Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison got into a shouting match during a Senate hearing Thursday morning over a federal investigation into fraud in the state.
Hawley accused Ellison of being complicit in a fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of federal funds allocated for Minnesota social service programmes. Federal prosecutors estimated that millions of dollars were stolen during the scheme, The Hills reported.
“You’ve been right at the center of this project from the beginning, and you’ve enabled it, and you should resign,” Hawley said during his turn to ask questions at the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.
Ellison retorted, “You should resign. I was thinking the same thing about you.”
Hawley, with his voice rising, lobbed a series of accusations at Ellison and suggested that the attorney general should be “indicted” as Ellison vehemently denied the lawmakers’ claims.
Hawley claimed that Ellison and his family profited from the scheme. A Minnesota whistleblower alleged that Ellison and other state officials knew about the fraud scheme as early as 2019, but that the officials failed to intervene.
“For the record, he’s lying, and that’s the truth,” Ellison said.
The interaction was tense from the beginning, with Ellison refusing to answer Hawley’s opening question confirming his job title.
“Mr. Ellison, you’re in my courtroom now, you’re under oath, so I suggest that you answer my questions,” Hawley said.
Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) intervened several times, telling Hawley, “I think we’ve made a point.”
Hawley responded, “Oh I’ll ask how I want to, Senator Paul.”
At another point in the exchange, Hawley told Ellison, “It’s my hearing, pal.” The two talked over each other with Ellison retorting, “Don’t call me pal.”
“I should call you prisoner because you ought to be in jail,” Hawley shot back.
Ellison has long been a target of Republicans. He was one of the Minnesota officials subpoenaed by the Justice Department in January over allegations that state officials interfered with the federal immigration operation. The attorney general filed several lawsuits since the immigration enforcement operation began, challenging the federal govt’s actions in the state.
Ellison appeared on a panel with other Minnesota officials, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Minnesota state House GOP Floor Leader Harry Niska, and Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell.
A second panel at the hearing included U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow, Customs and Border Protection Director Rodney Scott and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons. Paul had demanded the three immigration officials appear before the panel after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
Ellison also faced heat during the Thursday morning hearing from Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Ashley Moody (R-Fla.).
Johnson accused the attorney general of being responsible for the two people killed by federal law enforcement in Minnesota.
“Attorney General, you did the exact opposite and two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves in harm’s way,” the senator said.
Ellison denied Johnson’s accusations.
“It was a nice theatrical performance, but it was all lies,” the attorney general said.