Nick Shirley Fires Back at Seattle Market

Over the past week, a particular Seattle-based market has been showing the difference between Spam and luncheon meat, rather than the alleged fraud at the store. In its response video, the store highlights the register screen from Nick Shirley's footage and shows the woman with Nick ordering a full case of canned meat. On Monday, Nick posted his reply, starting with his claim that the store and local news keep leaving out the part where the woman outside the store admits she knew she was committing fraud.

In the video, Nick explains that the can was actually luncheon meat, the “sushi” was really an egg roll, and the woman asked the cashier for a whole case. He goes on to explain that she needed to buy a case because she agreed to pay $60 for a card loaded with $120, and she had to spend exactly $120 to use it all. "It really doesn't matter how she got to that number," Nick says. He also wrote that the market is more upset that he called luncheon meat "Spam" and an egg roll "sushi" than that people are using its store to commit fraud.

Seattle police report that traffickers have bought items by the case at the market before. According to a police report KOMO News obtained last fall, detectives said EBT traffickers "routinely purchased case loads" of fish sauce and coconut from the store, sometimes making dozens of transactions a day with different cardholders. The Seattle Times, even in a story focused on the store’s perspective, explains how the street scheme works: someone buys a card at half price, spends it on groceries, and then resells the groceries for profit. The woman in the pink hat was at the second step when Nick's card was declined.

Nick also claims that the market has been "notorious for years" for food stamp fraud, and its own operations manager allegedly backs up part of that. Operations manager Teizi Mersai told KING 5 that EBT trafficking is still a real problem at the store, saying, "One hundred percent." In 2014, Seattle police described a woman who bought undercover officers' EBT cards, took them to stores near 12th and Jackson and filled her minivan with meat and seafood. Twelve years later, Nick went to the same store in the back of a minivan. In his video, Nick says people who used to traffic benefits at the market have been sharing their stories in his comments.

Nick also pointed out that the store "got part of $1,700,000 from Mayor Katie Wilson." The city's announcement from September 17 says the store was the pilot business for Wilson's $1.7 million grocery support program. The city's economic development office helped the store with permits, covered some repair costs after break-ins, and started planning security upgrades as the market gets ready to open a third location in Rainier Valley.

Most Seattle press coverage has focused on the store's side of the story. KIRO 7 called Nick a "right-wing influencer" in its headline. The Seattle Times used the same label and wrote that, according to the store, "almost everything Shirley says is false." KING 5's investigative report described the woman as someone who agreed to sell her benefits, even though she was actually buying Nick's card. The coverage talks about angry phone calls, Yelp reviews, and a cashier who took days off, but Nick says none of it shows the woman admitting to fraud.

On Sunday, Nick asked when the media will see that exposing fraud is not "right-wing" or "far-right." When KING 5 posted its latest story, he replied by asking why the station will not talk about the woman who admitted to fraud or the people dying from fentanyl after selling their cards. In response to claims that he is targeting Seattle's Asian community, Nick points out that he made the video with Seattle journalist Jonathan Choe, who is Asian.

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The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the federal investigation into Ilhan Omar is focused on possibly revoking her U.S. citizenship and deporting her, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the case. Agents searched her Washington home on Monday and took her cellphone, notebooks, personal computers, and passport. Founding Members were the first to read about the search in Monday’s newsletter.

The investigation has now expanded to include her family. The Associated Press said a Minnesota grand jury has issued over a dozen subpoenas, including some to her relatives. Investigators are looking into Omar's childhood. They are specifically checking whether her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, gave false or incomplete information on his immigration forms. The WSJ also said they want to know whether her citizenship paperwork listed her age as 17 instead of 18. Omar has said she became a citizen in 2000 through her father's naturalization, before she turned 18. This is important because a child can only get citizenship from a parent's naturalization while still a minor.

The New York Post reported that in May 2019, a few months after Omar joined Congress, her staff asked the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library to change her birth year from 1981 to 1982. Library emails said the 1981 date was entered without documentation. Her staff also worked to correct the date on Wikipedia and in Congress's official biographical directory. A 1981 birthday would have made Omar 18 or 19 in 2000.

Omar may face more legal issues beyond immigration. D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday that several investigations involving Omar are ongoing, including one about her financial disclosures. After an amendment removed up to $30 million in reported assets, Nick Shirley called Omar the queen of fraud in April. Pirro told Fox News, "If there was a crime that was committed, it will be prosecuted." President Trump was more direct, saying in a Truth Social statement, "America wants answers, and we want them, NOW!"

Omar says the search is an effort to target political opponents and misuse federal law enforcement, and she insists she will not be silenced. Federal judge Matthew Sharbaugh in Washington approved the search warrant, but restricted which of her records the Justice Department could access.

Omar has not been charged with any crime, and a grand jury subpoena does not make someone a suspect. To revoke her citizenship, the government would need to go to federal court and prove she was never eligible for it. Omar is running for re-election on November 3 in Minnesota's 5th District, which includes Minneapolis, where Nick began his daycare investigation last year.

After KING 5 shared its story about the store defending its reputation, Nick Shirley responded by questioning why the station does not cover "the hundreds of people who die on fentanyl after selling their EBT cards."

Last year, Seattle police discovered a trafficking ring in the area that alerted drug dealers when someone had just been paid. Capt. Garth Green said dealers knew "the addicted people now had cash on hand." In 2025, King County reported 914 fatal overdoses, with fentanyl involved in 78% of those cases.

Each dollar on these cards comes from federal funds. When a store processes an EBT purchase, the USDA pays the store back for the full amount. In Nick's example, taxpayers would’ve paid $120; the seller would receive $60 in cash, and the buyer would receive $120 in groceries to resell. According to Seattle police, last year's trafficking ring sold these goods to restaurants and businesses throughout King and Snohomish counties.

Businesses near 12th and Jackson have dealt with these problems for years. Viet Wah Supermarket, a longtime part of the neighborhood, closed after more than 40 years, partly due to crime, according to KING 5. This summer, the owner of a nearby African market told Fox 13, "We keep losing stuff because of them." Nick's crew saw how quickly things can turn violent. While filming, a fight broke out near Nick, and the entire crew immediately fled the area.

In June, Mayor Katie Wilson announced a crackdown on Little Saigon's open-air drug market, adding more police and $1.1 million for outreach and overdose response teams. When Nick filmed there in September, three months later, card buyers were still active on the corner. Nick has asked the Justice Department, the FBI, and the White House Fraud Task Force to investigate the market and to "hold all fraudsters accountable for the crimes they commit." In Congress, Rep. Nancy Mace's FAIR Act, introduced last December, would require a photo on every EBT card and make stores check it before each sale. This change would make a card like the one Nick sold useless to anyone except its rightful owner.