Republican Senate nominee Michele Tafoya is not allowing a recent controversy concerning her Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, to go to waste, seizing on the widening Minnesota fraud controversy after several state officials said that there is currently an investigation into Flanagan’s longtime friend who runs an autism center.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services confirmed that Milestone Development Center, along with Spectrum Therapy Center, are both currently being investigated. A spokesperson for the DHS said, “These agencies are on our radar. The Minnesota Department of Human Services has open investigations into both Spectrum Therapy Center and Milestone Development Centers. If a provider is part of an open investigation, the department cannot by law disclose details.”
The agency also revealed that both of those providers were cut from the state’s Medicaid program several months ago through Minnesota’s 2026 revalidation process and have appealed those decisions. “We can, however, share the following: Several months ago, the Minnesota Department of Human Services terminated both agencies from participating in the Medicaid program as part of Minnesota Revalidate 2026,” the spokesperson said.
“Revalidation is a process to verify that agencies have required credentials and are otherwise compliant with state and federal regulations. Both providers have appealed their termination,” they added. Milestone is operated by an individual named Nimco Ahmed, a longtime Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party activist who has been friends with Flanagan for years, according to a report from Trending Politics News.
Ahmed first drew attention to herself after she appeared alongside her to visit a Somali market in December 2025. During the visit, the lieutenant governor sported a hijab and put forth a passionate defense of Minnesota’s Somali community as scrutiny intensified due to the plethora of fraud cases involving state programs funded by taxpayers.
“The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said. It’s important to note that there is currently no evidence available that Flanagan is in any way involved, personally, in the investigation into Milestone, nor has she been accused of any wrongdoing related to the activities allegedly happening at the center.
With that being said, the development has provided both Tafoya and other members of the GOP a perfect opening to launch an attack on the record of the administration in which Flanagan has served as a lieutenant governor since 2019. Tafoya has been increasingly shifting her campaign’s main focus to fraud and government accountability.
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The latest controversy has led to a wave of heavy criticism from conservative pundits on social media. “Nimco Ahmed, who stood alongside Peggy Flanagan wearing a hijab, runs an autism center that is now under investigation,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage went on to write in a post published on X. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
” It just never ends,” conservative influencer LibsofTikTok said in a post on X. “I can’t even keep up anymore,” retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said in his response to the matter. The investigation into Milestone is the result of allegations leveled against the center by former therapist Grant Morgan, who spoke with Alpha News and said that he spotted potential problems during his two months working at the center in 2023.
Morgan stated that he worked directly with clients six days a week, but said he never saw a Qualified Supervising Professional or Board Certified Behavior Analyst overseeing the work being completed at the center. He then said that some of the employees who worked there were unqualified for their positions and that he was not asked to complete session notes connected to Medicaid billing and that some of the clients he saw did not appear to be autistic.
Ahmed has, of course, disputed all allegations. She then referred to questions being raised about the center as “biased” and stated that Milestone was being targeted by folks because she is of Somali descent. Ahmed then denied that Milestone lacked the correct oversight and stated that all children there have autism diagnoses.
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