Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison testified this morning before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. It did not go well for Ellison, although as usual, the hearing consisted mostly of speeches, not questions and answers.
Josh Hawley went after Ellison on the Minnesota fraud scandal:
The Minnesota Attorney General just PERJURED himself when I asked why he took campaign donations from the crooks who defrauded the US taxpayer to the tune of $250 million
He should be INDICTED and PROSECUTED pic.twitter.com/yBOs9GBF5P
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) February 12, 2026
The tape that Hawley quoted from is the one that was obtained by Bill Glahn of Center of the American Experiment and, now, Power Line. It was published by American Experiment. During the national news frenzy over Minnesota fraud in December, an American Experiment tweet that linked to our post on the tape recording got 47 million views on X, having been retweeted by the likes of Elon Musk, among many others.
When Hawley referred to Ellison perjuring himself, I take it that he meant Ellison’s denial that he got $10,000 in campaign contributions from Feeding Our Future fraudsters just days after the taped meeting. I believe that is correct, per Ellison’s FEC filing, as Bill has documented. I don’t know why Ellison denied it.
Ellison also interjected denials periodically as Hawley was reciting various portions of Ellison’s taped Feeding Our Future meeting. What, exactly, was Ellison denying, given that the whole thing was recorded? Hawley made one mistake: he referred to the meeting taking place in Ellison’s office in the state capitol. In fact, it occurred off-premises in other office space that was being used by Ellison. I think Ellison seized on this insignificant point to allege repeatedly that Hawley was lying.
Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson addressed another issue: Ellison’s responsibility, along with Tim Walz and Jacob Frey, for encouraging lawless conduct that resulted in two anti-ICE agitators being shot while committing the crimes that Minnesota’s Democratic officials were cheering on:
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Sen. Ron Johnson just RIPPED Minnesota AG Keith Ellison to his FACE
“Two people are DEAD because you ENCOURAGED them to put themselves into harm’s way! And now you are EXPLOITING those two as ‘martyrs.’”
“IT NEVER. SHOULD’VE. HAPPENED.”
“A tragedy was GOING to… pic.twitter.com/NZQcihzYxS
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 12, 2026
All in all, it was a tough morning for Ellison. But is there really any possibility that Ellison, or other Minnesota politicians like Tim Walz, will be charged with crimes?
A week ago, my friend Al Travis had Mike Stuart, General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on his radio show. In a rather lengthy interview, Stuart outlined the steps that his office and other federal authorities are taking with regard to the Minnesota fraud scandal. He referred to “perp walks” involving state politicians, and strongly implied that the feds are looking at criminal charges against Walz, Ellison and perhaps others:
So stay tuned. Meanwhile, Ellison is running for a third term as Minnesota’s Attorney General. The Republicans have an excellent candidate in the race, and I expect that, whether or not he is charged criminally, Ellison’s political career will soon be over.
