who has by no means acknowledged or accepted her guilt,” an Ellison spokesperson advised Fox Digital earlier in January. “Now she is on a media tour attempting to shift her guilt onto others, relatively than lastly taking accountability for the fraud scheme she carried out.”

“Federal and state investigators have intently investigated (Aimee Bock’s) crimes and her accomplices,” Ellison’s spokesperson continued. “Bock alone is accountable for her personal actions, which has been confirmed past an affordable doubt in courtroom, and her declare about Legal professional Normal Ellison is a lie with out a shred of proof.”

Ellison has notably joined the left-wing local weather agenda as lawyer common, accusing oil firms of “a long time of deception and disinformation,” blaming them for delaying a “transition to a low-carbon financial system,” and submitting his lawsuit as a part of a broader effort to combat what he calls a “local weather disaster” and protect “a livable world” for future generations.

Notably, as lawyer common, Keith Ellison has joined the left-wing local weather agenda. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)

Reflecting on Ellison’s profession as lawyer common earlier than the scandal, Republicans have typically centered on his shut ties to environmental teams.

In 2020, Ellison requested a U.S. district courtroom to permit companions of an eco-law agency, Sher Edling, to function exterior counsel, courtroom paperwork present and as an outlet. Energy in the depths reported on the time. Ellison filed a client safety lawsuit in opposition to ExxonMobil and oil curiosity teams that yr, which remains to be pending in courtroom.

Sher Edling is a California-based regulation agency that has grow to be a significant exterior participant in government-led local weather litigation throughout the nation. It represents Democratic-led states and cities in lawsuits accusing oil and fuel firms of deceptive the general public about local weather change.

Equally, Ellison’s workplace has labored with a New York College program backed by billionaire local weather activist Michael Bloomberg to put local weather fellows in attorneys common places of work in no less than 10 states. Ellison’s workplace has carried out that earlier than published documents displaying no less than one lawyer, recognized as a “Particular Assistant Legal professional Normal,” who served in his workplace as a fellow at NYU’s State Vitality & Environmental Influence Heart.

An enormous fraud scandal places Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison within the highlight, reigniting questions on his controversial ties to progressive environmental points. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos)

James Comer, chairman of the Republican Oversight Committee, stated in July 2025 that his committee was investigating this system over moral points as they relate to left-wing curiosity teams which will affect local weather issues.

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Minnesota Home Republicans additionally beforehand detailed that Ellison’s workplace relied on “Particular Assistant Legal professional Normal” positions backed by the NYU program — a setup they stated raised questions on independence and affect in a 2024 letter to the lawyer common. A trio of state lawmakers additionally stated they have been involved that Ellison’s workplace, whereas working with the particular assistant lawyer common, additionally introduced in Sher Edling underneath an incentive-based compensation deal, calling the association a trigger for concern given the dimensions and political sensitivity of the state’s local weather lawsuit.

“Clarify why it was obligatory in your workplace to rent Sher Edling to litigate the local weather litigation case in Minnesota, although two particular assistant attorneys common have been already engaged on this litigation ‘full-time’ along with your current workers,” a trio of Minnesota Home Republicans wrote to Ellison in 2024, together with 5 questions concerning the AG’s workplace’s work with local weather teams.

Protesters conflict with regulation enforcement officers exterior an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility as they attempt to forestall federal agent automobiles from leaving throughout a protest in opposition to ICE on January 8, 2026. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu through Getty Photos)

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Responding to lawmakers, Ellison stated his workplace was appearing transparently and inside the regulation, and argued that bringing in exterior attorneys and fellows was essential to strengthen his workplace’s capability to deal with complicated local weather litigation underneath his direct supervision.

“I’ve retained Sher Edling to make sure that the AGO has enough standing to deal with the case by means of investigation and adjudication. The defendants within the case at the moment have retained seven regulation companies, and greater than a dozen attorneys are representing the defendants,” he wrote.

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“The AGO employed Sher Edling as a result of they’re the nation’s most completed regulation agency at defending shoppers from the decades-long marketing campaign of fraud and deception that the key fossil gasoline business has waged,” he continued, dismissing lawmakers’ considerations about left-wing third events and advocacy teams which have funded Sher Edling.

Aliya Rahman is detained by federal brokers on January 13, 2026, close to the place Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. (Adam Grey/AP)

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Fox Information Digital reached out to Ellison’s workplace, Sher Edling and NYU’s State Vitality & Environmental Influence Heart for extra remark however didn’t instantly obtain responses.

Fox Information’ Ashley Carnahan and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.