Vice President JD Vance said Monday that he is directing the Fraud Task Force to investigate suspected Medicaid fraud uncovered in his home state, thanks to a Daily Wire investigation.
Vance addressed the unfolding story in an X post, first saying he wanted the task force to review the evidence and then, if warranted, take immediate action to put an end to the fraud.
&#8220;These shocking allegations, if true, show why the Fraud Task Force’s work is so important. I’m directing the task force to look into it and take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and stop all further payments as appropriate,&#8221; he posted, sharing a thread from Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak detailing the uncovered fraud.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
These shocking allegations, if true, show why the Fraud Task Force’s work is so important. I’m directing the task force to look into it and take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and stop all further payments as appropriate. <a href="https://t.co/dg9prv9mYz">https://t.co/dg9prv9mYz</a>
— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/2051391872623362379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the thread that followed, Rosiak explained how he had found one building that purported to house 94 &#8220;home health&#8221; companies — companies that were supposed to provide the kinds of home health services that keep people out of nursing homes, saving on costs. But the potential for fraud and abuse, he noted, is massive.
&#8220;This includes people getting paid to provide &#8216;companionship &amp; conversation&#8217; to their own relatives. Fraud [is] almost impossible to prove because service happens in private houses,&#8221; Rosiak noted, adding, &#8220;Home health was supposed to save money because it&#8217;s cheaper than being in a nursing home. Problem is, no one fakes their way into a nursing home. But lots of people will claim to be sick if they get to stay at home and get free checks for their family.&#8221;
In the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/medicaid-millionaires-how-the-feds-pay-immigrants-billions-to-hang-out-with-their-families">full report,</a> Rosiak wrote:
<blockquote>The business model is simple: a 40-year-old Somali immigrant gets paid for spending time with, and maybe cooking for, his own 65-year-old mother. The middleman is one of thousands of “home health” firms that have the “NPI” number necessary to bill Medicaid.
The 40-year-old becomes an “employee” of that company, but has no clients other than his mother. There is no way to verify whether he actually even provided the “services” — unless his own mother is willing to testify against him.</blockquote>
Rosiak&#8217;s investigation, conducted over two months, uncovered additional examples of fraud and abuse, and more details are expected to be revealed in the days to come.
Two months. Millions of documents. A full investigative team. That’s what this story required. Most outlets can’t afford work like this, which is why it doesn’t happen. We’ve chosen to make it happen. <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/fight/?utm_campaign=missional&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=article&amp;utm_content=medicaid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Support more of it by becoming a member of Daily Wire.</a>

White House Holds News Conference

JD Vance Vows Crackdown After Daily Wire’s Ohio Medicaid Investigation

JD Vance Vows Fraud Probe Inspired By Daily Wire Investigation

Daily Wire

Fraud

Investigation

JD Vance

Media

Politics

Fraud isn&#8217;t just happening in the blue cities where you might expect. It&#8217;s happening right under the noses of Republican governors. In Ohio, for example, one address was listed for 94 companies — no windows, totally empty — and billed to you, the American taxpayer, for $66 million.
Over the last several years, shell companies have been fake-billing, providing fake services, and covering their tracks until this very instant. Daily Wire has now uncovered, via Luke Rosiak and our investigative team, Medicaid millionaires. In the blockbuster piece, Rosiak points <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/medicaid-millionaires-how-the-feds-pay-immigrants-billions-to-hang-out-with-their-families?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=Investigation&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=The+Medicaid+Money+Trail+Leads+Somewhere+You+Won%E2%80%99t+Like+%E2%80%94+And+The+Daily+Wire+Has+Receipts">out</a>:
<blockquote>Under the guise of health care, Ohio pays people to go to Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes to perform “homemaking” and “chores” like cooking and cleaning. The people performing these “personal services” tasks don’t even have to be health care workers.</blockquote>
In 2024, Ohio spent $1 billion on home health care. They literally pay people Medicaid money to go to other people&#8217;s houses to perform homemaking and chores. And, as Luke writes, the new welfare queens aren&#8217;t the recipients whose low incomes qualify them for poverty programs. They&#8217;re the companies getting rich off of them.
His overall impression is that 99% of the facilities visited had the hallmarks of waste, fraud, or abuse. We are talking about alleged criminality at a breathtaking scale.
An additional characteristic of these fraudulent facilities is that all the windows are covered. Why would you cover all the windows? Because there&#8217;s nothing there. According to Luke, what&#8217;s inside is 94 different companies signed up to bill Medicaid, each with a tiny office often marked with a sheet of paper proclaiming some generic company name ending in Home Health, LLC, and sometimes another piece of paper claiming the employees had just stepped out for a break.
This building, this address, has billed taxpayers over $66 million over the last several years. If you try to track down what exactly is happening at any one of these home health care companies, what you will find is an endless rabbit hole. You&#8217;ll find years of unpaid taxes and debts, sometimes criminal records, and an astonishing number of LLCs created in other industries, as if the millions they are making from Medicaid is just a side gig.<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-ep-2418?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-981859 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
The government is not, and cannot be, monitoring the people to whom they write million-dollar checks. They all share a combination of just a few names, like Ahmad Mohammed and Mohamed Ahmed. And Columbus, Ohio, has the second-largest Somali population outside Minnesota. They spell their own name multiple different ways within a single document. Many of them have their birthdays listed as January 1 because their birthdates are unknown.
Pretty much all of them, according to Rosiak’s reporting, are registered voters.
The business model is apparently simple. A 40-year-old Somali gets paid for spending time with, and maybe cooking for, his own 65-year-old mom. The middleman is one of these thousands of home health firms that have an “NPI” number necessary to bill Medicaid, and then the 40-year-old becomes an “employee” of that company.
But the only patient is Mom. There&#8217;s no way to verify whether he&#8217;s providing services unless his mom is willing to rat him out. Maybe he even gives her a portion of the pay as a kickback for allowing her Social Security number to be used. Apparently, all of these home health care companies are owned by foreigners. 
When Rosiak asked what home health care companies did, he was threatened. “Journalists? Who cares? Do you guys pay my bills? I’m going to tell everybody you guys are racist.”
This is the way the magic works: Defraud our Medicaid systems. Defraud federal taxpayer dollars. And then, when somebody comes knocking on the door, they claim that they are a racist.
This poverty program differs from others, such as food stamps, because it doesn&#8217;t have a monetary cap. Its extent is not decided by politicians, but by any doctor willing to sign a form saying you could use some help around the home. And one doctor willing to sign and turn out enough of these forms can bankrupt a state.
How do we get this information? For decades, Medicaid billing data was a black box. It&#8217;s one of the biggest government programs in human history. The public could not see a dime of it. 
That changed in February, when the DOJ quietly released data that many people missed. In one case, a landlord who owned buildings with 300 different Medicaid companies billed the federal government $250 million. 
For Democrats, this is a feature, not a bug. You&#8217;d imagine that there would be Democrats out there who are upset with this kind of fraud. After all, if you&#8217;re an advocate for a government program, you should want every dollar of that taxpayer money to go to someone who deserves it.
But that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening. Democrats are irritated by the fact that people are uncovering this stuff. The good news for Ohio is its leadership: Republican Governor Mike DeWine is the governor, and Vivek Ramaswamy is very likely to be the next governor. And President Donald Trump is on top of this, and Vice President JD Vance is heading up the waste, fraud, and abuse policing.
That is what Americans need. We need accountability. We need prosecutions. We need doors kicked down. We need investigations.
Republican governors and federal officials need to fix this, and this is a unique time to do it. The Trump administration has made policing waste, fraud, and abuse possible. This was not going to happen under Democrats.

