Project Veritas claimed Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar was engaging in illegal ballot collection and cash-for-vote system in his district of Minneapolis, Minnesota
The group, which has primarily targeted liberal groups with « sting » operations, released a video on Sunday showing what it claims is evidence of an illegal effort to collect mail ballots
Group founder James O’Keefe claimed on Twitter that Omar’s team may have bribed voters in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, which they have represented since 2019
Liban Mohamed appears in a Snapchat video commenting on the ballots He is the brother of Jamal Osman, a member of the Minneapolis City Council
Newsweek initially reported that Mohamed was an Omar campaign agent However, a spokesperson for Omar clarified that he did not work for the MP
« Even today we have 300 for Jamal Osman », says Mohamed in the video « I have 300 ballots in my car right now »
« The numbers don’t lie You can see my car is full All this here are mail ballots Look, this is all for Jamal Osman »
Mohamed can be seen showing white envelopes on the dashboard of his car in a video from July 1 Later in the Project Veritas video, Mohamed says, « Money is king in this world and a campaign is motivated by money «
An anonymous person identified as a former Minneapolis political worker told Project Veritas that Omar’s deputy campaign manager Ali Isse Gainey was coordinating the collection of ballots from elderly people at Charles Horn Towers, a city housing complex, before the Minnesota primary August 8
The same person claimed that women and youth were paid for their ballots during the primary The charge of paying for ballots is baseless at this time
Ballot harvesting is not illegal in Minnesota, however A state district court has rejected a Republican motion to suspend a temporary injunction against a law prohibiting anyone from helping more than three people to vote
Jeremy Slevin, senior communications director for Omar, said: « The amount of truth in this story equals the amount Donald Trump has paid in taxes ten over the past fifteen years: zero And amplify a coordinated campaign of right to delegitimize free and fair elections this fall is undermining our democracy «
Project Veritas has a history of questionable allegations and doctored videos O’Keefe first rose to prominence in 2009 with videos on ACORN, a community group that lost federal funding and had to shut down its doors accordingly
However, O’Keefe had to pay $ 100,000 to a former ACORN employee who did not consent to be filmed and claimed to call the police after a disguised O’Keefe asked him how he could make child prostitution a legitimate business
Since 2009, O’Keefe and Project Veritas have carried out several « sting » operations against Liberal and Democratic groups O’Keefe pleaded guilty to illegally entering federal property in 2010 in connection with an operation involving then-Democratic senator Mary Landrieu
There was instant skepticism about Project Veritas’ latest claim CNN analyst Jessica Huseman, who has covered the organization, pointed to the timing of the video’s release
« Wow you tell me Project Veritas just released a project right after nyt a bomb released eh what are the odds, » Huseman tweeted on Monday
O’Keefe’s claims also come just two weeks after liberal groups in Wisconsin asked state attorney general to investigate Project Veritas They say group members are misleading them into using false identities and tried to get them to agree to « use illegal methods »
Omar dismissed the allegations on Monday She responded to one of President Donald Trump’s tweets about the charges with a gif poking fun at how much he allegedly paid in taxes in 2016 and 2017
Correction 09/28/20, 11:00 am ET: This article has been updated to include comment from a spokesperson for Ilhan Omar denying that Liban Mohamed works or has worked for the representative
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Ilhan Omar
World News – US – What Project Veritas Says About Ilhan Omar and Illegal Ballot Collection