Exclusive: Justice Department leadership pushed FBI to investigate campaign contributions to Minnesota officials
Source: CNN Politics
Updated Jan 20, 2026, 3:55 PM ET
PUBLISHED Jan 20, 2026, 3:50 PM ET
Top Justice Department officials pushed the FBI to investigate political campaigns in Minnesota over whether they illegally benefited from fraud in public service organizations, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions.
Some of the Justice Department’s interest, according to one of the sources, comes from a Washington Examiner report from earlier this month that said Gov. Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar and other state politicians received campaign donations from people implicated in the Minnesota public benefits fraud scheme and community care providers.
The request came about two weeks ago from top lawyers working for Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. They asked the FBI to initiate investigations into whether money obtained illegally for organizations, such as food assistance charities and home health care centers, went to the campaigns, according to the source.
The public corruption section at the FBI told Blanche’s office that it is looking, but hasn’t yet found evidence of campaign wrongdoing.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/20/politics/justice-department-presses-fbi-investigate-minnesota-democrats