DW-Investigates_Medical_Fraud

Medicaid Millions Flowed Through A Dead Office — And DW Uncovered The Paper Trail

Ben Shapiro

Welfare

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Just before the Department of Government Efficiency closed its doors, it made a quiet move that may end up as its most lasting impact on the federal deficit.
DOGE <a href="https://opendata.hhs.gov/datasets/medicaid-provider-spending/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a massive trove of data</a> in February that, for the first time, lets the public see what companies are billing Medicaid for. For decades, the payouts have been shrouded in secrecy. One of the largest government programs was a black box.
I’ve spent the past two months diving into the numbers. What I found was the most blatant waste of federal dollars that I have encountered in my two decades as an investigative reporter.
This is the first part of &#8220;Medicaid Millionaires,” a Daily Wire series exposing billions of dollars in dubious “personal services” payments where people are paid to spend time with their own family.
I set my sights on Ohio, which like Minnesota, has been granted <a href="https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/section-1115-demo/demonstration-and-waiver-list/Waiver-Descript-Factsheet/OH#0198" target="_blank" rel="noopener">waivers</a> to expand Medicaid well beyond its original purpose. Under the guise of health care, Ohio pays people to go to Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes to perform “homemaking” and “chores” like cooking and cleaning. The people performing these “personal services” tasks don’t even have to be health care workers — and in many cases, are actually relatives of the Medicaid recipient.
According to a Daily Wire data analysis, Ohio spent a billion dollars on home health care in 2024, the last year for which data is available.
Since the services are performed inside private residences, there is no way to know whether the workers went at all, or what they&#8217;re actually doing in exchange for taxpayer funds. An infinite number of small black boxes inside a black box. Multiple signs said the service provided, and billed to the government, was sometimes just “companionship &amp; conversation.”
As people have realized the United States government will pay them to hang out with their own families, northeast Columbus has seen its economy replaced by businesses that bill Medicaid. And Columbus, a city with the second largest Somali population in the country, has become, on the surface, the most unhealthy city on the planet.
“Well if the government is going to pay you to do it,” one home health operator told me. “People see it as lucrative, so they just jump on it.”
The new welfare queens aren’t the recipients whose low incomes qualify them for poverty programs. They’re the companies getting rich off them.
<div id="attachment_1088861" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1088861" class="wp-image-1088861" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard-1024x548.jpg" alt="A billboard in Columbus / Luke Rosiak" width="630" height="337" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard-1024x548.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard-300x161.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard-768x411.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard-1536x823.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/billboard.jpg 1813w" sizes=" (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />A billboard in Columbus / Luke Rosiak</div>
Driving down Cleveland Avenue, in less than 40 seconds, you come across endless home health companies. Capital Home Health; Continental Home Health; Dynamic Home Healthcare; Ohio Senior Home Healthcare. Entire buildings throughout the city are filled entirely with what appear to be identical businesses.
The enormous complex pictured below is 6161 Busch Boulevard. Its lack of windows would be a problem for most office buildings, but there is almost no one in this one. What’s inside is 94 different companies signed up to bill Medicaid, each with a tiny office, often marked with a sheet of paper proclaiming some generic company name ending in “Home Health LLC” — and sometimes another piece of paper claiming the employees had just stepped out for a break.
This building alone billed taxpayers $66 million in the span of a few years, the records show.
<div id="attachment_1088839" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1088839" class="wp-image-1088839" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/unnamed-1.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="473" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/unnamed-1.jpg 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/unnamed-1-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />Luke Rosiak / The Daily Wire</div>
Pick the owner of a Columbus home health care company at random and look him up in public records, and you are likely to go down an endless rabbit hole: years of unpaid taxes and debts, sometimes criminal records, and an astonishing number of LLCs created in other industries, as if the millions they make from Medicaid are just a side gig.
We went down several of those rabbit holes. In the coming days, you&#8217;ll meet:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A politician who founded an $11 million home health care company that he appeared to run part-time — without even mentioning it in his political biography — who funded his campaign with donations from other home health care owners.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A woman who reinvented her janitorial LLC as a &#8220;health&#8221; provider, then billed Medicaid nearly $100,000 the first month.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A landlord who bought airplanes after renting space to hundreds of home health care companies that billed Medicaid a quarter of a billion dollars.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A million-dollar Medicaid business owned by a couple with repeated fraud, violence, and theft convictions.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A man who went to prison for Medicaid fraud but told the government he was too broke to pay restitution, while his neighbors and associates preside over a poverty-program empire.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">An accountant who lost his license for stealing public funds, then opened a $7 million home health company using the address of a convicted money launderer&#8217;s teenage son.</li>
</ul>
These are not business geniuses, nor even people with any training or specialty in the health field. They have often failed at a variety of businesses before suddenly becoming millionaires in home health care.
Sometimes a company will have a full roster of clients in its very first month, making one wonder where the clients come from. The companies don’t have websites or appear to advertise. They can’t stand out from their thousands of rivals based on price, unless they pay kickbacks, because the government pays the same to everyone.
Nearly every owner of home health care companies in Columbus appears to be foreign. They live in a parallel society, where every associate in public records also has a foreign name, and all their business transactions are conducted with other foreigners.
When we asked one what home health care companies did, one man threatened: “Journalists? Who cares? Do you guys pay my bills? I’m going to tell everybody you guys are racist.”
The government cannot be meaningfully monitoring all the people it writes million-dollar checks to in Columbus. They all share combinations of just a few names, like Ahmed Mohamed and Mohamed Ahmed. Documents reviewed by The Daily Wire show individuals will spell their own name multiple different ways within a single document. And many of them list their birthday as January 1, because their birthdates are unknown.
The business model is simple: a 40-year-old Somali immigrant gets paid for spending time with, and maybe cooking for, his own 65-year-old mother. The middleman is one of thousands of &#8220;home health&#8221; firms that have the “NPI” number necessary to bill Medicaid.
The 40-year-old becomes an &#8220;employee&#8221; of that company, but has no clients other than his mother. There is no way to verify whether he actually even provided the &#8220;services&#8221; — unless his own mother is willing to testify against him.
Two months. Millions of documents. A full investigative team. That&#8217;s what this story required. Most outlets can&#8217;t afford work like this, which is why it doesn&#8217;t happen. We&#8217;ve chosen to make it happen. <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/fight/?utm_campaign=missional&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=article&amp;utm_content=medicaid">Support more of it by becoming a member of Daily Wire.</a>
This poverty program is different from things like food stamps, because it has no monetary cap and its extent is decided not by politicians, but by any doctor willing to sign a form saying you could use some help around the house. It only takes one doctor who will say yes to churn out enough forms to bankrupt a state.
For years, efforts to rein in waste have nibbled around the edges, shaving off a million here and a million there, while skeptics — and liberals — argued that the cost-cutting exercise was pointless because the lion’s share of federal spending was locked up in “non-discretionary” spending like health care.
The implication was that there was no waste in that category, and nothing that could be done about it, even as the nation careened towards insolvency. That premise couldn’t be more wrong.
This blatant waste happened within miles of the Ohio state capitol, where Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, and his appointees run the state. In an age of artificial intelligence, the Medicaid system has seemed disinterested in even the most obvious red flags. Perhaps that’s because it’s largely run by states, but with half or more of the bill being footed by federal taxpayers.
The Trump administration is now turning its sights to Medicaid fraud with a task force led by Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Vice President JD Vance. They may want to start with Vance’s home state.
Parker Thayer, an investigator for the Capital Research Center, contributed to this report.

