Keith Ellison's legal professional basic workplace has lengthy confronted controversy for left ties

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A sweeping fraud scandal is placing Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison within the highlight, reviving questions on his controversial ties to progressive environmental causes.

Ellison, who has served as legal professional basic since 2019 after greater than a decade in Congress, has long-drawn conservative criticism for aligning his workplace with left-wing priorities, from local weather litigation to political fights over immigration enforcement.

Now, with a federal investigation underway into what prosecutors allege was an enormous scheme to siphon taxpayer funds meant to feed youngsters throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellison is going through intensified consideration — and his long-simmering, controversial environmental ties are again underneath a harsher highlight.

The state legal professional basic has joined native Democrats in denouncing the fraud scandal, with Ellison calling it a "a very despicable act," whereas additionally criticizing the Trump administration, most just 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 press convention, after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis, Jan. 12, 2026. (Tim Evans/Reuters)

The newest flashpoint facilities on Ellison’s 2021 assembly with Somali group figures tied to Feeding Our Future, described by prosecutors as one of many largest pandemic-era fraud circumstances within the nation, allegedly costing taxpayers a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and serving because the precursor to 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 attendees focus on securing extra funding after which pivot to political donations forward of Ellison’s 2022 reelection.

"The one manner that we are able to shield what we've got is by inserting ourselves into the political enviornment … placing our greenbacks in the fitting place," one attendee says on the recording, referring to backing candidates who will "shield our pursuits."

"That’s proper," Ellison responds.

Ellison has denied wrongdoing, arguing he had no information of the alleged crimes on the time. In an April 2025 op-ed within the Minnesota Star Tribune, he stated he took the assembly "in good religion" and insisted he "did nothing for them and took nothing from them."

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A Minnesota lady 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 forcefully denied.

"She is a liar, fraudster, 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’s on a media tour to deflect her guilt onto others as an alternative of lastly taking duty for the fraud scheme she ran."

"Federal and state investigators meticulously examined the crimes (Aimee Bock), and her accomplices dedicated," the Ellison spokesperson continued. "Bock alone is accountable for her personal actions, which was confirmed in court docket past a shadow of a doubt, and her declare about Legal professional Normal Ellison is a lie with out a shred of proof behind it."

Ellison has notably leaned into the left’s local weather agenda as legal professional basic, accusing oil firms of "many years of deception and disinformation," blaming them for delaying a "transition to a low-carbon financial system," and casting his lawsuit as a part of a broader push to battle what he calls a "local weather disaster" and protect "a livable world" for future generations.

Keith Ellison has notably leaned into the left’s local weather agenda as legal professional basic. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs)

Rewinding to Ellison's legal professional basic profession forward of the scandal, Republicans continuously have taken intention at his shut ties to environmental teams.

In 2020, Ellison requested {that a} U.S. District Courtroom permit companions of an eco-law agency, Sher Edling, to function exterior counsel, court docket filings present and outlet Energy in Depth reported on the time. Ellison filed consumer-protection lawsuit that yr in opposition to ExxonMobil and oil curiosity teams that's nonetheless wrapped up in court docket.

Sher Edling is a California-based regulation agency that has develop into a key exterior participant in government-led local weather litigation throughout the nation, representing Democrat-run states and cities in lawsuits accusing oil and gasoline firms of deceptive the general public about local weather change.

On an analogous observe, Ellison's workplace has teamed with a New York College program backed by billionaire local weather activist Michael Bloomberg to position local weather fellows in attorneys basic workplaces in no less than 10 states. Ellison's workplace beforehand has published documents exhibiting no less than one legal professional, recognized as a "Particular Assistant Legal professional Normal," who has served in his workplace as a fellow with NYU’s State Power & Environmental Influence Heart.

<img src="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/1200/675/ellison.png?ve=1&tl=1" alt="Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison departs after speaking on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are in Chicago for the convention, concluding with current Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her party's presidential nomination. The DNC takes place from August 19-22." width="1200" height="675"/> A sweeping fraud scandal is placing Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison within the highlight, reviving questions on his controversial ties to progressive environmental causes. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs)

Republican Oversight Committee chairman James Comer stated in July 2025 that his committee was investigating this system for ethics issues as they relate to left-wing curiosity teams doubtlessly influencing local weather issues.

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Minnesota Home Republicans even have beforehand outlined 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 legal professional basic. A trio of state lawmakers additionally stated they have been troubled that, whereas working with the Particular Assistant Legal professional Normal, Ellison’s workplace additionally introduced in Sher Edling underneath an incentive-based charge settlement, calling the association a trigger for concern given the size and political sensitivity of the state’s local weather lawsuit.

"Clarify why it was obligatory to your Workplace to retain Sher Edling to litigate the Minnesota local weather litigation, regardless of having already having two Particular Assistant Attorneys Normal engaged on this litigation ‘full time’ along with your present employees," a trio of Minnesota Home Republicans wrote to Ellison in 2024 that included 5 questions surrounding the AG workplace's work with local weather teams.

Protesters conflict with regulation enforcement exterior an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility as they try to dam federal brokers' autos from leaving throughout a protest in opposition to ICE Jan. 8, 2026. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu through Getty Photographs)

Ellison responded to the lawmakers, saying his workplace acted transparently and inside the regulation, and arguing that bringing in exterior attorneys and fellows was essential to bolster his workplace’s capability to deal with complicated local weather litigation underneath his direct supervision.

"I engaged Sher Edling to make sure that the AGO has enough bench energy to deal with the case in discovery and trial. The defendants within the case have presently engaged seven regulation corporations, 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 essentially the most completed regulation agency within the nation at defending shoppers from the decades-long marketing campaign of fraud and deception that the fossil-fuel trade writ giant has performed," he continued, disregarding lawmakers' concern about left-wing third events and special-interest teams which have funded Sher Edling.

Aliya Rahman is detained by federal brokers Jan. 13, 2026, close to the scene 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 Power & Environmental Influence Heart for extra remark however didn't instantly obtain replies.