Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is facing a tough reelection campaign, was exposed back in March 2025 by CNN for using corporate lobbyist money for lavish overseas trips. This includes staying in five-star hotels, first-class flights, African safaris and more.

But it's worth revisiting this as Election Day approaches. Ellison took those trips and then dodged tough questions about it, from CNN.

Here's more:

The list of invitees was not meant to be widely shared, according to a text message sent from a staff member of the event organizer to an aide of one of the attorneys general.

“So just keep internal,” the staffer wrote of the list, which included attorneys general for Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Minnesota and other states.

The trip to South Africa, arranged and funded by the nonprofit Attorney General Alliance, is just one example of how corporate lawyers and lobbyists have paid to enjoy special access to state attorneys general through privately organized trips to US resorts and foreign destinations, according to records obtained by CNN related to events hosted by AGA. The group organizes multiple events each year, including an Italy trip scheduled next month.

AGA said in statements that its foreign delegations have helped officials forge bipartisan and public-private relationships and facilitated talks on global issues such as human, drug and animal trafficking, money laundering and other types of organized crime. The group also said that activities like the wildlife and winery tours involved education about agriculture and environmental threats.

"Ellison's office had not replied to our two emails asking about AGA trips," CNN said. "Why go on those international trips that are sponsored by corporate lobbyists?"

Keith Ellison tries to answer that question, but it's painful and embarrassing. "So ... from Mexico, we have a large amount of fentanyl coming through," he said. "There are a lot of international issues that we deal with every day," he said.

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He did not mention the trip to South Africa or France.

"I understand how this game is played," Ellison continued. "I mean us, reporters, and politicians always, 'Oh, he went on a trip.' And try to embarrass the politician. I understand that thing. But I will say that there is real work that we're doing that is important for our constituents and it has a lot to do with the fact that we live in a globalized world."

At one point, Ellison decided to end the interview.

Yikes. What a bad look for Ellison.

Gavin Newsom did something like that in California. Might as well do it in Minnesota, too.

We can only hope Ellison is voted out of office.

Remember, Democrats want to get money out of politics. What they mean is, they want to make it impossible for anyone and everyone to raise and spend money on campaigns, except for themselves.