Untitled design – 2026-05-03T210845.600

DW Investigation Reveals One Of The Biggest Government Waste Scandals Hiding In Plain Sight

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

DOGE

J.D. Vance

Medicaid Millionaires

Ohio

Special Reporting

Before making headlines for bankrolling fake daycare centers, Minnesota gave food stamps to a millionaire.  
Rob Undersander, a retired engineer, told The Daily Wire he was volunteering as a counselor to help elderly Minnesotans register for government benefits in 2016 when he found a major loophole in the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 
Undersander, a millionaire, discovered he could receive SNAP benefits. 
“They handed out applications to show us how to fill them out for other seniors, and so I filled it out for myself, took it to the Stearns County courthouse, stood in line for a few minutes, and a few days later, I did a phone call with several questions, and three weeks later, I&#8217;m getting $278 in food stamp benefits,” he told The Daily Wire. “Being a conservative, I just felt that was really wrong.”
Undersander, who said he donated an equivalent amount of money to charities he got through SNAP benefits, has since testified at multiple state hearings hoping to raise awareness about the lax guardrails on welfare in Minnesota. Those efforts have so far fallen short, as state Democrat lawmakers remain firmly opposed to reforms suggested by Republicans. 
The reason Undersander was able to qualify for SNAP benefits was because Minnesota, like 43 other states, usually does not perform asset checks on welfare applicants. This policy, called broad-based categorical eligibility, means that millionaires or people with luxury cars can qualify for SNAP.
Thanks to an Obama-era change to welfare administration, “anyone receiving small, even noncash ‘benefits’ from other welfare programs&#8221; are automatically eligible for SNAP, according to a report from the America First Policy Institute. That even includes people who receive welfare brochures or call hotlines to be referred for other welfare benefits.
At the same time as eligibility expanded, state payment error rates for SNAP have increased. In December 2025, America First Policy Institute <a href="https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/time-to-end-the-broad-based-categorical-eligibility-loophole-in-snap">reported</a> that one in eight Americans is now on SNAP, and costs for the taxpayer-funded program have increased from $60 billion to $100 billion annually.
The game changed in July 2025 with the passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill. Under the legislation, states whose error payment rates exceed 6% by 2028 will be on the hook for 5%-15% of SNAP benefit costs. The federal government currently pays for all SNAP benefit costs. States across the board will also be required to pay for 75% of administrative costs of the program beginning in October 2026, up from the 50% currently required. 
With the pressure increasing for states to cut down on their payment error rates, the America First Policy Institute is working with lawmakers to propose reforms to shut down the broad-based categorical eligibility loophole. 
“States are responsible for administering SNAP, and over time, key guardrails around eligibility, verification, and oversight have weakened in several jurisdictions,” Matthew Schmid, the Farmers First campaign director for the America First Policy Institute, told The Daily Wire.  
“Recent federal reforms establish clearer standards and introduce meaningful accountability for how states manage the program, including stronger incentives to reduce improper payments and enforce eligibility requirements,” he added. 
One of the states where proposals have been put forward is Minnesota, where Republican Rep. Pam Altendorf introduced the “Stop Welfare for the Wealthy” act earlier this year. The <a href="https://mnhouserepublicans.com/rep-altendorf-to-file-much-needed-legislation-restoring-snap-integrity/">proposal</a> would close the broad-based categorical eligibility loophole, but has not made progress in the Democrat-controlled state legislature. 
Altendorf praised America First Policy Institute for aiding her SNAP reform efforts. She told The Daily Wire she started looking into Minnesota’s SNAP program after she noticed her state’s issuance of the benefit increased dramatically between 2020 and 2021. Since then, she has put forth reforms for the SNAP program and worries that her state could lose significant federal funding if they do not reduce its payment error rate, which is nearly 9%.
“Minnesotans are generous,” she said. “We want to help people who need it. But I think if you&#8217;re a millionaire and you&#8217;re qualifying for SNAP, that&#8217;s probably an abuse of the system.”
She <a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/anoka-county-couple-charged-800k-public-benefits-fraud-probe">cited</a> a recent case where a couple was charged with fraudulently taking hundreds of thousands in benefits, including from SNAP, while they spent thousands on luxury shopping and international travel. Prosecutors say the pair recieved other $800,000 in Medical Assistance and SNAP funds while spending over $54,375 at a jewelry store and $7,000 on travel. Prosecutors say the couple and their four children collectively owned 17 cars. 
While Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has claimed to have taken sufficient steps to combat and prevent fraud, Republicans have said he has not done enough. 
“The guardrails completely came off under the Governor Walz administration,&#8221; Altendorf said. &#8220;So that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re seeing, is people are abusing the welfare system.&#8221;
Another state where Republican lawmakers have attempted to close down broad SNAP eligibility is New Mexico, which has a 14% payment error rate, one of the worst in the country. 
Senator Crystal Brantley, a Republican who represents a rural part of the state, has pushed to close down broad-based categorical eligibility. She said she represents some of the poorest New Mexicans and wants SNAP benefits to go only to those in need. 
One <a href="https://www.krqe.com/news/investigations/food-money-for-drugs-snap-traded-for-fentanyl/">recent case</a> in her district involved fentanyl being traded for SNAP benefit cards, according to law enforcement. Investigators said a drug dealer traded 50 fentanyl pills for a SNAP benefit card. The price for drugs is typically higher when SNAP benefit cards are used as currency, Sierra County Sheriff Joshua Baker told one local outlet. 
“We find that to be a common trend, because the inconvenience of having to go and utilize the EBT card, they charge double, sometimes even triple what the going street rate would be in cash,” he said. 
Brantley said that the case motivated her to introduce legislation to close down loopholes, but her bill has so far received no committee hearings. 
“I would encourage state lawmakers to join me in an effort to address those overpayments, to reduce that error rate, so that the federal government will continue to work with us, to make sure that our most vulnerable population is eligible for the program, but we refuse to fund those who do not qualify,” she told The Daily Wire. 
She said that if New Mexico continues to mishandle SNAP dollars, it deserves to lose federal funding. 
“We could lose federal funding, and I have to say as a New Mexican, and rightfully so, because we refuse to address the overpayments,” Brantley told The Daily Wire. “We have information that has been brought forward, explaining that there are large overpayments of this program, and we are not even taking a single step to address that.”
She added that the only way she saw New Mexico officials cracking down on SNAP waste was a “real threat” from the federal government to “seriously” cut funding to the state, which is largely dependent on federal dollars. 
“It&#8217;s very clear that, as a state, there is not an appetite to make changes and to be better stewards of those dollars,” she said. “It&#8217;s gonna have to come as a threat from the federal government to be very serious and actually start clawing back money.”
In contrast, Indiana Republicans have moved to close the broad-based categorical eligibility. Governor Mike Braun signed <a href="https://legiscan.com/IN/text/SB0001/id/3375751/Indiana-2026-SB0001-Enrolled.pdf">legislation</a> earlier this year that ended Indiana’s participation in expanded eligibility for SNAP, restricted benefits to American citizens or those in the United States legally, and stipulated that SNAP could not be used to purchase candy or soda. 
Braun, a member of the America First Policy Institute Governors’ Council, credited the organization for helping with the legislation. 
“AFPI is building an invaluable infrastructure to support state policymakers that connects the states to federal issues where cooperation is needed, like SNAP reform,” Braun told The Daily Wire. 
In Georgia, a bill cracking down on SNAP waste is making its way through the Republican-controlled state legislature. The proposal, from Rep. Martin Momtahan, would close the broad-based eligibility loophole and add increased verification for benefits. The proposal has already passed the House, but still needs to make it through the Senate. 
Georgia currently has a payment error rate of over 15% and could lose federal funding if the rate is not reduced. 
Momtahan <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/03/11/proposal-would-require-citizenship-checks-for-georgia-families-to-access-food-aid/">has said</a> the bill “ensures that SNAP benefits are going to families who truly qualify, while protecting Georgia’s taxpayers from federal penalties.”
While states work to clean up administration of the SNAP program, the Trump administration has pushed forward on its reforms and says it has removed over 4 million recipients who were not eligible to receive benefits. The Trump administration has also worked with states to ban the use of SNAP funds for junk food.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who co-founded the America First Policy Institute in 2021, <a href="https://x.com/SecRollins/status/2049131612835586505">recently said</a> in an interview that in one state, there were 14,000 individuals receiving SNAP benefits driving luxury vehicles.
Researchers with the institute told The Daily Wire they expect to continue working with state lawmakers across the country to reduce SNAP waste. 
“We are activating our state chapters and working directly with governors, legislators, and local partners to advance policies that strengthen oversight and close gaps in SNAP,” Ashley Hayek, the organization’s executive vice president, told The Daily Wire. “It is a hands-on approach that takes the Administration’s momentum and turns it into policy changes where the program is run.”

SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is shown using the text. SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families

No More Food Stamps For Millionaires: The Fight Over SNAP Fraud Heads To The States

Minnesota

SNAP

Vice President JD Vance compared Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz to an &#8220;arsonist trying to claim credit for the work of the fire department&#8221; after Walz praised his administration&#8217;s role in a series of anti-fraud raids on daycares around Minneapolis earlier this week.
Vance told Fox News host Will Cain on Wednesday that the Trump administration &#8220;really did not get much help at all from the Governor&#8217;s office&#8221; despite Walz&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2049153096358481927">claims</a> that state agencies helped initiate the investigation.
Walz said Tuesday that raids at nearly two dozen daycares and learning centers were conducted &#8220;by state and federal law enforcement &#8230; because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.&#8221;
Vance <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2049540492795240765">pushed back</a> sharply.
&#8220;This is like the arsonist trying to claim credit for the work of the fire department because Tim Walz let this fraud happen under his watch, whether he was complicit in it directly himself or just turned a blind eye towards it.&#8221;
&#8220;Where we did actually get some help was from some state and local law enforcement officers who we assigned to the federal task force because the state government wasn&#8217;t doing anything,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;All credit goes to people on the ground: the state officers, the federal officers who are working to uncover this fraud.&#8221;
Vance, who was tapped by President Donald Trump in February to lead the administration&#8217;s crackdown on state-level fraud, <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2049586471967830054">said</a> that the White House&#8217;s anti-fraud task force has moved quickly to investigate suspected abuses, especially in Minnesota.
The probe gained national attention after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted videos in December raising questions about fraud tied to several Somali-run daycare and learning centers in the Twin Cities area.
&#8220;These investigations take a long time, so I was asking myself, &#8216;How quickly can we start getting into some real investigatory work, court-issued warrants, actually going door-to-door and finding out what&#8217;s going on?&#8217; People told me it would take at least six months,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve gone from Nick Shirley&#8217;s video about the Minneapolis fraud schemes to &#8230; judges issuing warrants for this investigation in a matter of three months.&#8221;
Vance added that the federal government&#8217;s anti-fraud task force includes 280 law enforcement officers looking into the issue.
&#8220;We really have the most accelerated, aggressive anti-fraud operation that we&#8217;ve ever seen from the federal government,&#8221; the vice president said, adding, &#8220;This is far from done, but we&#8217;re making a lot of good progress.&#8221;
Federal agents with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants Tuesday at 22 sites, primarily daycare and learning centers, many of which are Somali-owned. No arrests were made during the raids, though dozens of individuals have been charged with fraud in recent months as federal prosecutors uncovered a massive fraud scheme targeting numerous Minnesota state programs.
&#8220;The President&#8217;s War on Fraud is working, as the task force and the entire Trump administration continue to work tirelessly to expose Fraudsters who have scammed the American people out of billions of dollars,&#8221; a Vance spokesperson told The Daily Wire on background.
Walz, who ended his bid for a third term as governor in January amid scrutiny over the scandal, has defended his administration&#8217;s response, arguing that state officials properly flagged fraudulent activity.
In his final State of the State address on Tuesday night, Walz claimed that he has done more than Republican-led states to crack down on fraud.
&#8220;We’ve created additional checks and balances. We have brought on more investigators, more auditors, and more law enforcement agencies, as well as an outside firm to take a look at high-risk programs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;People who have ripped us off are getting caught, and they are going to jail.&#8221;
&nbsp;

