MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for state Sen. Omar Fateh told an ethics panel Wednesday that the Minneapolis Democrat was never endorsed by a YouTube channel that serves the local Somali community and that his sponsorship of unsuccessful legislation to give the nonprofit a $500,000 grant was therefore not a reward for the channel's support.

The Senate Ethics Subcommittee held the first of at least two meetings to determine whether there's enough probable cause to formally investigate allegations leveled against Fateh by a group of Republican state senators, but did not reach any decisions on the complaints' merits.

The GOP senators alleged in a complaint filed last month that Fateh violated Senate rules by failing to disclose a conflict of interest when he sponsored the legislation after receiving what the Republicans claimed was free promotion from Somali TV of Minnesota during his 2020 campaign, when he defeated incumbent Sen. Jeff Hayden in the Democratic primary.

But Fateh's attorney, Kristin Hendrick, told the subcommittee there was no conflict of interest to disclose. She said Fateh paid the channel $1,000 to run his ads because it's a popular forum for Minnesota's large Somali community. She produced screenshots from an online payment app that she said proved Fateh made the payments in two $500 installments. She also presented a sworn affidavit from Siyad Salah, the channel's president, saying that Fateh did not ask for or receive any kind of “compensation or consideration” for running his ads, and that the channel does not endorse candidates.

They acknowledged that the ads did not include a required disclaimer saying that Fateh's campaign paid for them. Fateh testified that he provided that language to Salah, who said in his affidavit he forgot to post the disclaimer as Fateh requested. Fateh also acknowledged failing to report the advertising expense on his campaign finance report, but said he filed an amended version Tuesday to correct his error.

The subcommittee is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats. Under its rules, three members must vote to pursue an investigation, which means at last one of the Democrats — either Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, of Minneapolis, or Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, of Minneapolis — would have to side against Fateh. Torres Ray told the panel that after hearing the evidence, she had no reason to doubt Fateh's account. Champion also expressed skepticism about the allegations.

The Republicans who filed the complaint, led by Sen. Mark Koran, of North Branch, said they weren’t satisfied that the documentation disproved their allegations. They and the two Republicans on the panel — Senate President David Osmek, of Mound, and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, of Big Lake — said they expect to see better paperwork from Fateh next week. Osmek said he wants to question Salah directly.

The panel next week is expected to discuss the second count of the GOP complaint, which alleges in vague language that Fateh somehow violated Senate rules by “failing to expressly address” how he might have been involved in an election fraud case involving his brother-in-law, Muse Mohamud Mohamed, a campaign volunteer who was convicted last month of lying to a federal grand jury — and how Fateh's legislative assistant might have been involved.