Cientos de miles de estudiantes y trabajadores participaron este viernes en una jornada de huelga y movilizaciones en distintas ciudades de Italia. En Roma, la policía realizó varias cargas y utilizó cañones de agua para dispersar a los manifestantes que intentaron acercarse al Parlamento.

Las protestas convocadas este viernes en Italia contra el aumento del costo de vida y las políticas del gobierno de Giorgia Meloni reunieron a cientos de miles de personas en distintas ciudades del país y derivaron en enfrentamientos con las fuerzas de seguridad en Roma y Turín.

Las movilizaciones, protagonizadas principalmente por estudiantes, trabajadores y organizaciones sociales, se desarrollaron en el marco de una huelga general convocada por el sindicato Unione Sindacale di Base (USB).

En la capital italiana, la jornada transcurrió con relativa calma durante la mañana, con una marcha estudiantil y el inicio de una acampada frente al Coliseo, que está previsto que continúe hasta el domingo.

Sin embargo, la tensión aumentó a media tarde, cuando una columna de manifestantes procedente del barrio de Trastevere intentó superar el cordón policial para dirigirse hacia el Parlamento.

Los agentes respondieron con escudos y realizaron varias cargas para dispersar a la multitud en un paso sobre el río Tíber.

Según un primer balance provisional difundido por medios locales, ocho personas fueron retenidas para su identificación. Más tarde, los enfrentamientos se trasladaron a la ribera del río y al barrio de Testaccio, donde algunos manifestantes arrojaron botellas, petardos y otros objetos contra los policías, que utilizaron cañones de agua a presión.

Ante los intentos de acercamiento a las sedes institucionales, las fuerzas de seguridad también bloquearon los accesos a la Piazza Colonna, donde se encuentra el Palacio Chigi, sede del Ejecutivo, y a la Piazza di Montecitorio, donde funciona la Cámara de los Diputados.

Protesta

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., directed a Minnesota state lawmaker to the congressional ethics complaint process in 2019 after he urged her to seek an investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., according to correspondence obtained by Digital.

In a 2019 letter, Craig told Steve Drazkowski, then a Minnesota state representative, he could submit a complaint himself to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) if he wanted to pursue an investigation into Omar. 

The Office of Congressional Ethics website states that members of the public, advocacy organizations and members of Congress can submit information regarding alleged misconduct to the agency’s Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC). 

Complaints may also be submitted to the House Committee on Ethics.

ILHAN OMAR’S TURBULENT WEEK EXPLAINED: THE DUELING PROBES THAT THREW THE SOMALI-BORN PROGRESSIVE INTO CHAOS

Craig wrote, «With respect to your request for an ethics inquiry into Rep. Omar, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) of the U.S. House of Representatives is the independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against Members, officers, and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives and, when appropriate, referring matters to the House Committee on Ethics.

«The OCE accepts and reviews information concerning allegations within its jurisdiction from members of the public.»

Craig’s response came two days after Drazkowski sent her a letter urging her to refer his concerns to the House Ethics Committee, then chaired by former Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla.

Among Drazkowski’s accusations was that Omar filed joint tax returns with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2014 and 2015, despite the two not being legally married at the time.

Digital obtained a copy of a report by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board indicating that Omar and Hirsi jointly filed their tax returns in 2014 and 2015.

Omar legally married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi on Feb. 12, 2009, in Hennepin County, Minn., according to Newsweek. Omar and Elmi’s legal divorce proceeding concluded in December 2017. In a 2017 filing from her divorce case obtained by Digital, Omar stated she had not been in contact with Elmi since 2011. 

«Representative Craig, I am your constituent. In that capacity, I formally request that you immediately forward the attached material, and open an ethics investigation in the United States House of Representatives regarding actions taken by Rep. Ilhan Omar leading up to the 2018 election,» Drazkowski wrote.

COULD TRUMP REVOKE ILHAN OMAR’S CITIZENSHIP FOR ALLEGED BROTHER MARRIAGE? EX FEDERAL PROSECUTOR BREAKS IT DOWN

«This month, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board issued a report on Rep. Omar, who found that she broke multiple Minnesota campaign finance laws,» Drazkowski wrote.

Drazkowski told Digital he was first prompted to seek an investigation from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board into Omar after noticing that she had not filed a required statement of economic interest with the board.

The board confirmed in a statement to Digital that Omar submitted the statement of economic interest after she was made aware that Drazkowski’s complaint triggered an investigation.

Drazkowski said the information he included in two complaints to the board ultimately contributed to the board’s determination that Omar had violated state campaign finance laws.

FEDERAL AGENTS RAID ILHAN OMAR’S DC HOME AMID IMMIGRATION FRAUD INVESTIGATION

On June 6, 2019, the board issued findings after Drazkowski filed two separate complaints. The board found that Omar had improperly used $1,500 in campaign funds to pay for personal tax-related services concerning the tax returns she filed jointly with Hirsi in 2014 and 2015.

The board also required Omar to repay campaign funds she had used to pay for travel to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.