JD Vance/Tim Walz

Vance Rips Tim Walz For Taking Credit For Anti-Fraud Raids

Tim Walz

Trump Administration

Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz boasted about his moves to crack down on fraud during his final State of the State address on Tuesday night, just hours after federal agents raided numerous daycares in the Minneapolis area as part of an investigation into government fraud that has plagued Minnesota for years.
In his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/sHPaQk2GD6U?si=FpadFG6TkHzIIdoq&amp;t=2295">remarks</a> before state legislators, Walz highlighted steps he&#8217;s taken to address the rampant fraud in recent months as his second term as governor nears its end. The Democratic governor has come under pressure from the Trump administration after federal prosecutors uncovered a massive fraud scheme that has seen tens of millions of taxpayer dollars stolen from state government programs.
&#8220;In February, I introduced a comprehensive anti-fraud package and began to implement a nine-part fraud prevention roadmap developed by Director of Program Integrity Tim O’Malley,&#8221; Walz said. &#8220;We’ve created additional checks and balances. We have brought on more investigators, more auditors, and more law enforcement agencies, as well as an outside firm to take a look at high-risk programs. People who have ripped us off are getting caught, and they are going to jail just like today.&#8221;
Walz then claimed that more fraud is taking place in Republican-led states.
&#8220;I’ve said the buck stops with me. And I know some of you will take that as an open invitation to play politics with every incident of fraud that takes place here in Minnesota, even though I have to tell you the statistics show it&#8217;s happening in red states more than here,&#8221; Walz said. &#8220;But, so be it. But taking responsibility doesn’t just mean taking the blame. It means taking it upon yourself to fix the problem.&#8221;
The governor&#8217;s remarks came around 12 hours after the FBI and Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-wave-hits-as-feds-raid-more-minnesota-daycare-sites-in-growing-fraud-scandal?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Up+Next&amp;rowType=Up+Next+Carousel&amp;title=New+Wave+Hits+As+Feds+Raid+More+Minnesota+Daycare+Sites+In+Growing+Fraud+Scandal">raided</a> 22 daycares and learning centers in the Minneapolis area as part of President Donald Trump&#8217;s anti-fraud crackdown. Earlier on Tuesday, Walz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-walz-takes-credit-for-fbi-raids-on-minnesota-daycares?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tim+Walz+Takes+Credit+For+FBI+Raids+On+Minnesota+Daycares">took credit</a> for helping orchestrate the raids and was blasted by FBI Director Kash Patel.
“Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today,” Patel fired back. “But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.”
Tuesday&#8217;s raids focused on many Somali-owned daycares and learning centers around Minneapolis. Under Walz&#8217;s watch, dozens of Somalis defrauded numerous Minnesota social programs for years before they were caught. The fraud scandal included the federally funded Feeding Our Future nonprofit, which claimed to hand out meals to children during the COVID pandemic, but greatly exaggerated its work.
Walz, along with Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison, has been accused of attempting to cover up the state&#8217;s fraud problem and silence government employees who raised concerns. Walz and Ellison have denied those accusations and claim that the state government has been properly investigating and prosecuting fraud.
In January, Walz announced that he would not seek a third term for governor so he could focus on addressing the state&#8217;s fraud problem. In his State of the State address, Walz called on the Minnesota state legislature to pass legislation to strengthen government oversight.
&#8220;My ask for you tonight is simple,&#8221; Walz told state lawmakers. &#8220;If you&#8217;re taking fraud seriously, take your responsibility to help me stop it seriously. If you talk about oversight, vote for that oversight in the bills that are working their way through the chamber.&#8221;
Four months ago, Walz accused President Donald Trump of &#8220;politicizing the issue&#8221; of fraud as Trump deployed federal agents and immigration officers to the Minneapolis area.

Tim Walz/Quality ‘Learing’ Center

Tim Walz, Awash In Fraud Investigations, Crowns Himself Anti-Fraud Champ In Final State Address

Department of Homeland Security

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), who accused the Trump administration of exploiting his state&#8217;s fraud issue for political purposes, is now taking credit for law enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-wave-hits-as-feds-raid-more-minnesota-daycare-sites-in-growing-fraud-scandal?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=New+Wave+Hits+As+Feds+Raid+More+Minnesota+Daycare+Sites+In+Growing+Fraud+Scandal">raids</a> on more than 20 businesses in the Minneapolis area related to the federal government&#8217;s anti-fraud crackdown.
Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2049153093841924376">addressed</a> the raids in a social media post on Tuesday, claiming that his administration is putting fraudsters &#8220;behind bars.&#8221; The governor added that the court-approved search warrants were executed early Tuesday morning as part of a joint federal-state operation.
&#8220;If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,&#8221; Walz wrote. &#8220;Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.&#8221;
FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2049188920663916616?s=20">responded</a> to Walz on X and said that federal officials obtained and executed all of the search warrants on Tuesday.
&#8220;Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today,&#8221; Patel said. &#8220;But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.&#8221;
At least 22 businesses were targeted in the raids. Many of the businesses being investigated by the feds are linked to Minnesota&#8217;s large Somali population. One of the locations raided by the feds on Tuesday morning was the now infamous Quality &#8220;Learing&#8221; Center, whose misspelled sign became the center of Minnesota&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-quality-learing-center-is-officially-closed-state-records-show">fraud controversy</a> in late December.
On Tuesday morning, federal agents were seen taking photos and moving a portable file case inside one daycare in South Minneapolis, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minneapolis-federal-agents-daycares-suspected-fraud/">reported</a>.
Walz, who has been <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-minnesota-governor-walz-and-attorney-general-ellison-lied-about-knowledge-of-fraud-and-silenced-whistleblowers/#:~:text=Testimony%20and%20information%20obtained%20by,Employees%20sounded%20alarms.">accused</a> of lying about the scale of fraud in his state, admitted in a testimony before Congress earlier this year that state government programs have faced fraud problems. Walz, however, argued that his administration has been properly investigating and prosecuting fraud. In late December, Walz raged against President Donald Trump after the president moved to freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota over ongoing fraud issues.
&#8220;We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been [Trump&#8217;s] plan all along,&#8221; Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2006159722940879183">said</a>. &#8220;He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.&#8221;
Walz also refused to cooperate with federal agents during the Trump administration&#8217;s Operation Metro Surge, which focused on deportations of illegal immigrants, but also included federal agents looking into suspected fraud. The operation was launched shortly after independent journalist Nick Shirley brought attention back onto Minnesota and Governor Walz with his reporting on Somali-owned daycares in December.
Fraud in state-run programs exploded under Walz&#8217;s watch going back to 2018. Since then, dozens of Somalis have been arrested and charged with defrauding numerous Minnesota social programs, including the federally funded Feeding Our Future nonprofit, which engaged in a massive fraud scheme during the COVID pandemic. The scandal also derailed Walz&#8217;s hopes for a third term as governor as he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/walz-governor-fraud-klobuchar.html">announced</a> in January that he was ending his re-election bid because of the growing fraud issues in his state.
After taking credit for the raids on suspected fraudsters on Tuesday, Walz called on the federal government to investigate the killings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot to death by federal immigration agents in January.
&#8220;Now let’s work on a joint investigation into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — instead of cherry picking when we seek justice and when we turn a blind eye,&#8221; he wrote.

