Inside the Somali Fraud Rings

Plus: new details on Charlie Kirk's assassin and Jeffrey Epstein's academic connections.

This week, I published an exclusive story exposing the Somali fraud rings in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which are stealing billions of dollars from American taxpayers and sending some of it to the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Mogadishu. This is a huge scandal. We’re going to talk about why it matters and what can be done—all that and more on this week’s episode of Rufo & Lomez.

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Rufo: Well, it’s the beginning of another week, and this week has been exciting for me because I had a huge story come out. It’s now trending as the number one story on X, will be on Fox News, will be in the New York Post. It’ll be everywhere. And it’s about America’s favorite subject: Somali fraud rings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s like a Christmas story or a touching tale. What do you make of it?

Lomez: It’s not fun. It doesn’t reflect well on our current political predicaments, but I’m really glad this story is getting out. I think this gets to the heart of a lot of bigger questions that we’re trying to answer about our political moment, about immigration, about what kind of country we are going to leave behind for our children. So this is a microcosm of some of these larger issues. I’m very anxious to talk about it. But Chris, maybe we should start with some light banter. This is what we’re supposed to do on podcasts. We’re supposed to have light banter.

Rufo: That’s right. I guess it’s like you can’t show up at a party, be shooting the breeze, and say, “Let me tell you about Somali fraud rings, how they’re funding Al-Shabaab terrorists in Mogadishu.” That’s not... maybe not the greatest. Thanksgiving is coming up. What are you doing for Thanksgiving? You have big plans? Family? What’s on tap?

Lomez: We are going to actually lay a little low this year. We’re going to stay at home. I’ve been doing a ton of travel and everybody’s tired of getting on airplanes and getting in the car and going elsewhere. So we’re going to cozy up, light a fire, have some... we have a few friends in town that we’ll have over, and just keep it light and simple. How about yourself?

Rufo: We’re going to be home. We’re hosting at our house this year, and my niece is living with us. She just graduated high school, she’s getting ready to go to college. She wants to be in Washington State, and so we have some family coming over. And my wife does the big turkey, it’s her thing. Very good turkey. So it feels good. It feels good to roll off this busy fall, relax a little bit, shut everything down, have a little time to reflect.