After the campaign’s 2019 assessment of the violations, Omar stated that she was «glad» the process was over and was «glad» to know that the board did not find her guilty of having used the money for personal use as was first alleged. 

After receiving Craig’s response, Drazkowski, who lived in her congressional district, submitted his own complaint seeking an ethics investigation into Omar.

«Please find below my formal request for an investigation into the activities of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN),» Drazkowski wrote to the Ethics Committee, which he also shared with the OCE.

«The United States of America is a nation of law and order. No one is above the law, and our elected officials must always be held accountable. We demand the highest of ethical standards from every member of Congress.»

Despite submitting his concerns, Drazkowski told Digital he struggled to obtain a substantive response through the congressional ethics process.

He said he subsequently brought his allegations to the FBI’s Minneapolis office after receiving no substantive response from the ethics process or Craig’s office.

«I went to the FBI and unloaded all the information I had to them, including names and phone numbers of people,» Drazkowski told Digital.

Drazkowski said he received no meaningful response from federal investigators and expressed frustration with the bureau’s handling of the information.

The House Ethics Committee and FBI declined Digital’s requests for comment.

Omar and Craig did not respond to Digital’s requests for comment.

politics, ilhan omar, controversies state and local, house of representatives, minnesota

The Trump administration uncovered what it says is more than $8 billion in potentially fraudulent cross-border wire payments that were made under foreign agents’ direction, issuing new guidelines for nonprofits who take foreign money, executing multiple FBI search warrants and building out a large-scale indictment.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) within the Treasury Department said it identified suspicious wire payments from 2021 to 2025 that were sent through U.S.-based money services businesses at the direction of foreign agents.

«When greed meets negligence, the American people suffer,» Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement to Digital. «Under President Trump and Vice President Vance’s leadership, Treasury stopped nearly $190 million in funds tied to overseas fraud and returned more than $100 million to U.S. victims. We are working with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to help prevent this kind of abuse from happening again, in Minnesota or anywhere else.»

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKING BILLIONS IN SUSPECTED FRAUD

Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson held a news conference in Minnesota to detail the substantial fraud uncovered and FBI Minnesota’s actions.

The Treasury Department issued a notice urging banks to scrutinize nonprofits’ donors, funding streams and ties to other groups and governments. FinCEN says the arrangements could obscure the ultimate recipients and potentially be exploited for money laundering or terrorist financing.

WATCHDOG UNLEASHES DATABASE TO EXPOSE ‘LOOPHOLES’ AS $5B IN FOREIGN CASH FLOODS US NONPROFITS

The notice noted that bad actors commit fraud in three forms of abuse: sham charities allegedly diverting funds to illicit activity, charity-related fraud that enriches the people running the scheme, and embezzlement by insiders at legitimate organizations.

Salim Said, a co-conspirator in the Feeding Our Future case, was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week after being convicted on 21 counts tied to a scheme that defrauded a federal child nutrition program of $49 million.

At the end of last year, reports and social media coverage by Shirley exposed a network of daycare centers, like the «Quality Learing (sic) Center,» that were allegedly fraudulent and operated mostly by Somali immigrants.

MINNESOTA MAN CAPTURED IN SOMALIA AFTER ALLEGEDLY HELPING ORCHESTRATE $250M CHILD NUTRITION FRAUD SCHEME

The reports sparked swift action from the administration, and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem deployed DHS and ICE agents to the streets of Minneapolis to catch and deport Somali immigrants in the country illegally. The deployment sparked a clash between local residents and federal agents that exploded into violent riots across the Twin Cities.

The Treasury secretary has previously taken aim at fraud and bad actors funding nonprofit organizations in the U.S. In April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tightened tax-exempt reporting requirements in an effort to uncover nonprofit funding being used for «extremist activity» and «hiding fraud.»

«Tax-exempt status is not immunity from scrutiny,» Treasury Assistant Secretary and acting IRS chief counsel Ken Kies wrote in a statement. «If an organization receives public funds or tax-deductible donations, it should be prepared to show who controls the money and where it goes.»

CRUZ PUSHES BILL TO HOLD TAX-EXEMPT SPONSORS ACCOUNTABLE AS DOJ PROBES SINGHAM NETWORK

Bessent has also been involved with the Department of Justice’s grand jury probe into the nonprofit network of Neville Roy Singham. Sources at Treasury told Digital that Bessent met with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and discussed Singham’s previously held accounts at the bank, which Singham used to distribute funds to a number of nonprofits.

HOUSE PANEL WARNS SINGHAM-LINKED NONPROFITS: COMPLY WITH SUBPOENAS OR FACE CONGRESS

Singham, a 72-year-old American who sold his tech company for $785 million in 2017 and now lives in Shanghai, has funneled $278 million into the broad network of nonprofits since 2017, according to a Digital investigation. These groups regularly organize and participate in anti-ICE, anti-Israel and pro-Iran demonstrations.

Singham has not been charged, and the investigation at the Southern District of New York remains ongoing.

politics, minnesota fraud exposed, scott bessent, kash patel, corruption crime, corruption, fbi