Tim Walz Brags About Fighting Somali Fraud. Kash Patel Is Not Amused.

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department executed raids in the Twin Cities on Tuesday morning, targeting numerous Somali-owned businesses as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s crackdown on fraud.
Federal agents obtained court-approved search warrants for more than 20 different locations in the Minneapolis area, Fox News <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2049107291681468871">reported</a>. Most of the search warrants are for businesses connected to Somalis, including the infamous Quality &#8220;Learing&#8221; Center that was at the center of controversy late last year.
&#8220;Homeland Security Investigations in cooperation with our law enforcement partners executed criminal search warrants in Minneapolis relating to the rampant fraud of U.S. taxpayers dollars,&#8221; the DHS <a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/2049111271866302695">said</a>.
No arrests were made in the early morning raids, but federal agents were seen taking photos and moving a portable file case inside a daycare in South Minneapolis, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minneapolis-federal-agents-daycares-suspected-fraud/">CBS News</a>.
Minneapolis has been at the center of President Donald Trump&#8217;s anti-fraud task force after dozens of Somalis were arrested and charged with defrauding numerous Minnesota social programs since 2018. The task force, which Trump launched earlier this year, is spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance. Since taking over as fraud czar, Vance has zeroed in on 14 state programs in Minnesota, which include autism service providers and medical service transports that the administration believes are rife with fraud.
Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican Congressman and the House Majority Whip, said on Tuesday that Minnesota taxpayers are &#8220;grateful&#8221; for the Trump administration&#8217;s action.
“President Trump and his administration have made it crystal clear — our country will not tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are not going to allow people to take advantage of Americans’ generosity,&#8221; he said in a release. &#8220;Minnesotans and U.S. taxpayers across the nation are grateful.”
Tuesday&#8217;s raids are not the first time federal agents have been on the ground at suspected fraud sites in the Minneapolis area. In late December, Homeland Security Investigations agents conducted door-to-door <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-conduct-door-to-door-checks-at-suspected-minneapolis-fraud-sites">checks</a> at daycares and healthcare centers suspected of fraud. Those checks, however, did not include court-authorized raids of the businesses.
Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have been <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-explosive-testimony-revealing-minnesota-fraud-cover-up-by-governor-walz-and-attorney-general-ellison/">accused</a> of attempting to cover up the massive fraud scandal that has seen tens of millions of taxpayer dollars stolen from state government programs. The years-long fraud scheme included the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which received federal funding to provide meals to hungry children during the COVID pandemic but distributed little food and exaggerated its numbers.
In December, independent journalist Nick Shirley brought attention back onto Minnesota and Governor Walz with his reporting on Somali-owned daycares that received taxpayer dollars but appeared to have no children in their buildings.

ICE Minneapolis Shooting Sparks Anger And Deepens Divisions

New Wave Hits As Feds Raid More Minnesota Daycare Sites In Growing Fraud Scandal

Crime

Minneapolis

U.S.

A California winery co-owned by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) husband Tim Mynett has shut down following inquiries into Omar’s finances.
The closing of the Santa Rosa winery, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/B4563-5607.pdf">effective April 4</a>, follows intense scrutiny of Congresswoman Omar’s financial reporting by members of the House and President Donald Trump.
Congressman James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Letter-to-Timothy-Mynett-.pdf">sent a letter</a> to Mynett in early February after a review of Omar’s recent financial disclosure paperwork revealed a red flag.
Omar’s initial 2024 financial disclosure placed her joint asset value between $6 million and $30 million, a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ilhan-omar-husband-winery-terminated-after-financial-records-requested-11869744">significant leap</a> from her 2023 form.
“Financial disclosure forms, filed by your wife Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, show eStCru LLC and Rose Lake Capital LLC, which you hold ownership stakes in, went from being worth as much as $51,000 in 2023 to as much as $30 million in 2024,” the letter stated.
Comer noted that there was concern that because the companies associated with the winery don’t disclose their investors, the increase in disclosed worth might be linked to individuals attempting to “gain influence” with Congresswoman Omar.
Additionally, Comer wrote: “Media reports further suggest that you may have raised money from investors using misleading information, meaning some of those funds may have been obtained improperly.”
President Trump even commented, sending out a Truth Social post in late January <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-flags-ilhan-omars-finances-as-report-reveals-prior-doj-scrutiny">announcing</a> that the Department of Justice would be looking into Omar’s finances, though no investigation has been publicly announced by the DOJ.
Omar revised her disclosure forms in March, claiming that her joint assets with Mynett stood at under $100,000, and that she held at least $15,000 in student loan debt. A spokesperson for Omar blamed accounting errors for the discrepancy.
This financial scrutiny comes at the same time as Omar is being questioned about her potential relationship with individuals involved in the Feeding Our Future scandal, “a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program,” according to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million">Justice Department</a>.
Minnesota lawmakers have asked that Omar turn over any documents and communications between herself and the owners of the restaurant at the heart of the scandal. They have given her a May 5 deadline.
The congresswoman didn’t appear at a recent hearing before the state oversight committee, according to Republican state Rep. and committee chair <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/minnesota-records-ilhan-omar-skips-fraud-hearing/">Kristin Robbins</a>.
“The fact that she ghosted us — she would not even respond to multiple inquiries to a state legislature where she used to serve. I think it shows disdain for Minnesota taxpayers that she’s unwilling to even answer these questions,” said Robbins.

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar Comes Under Financial Scrutiny — Now Husband’s Winery Suddenly Goes Dark

California

Congress

Right-wing internet troll-turned-anti-MAGA commentator Chuck Johnson may end up in prison over a fraud and extortion lawsuit in which he was found to have lied to victims by presenting himself as an intelligence asset.
Johnson, whose name has resurfaced in recent months over his false claims regarding Jeffrey Epstein, finds himself at the mercy of a court-appointed receiver who has been ordered by a federal judge to carry out a $71 million ruling against him. He was accused of lying about being an intelligence asset as part of an “extortion scheme,” in which he threatened investors with &#8220;sabotage&#8221; if they did not give him favorable investment terms.
Now, the fight over his assets appears to have extended to a criminal investigation, with the judge asking the receiver to report “any potential criminal conduct or wrongdoing” by Johnson. Johnson was thrown in jail late last year for contempt after he failed to disclose his assets to the court.
In an <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1029547182/April-Federal-Court-Filing-In-Case-Against-Chuck-Johnson?_gl=1*1hi4ipj*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTUxNDY4NzY4My4xNzc2Nzk3MDEw*_ga_Z4ZC50DED6*czE3NzY3OTcwMDkkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzY3OTcwMTMkajU2JGwwJGgw*_ga_8KZ8BV0P5W*czE3NzY3OTcwMDkkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzY3OTcwMTMkajU2JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 13 filing</a>, the court says Johnson’s conduct “bears the hallmarks of conduct consistent with wire fraud … and money laundering,” adding that it &#8220;may constitute criminal perjury or false declarations.” The statements are, for now, based on a status report of the ongoing probe, and not a definitive conclusion of law.
Johnson, who was labeled a “sociopathic liar” in the initial case, has reemerged in the press due to years-old fantastical claims he made to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein that were released in the Epstein files. Among the unsourced claims by Johnson were that President Trump was “compromised by Israel.” He also claimed that Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, was running the presidency in his first term.
The 2020 claims from Johnson were picked up by other anti-Semitic activists such as Dave Smith and Hasan Piker, who made no mention of the fact that Johnson had no basis for any of his claims.
FBI documents show Johnson was making similar unsourced claims about others in Trump’s orbit. One FBI report from May 2020 shows that Johnson claimed to the intelligence bureau that Sergio Gor, a top Trump official who is now his ambassador to India, was a “Russian spy.” He also said that Arthur Schwartz, another close ally of Trump, was a “spy.” Neither claim was paired with any evidence.
“Chuck Johnson is a complete loser who has failed at everything in life,” Schwartz told The Daily Wire. “Like many others in Washington, I look forward to the day that he’s sentenced to a lengthy and well-deserved term of incarceration.”
Johnson, who has referred to The Daily Wire as an “Israeli propaganda rag,” is open about his Jew hatred. He regularly associates with both Richard Spencer and Nick Fuentes, and is a <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/05/matt-gaetzs-state-of-the-union-guest-admits-he-questioned-holocaust/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holocaust denier</a>, saying that both “Auschwitz and the gas chambers” are not real.
“I love Nick Fuentes,” Johnson <a href="https://archive.is/1OmQY#selection-419.0-419.33" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in July 2024. “I avow him.”
Though Johnson is often represented as a far-right figure, he is now politically aligned with Democrats, and supported Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024. He liked Joe Biden, he said, but liked Harris even more because of her stance on Israel.
“I am a huge Joe Biden fan, and will remain such on domestic matters, but he has deferred to the Israelis way too much,” Johnson said during the 2024 campaign, “and I think to some extent, Kamala Harris is going to be a bit more aggressive towards them.”
Johnson’s handler at the FBI was reportedly Jonathan Buma, who became a favorite of liberal media for claims he made in 2023 that the bureau was biased in favor of Trump.
Buma was <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/news/press-release/former-fbi-special-agent-arrested-disclosure-confidential-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested in March 2025</a> for leaking confidential information to the press. It was actually disclosed by Johnson that he and Buma had both leaked information to the Wall Street Journal.
Buma has since been profiled for his claims that Trump and Elon Musk are entangled in a Russian conspiracy. Again, the claims came without evidence.
“Those efforts were intense and they were ongoing,” he said of Russian efforts. “I can’t go into too much more detail.”
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

Chuck Johnson ABC30

Anti-MAGA Troll Chuck Johnson May Be Headed To Prison In Fraud Case

Chuck Johnson

A newly introduced California bill meant to &#8220;protect&#8221; immigration support services is instead raising concerns that it could hinder independent journalism. In an era of citizen-driven accountability and viral exposés, some worry the measure could shield companies accused of fraud from public scrutiny.
Nicknamed by critics as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” Assembly <a href="https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2624/id/3371241">Bill</a> 2624, introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, would establish a confidentiality program for immigration service providers who face &#8220;threats of violence or harassment from the public.&#8221; 
The bill would also &#8220;prohibit a person from posting on the internet or social media &#8230; the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, volunteer, or patient, or other individuals residing at the same home address.&#8221; Violations could result in fines up to $10,000 or up to one year in jail.
Critics, including Republican Assembly member Carl DeMaio, believe the bill could be leveraged to block investigative reporting and “silence citizen journalists exposing fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.&#8221;
&#8220;Instead of fixing the fraud problems being uncovered, Sacramento politicians are trying to shut down the people exposing them,&#8221; DeMaio <a href="https://ad75.asmrc.org/2026/04/13/ca-democrats-advance-stop-nick-shirley-act-to-criminalize-investigative-journalism/">said</a>.
&#8220;AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand the removal of video evidence — even if it captures misconduct in plain view — and threatens journalists with massive financial penalties,&#8221; he added. &#8220;That’s not about public safety — it’s about protecting powerful interests.&#8221;
Nick Shirley, an independent journalist known for viral videos exposing alleged Somali daycare fraud in Minnesota, recently continued his work in <a href="https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2033708929398845886">California</a>, igniting an online <a href="https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2042411675307971061">feud</a> with Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
In response to the bill, Shirley <a href="https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2043756610955423782">posted</a> to X, &#8220;Under AB 2624, government-funded entities like the Somali “Learing” Daycare centers would be protected from being exposed if they operated inside California.&#8221;
&#8220;The enemy truly is within. When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who &#8216;rule&#8217; over us,&#8221; he added.
Bonta, however, rejected claims that the bill targets journalism. In a recent <a href="https://x.com/AsmMiaBonta/status/2044229820968796573">video</a>, she said, “People who work to help immigrant communities should not have to fear being doxxed for doing so.”
She said the bill is designed to shield workers from having their personal information publicly exposed and to provide legal tools to prevent and respond to targeted harassment.
“If MAGA can’t tell the difference between journalism and doxxing, that’s on them, because on my bill, there are no provisions related to journalism or fraud. This bill does not infringe on the First Amendment,” she said.

Activists Demonstrate Against ICE In New York City

California Bill Could Criminalize Fraud Reporting, Republicans Warn

Journalism

The Gavin-Newsom-fraud-fest spectacular continued last week as <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/california-in-home-supportive-services-program-fraud-gavin-newsom">reporting</a> from the City Journal revealed the massive scope of potential fraud within the In-Home Supportive Services Program, a California state program funded by Medicaid that allows people with no meaningful medical training to bill taxpayers for performing basic household tasks, or “homecare” for the elderly or disabled. It’s important for people to realize, though, that California is far from the only state with a homecare fraud problem. It’s almost certainly happening in your state too, and at a scale that will boggle your mind. The problem is so widespread, in fact, that I find myself compelled to do the unthinkable: defend Gavin Newsom.
To be clear, and to prevent him from running off with this headline, I am not even slightly vindicating Gavin Newsom. California’s fraud problem is massive and almost entirely Newsom’s fault…but not entirely. The same industrial-scale homecare fraud networks making headlines in California also exist, to a lesser extent, in every other state.
There are slight variations in laws and procedures between states, but the scam has worked essentially the same way nationwide for over a decade. Here’s how it usually works.
First, to provide homecare you need to create a company and submit the proper paperwork to Medicaid, which makes sure you meet the requirements, but nobody seems to be checking this paperwork closely. Fraudsters in <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/home-health-care-owner-sentenced-more-five-years-defrauding-georgia-medicaid">Georgia</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/three-individuals-convicted-93m-home-health-fraud-and-money-laundering-scheme">Florida</a>, and <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/home-health-care-operator-admits-defrauding-missouri-medicaid">Missouri</a> have been busted running their companies under stolen identities and nursing licenses for years.
Next, you need patients. To get patients, they usually must get a doctor’s referral certifying that they need homecare because of some disability or injury. This is an easily overcome obstacle. High-profile busts in <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/operators-louisiana-home-health-company-convicted-171-million-health-care-fraud-scheme">Louisiana</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/bay-area-doctor-convicted-health-care-fraud-and-kickback-scheme-referrals-medicare">California</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/two-home-health-providers-agree-pay-702541-resolve-self-referral-allegations">Florida</a>, <a href="https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/chicago/press-releases/2012/nine-defendants-including-two-owners-of-a-home-health-care-agency-and-two-physicians-indicted-for-allegedly-paying-and-receiving-kickbacks-for-medicare-patient-referrals">Illinois</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/traditions-health-agrees-pay-34m-resolve-false-claims-act-liability-relating-home-health">Oklahoma</a>, and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/13-michigan-residents-charged-in-nationwide-health-care-fraud-probe/">Michigan</a>, just to name a few, have found that scammers bribe doctors with kickbacks to write unnecessary referrals.
Now that the patient has their doctor’s note, they can choose a homecare company themselves or be assigned one by the state’s relevant authorities or medical professionals. Patients of scammers are often paid kickbacks. Many pick their family members or spouses to provide the homecare. In one particularly massive scheme, residents of <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/owners-home-health-care-agency-sentenced-prison-taking-part-80-million-medicaid-fraud">Washington, D.C.</a> got their entire extended family together to bilk Medicaid of $80 million, spending it on mansions and sports cars. If it’s not a family business, though, you can always bribe “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/home-health-care-company-owners-sentenced-67-million-health-care-fraud">patient marketers</a>” for clients, buy a roster of <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/home-health-care-owner-sentenced-more-five-years-defrauding-georgia-medicaid">existing patients</a> from another recently busted fraudster, or get a list of <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/three-individuals-convicted-93m-home-health-fraud-and-money-laundering-scheme">stolen identities</a> on the homecare black market.
Bribery is a theme. In a government marketplace with fixed prices, as always, the only way to compete in homecare is by doing it under the table.
Now that you have patients, you just need qualified people to provide the care and patients’ signatures to verify it. This step of the process is basically a joke. In <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/six-sentenced-healthcare-fraud-conspiracy-stole-10-million-medicaid-over-six-year">Virginia</a>, a company was caught trading cash for stacks of blank, signed patient certification forms. In <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/pr/anchorage-resident-indicted-health-care-fraud-scheme">Alaska</a>, a woman pretended her whole family was working for her homecare company and billed fake hours for each of them. In <a href="https://www.ksl.com/article/51436524/manager-of-sandy-in-home-health-provider-charged-with-medicaid-fraud">Utah</a>, workers were instructed to sit in their cars outside the house after jobs to maximize billing hours. Some homecare scammers have been caught because they’re working full-time jobs while supposedly doing homecare work, as in <a href="https://dojmt.gov/kalispell-man-receives-three-year-sentence-for-medicaid-fraud-scheme/">Montana</a> and <a href="https://www.wowt.com/2025/12/01/nebraska-auditor-finds-medicaid-fraud-dhhss-personal-care-program/">Nebraska</a>. Others have been busted for brazenly requesting payment for more than 24 hours of work in a single day, as in <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/medical-biller-sentenced-45-months-prison-role-4-million-health-care-fraud-scheme">Illinois</a> and <a href="https://nmdoj.gov/press-release/ag-balderas-secures-prison-sentence-of-former-personal-care-organization-owner-who-defrauded-medicaid-program-of-over-445000/">New Mexico</a>. Not only were they paid the full amount for these requests, but it also took years for anyone to notice.
Every step of the homecare process can be, and is, easily defrauded, and while California is one of the worst, they’re far from alone.
You’d be hard-pressed to find any state where a quick look through Medicaid spending data doesn’t reveal at least one seedy office building hosting a dozen homecare companies billing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per month to do basic household tasks for a suspiciously small number of patients. And, as with the Armenians in California and the Somalis in Minnesota, the companies in these Medicaid clusters are usually owned almost exclusively by immigrants from one or two countries in East Asia, the Middle East, or Africa.
<div>The homecare program should be reformed to minimize fraud. Caring for the sick at home instead of in hospitals is a good idea, but relying on the honesty of a few individuals makes the program vulnerable in America’s low-trust, multicultural society. Like other social safety net programs, Medicaid’s homecare is a relic from a time before the institutional, cultural, and moral decline that has given rise to figures like Gavin Newsom and places like modern Los Angeles.</div>
Gavin Newsom is doing nothing to put out the fire (double entendre intended) but he didn’t start it, and nearly every other state has a little homecare-fraud fire of its own that our institutions, built around a high-trust society, simply aren’t equipped to handle.
***
Parker Thayer is an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center.

fraud push button

No One Is Safe: Homecare Fraud Schemes Are Ripping Off Americans In Every State

Gavin Newsom

Healthcare

Menu