62. Munich Security Conference

Gavin Newsom’s $30 Billion Fraud Magnet

California

Christopher Rufo

Democrats

Fraud

Gavin Newsom

Health Insurance

Hospice

Investigation

Labor Unions

Manhattan Institute

Medicaid

Medicare

MI x DW

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice launched a fraud enforcement division on Tuesday, as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on malicious actors taking advantage of public medical and housing programs.
“The American people deserve an end to the crisis of fraud,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press conference, which was his first time taking questions from reporters since Pam Bondi was pulled from the position.
During the press conference, Blanche told The Daily Wire that every United States Attorney’s Office will have a minimum of one prosecutor dedicated to tackling fraud investigations, and “in many states, more than one.” The DOJ will also be “building up the division” in Washington. The division will be led by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.
“Every single federal agency is involved in this,” he said, noting that many cases come from inspectors general.
The announcement of the division comes as Vice President JD Vance was recently appointed to lead the “Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-fraud-task-force-taps-lead-hunter-biden-prosecutor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> reported last month that Hunter Biden prosecutor Scott Brady, who is the special counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, will be the executive director of the task force.
“The attorneys and staff who join this new division, you will have the entire department&#8217;s support as you work to protect the financial integrity of our entire government and the tax system that supports it,” Blanche added, noting the creation of the National Fraud Detection Center.
“We will spare no resources in giving you the tools that you need to bring strong cases and do justice. The new division will bring together data and investigators from across the entire government so that you can track down even the most sophisticated fraudsters and hold them accountable,” he continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
There be will at least one fraud division prosecutor at every U.S. attorney’s office, but “‘many more” at others, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told me at today’s presser ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/qmoHzcRAbS">https://t.co/qmoHzcRAbS</a>
— Cameron Arcand (@cameron_arcand) <a href="https://twitter.com/cameron_arcand/status/2041584269143757147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Blanche highlighted numerous recent fraud cases, including eight individuals charged in California last week in a $50 million hospice fraud scheme. Other states, like Minnesota, have come into the national focus over court cases surrounding Medicaid, including fake autism treatment schemes.
“The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud,” Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement last week regarding the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/8-arrested-health-care-fraud-takedown-including-owners-hospices-billed-taxpayers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hospice case</a>. “The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to healthcare fraud at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, co-payments and taxes grow. Our aim is to reverse that trend with ‘Operation Never Say Die’ and others like it.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche Holds News Conference At Justice Department

‘Crisis Of Fraud’: DOJ Unveils New Crackdown Unit To Hunt Down Billions In Government Abuse

justice department

Minnesota

Pam Bondi

Todd Blanche

A leading coalition of state financial officers plans to share new polling data, and a sharpened warning about what it calls an “invisible tax” on American families, with Vice President J.D. Vance’s anti-fraud task force leadership, as the Trump administration’s broader “war on fraud” continues to take shape.
The survey, conducted by Deep Root Analytics and obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire, underscores just how politically potent the issue has become. 87% of voters say they are concerned about fraud or misuse of taxpayer dollars, including 50% who say they are “very concerned.” Another 83% say fraud contributes to higher taxes and rising costs for families, while a majority, 52%, believe little fraud is actually being stopped.
Taken together, the numbers point to a shift: voters are no longer viewing fraud as a niche or bureaucratic issue, but as a direct driver of the affordability crisis.
“Americans rightly understand that fraud is the invisible tax worsening the affordability crisis,” OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), told The Daily Wire. “Taxpayer dollars being stolen and wasted by fraudsters isn’t just a criminal issue, it’s an economic one.”
Oleka said the group intends to ensure those concerns are heard at the highest levels of the administration. “We support Vice President Vance’s leadership of the anti-fraud task force and hope these survey results will help guide and strengthen their mission,” he added.
The outreach builds on prior coordination between the group and the administration. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-contrasts-minnesota-fraud-with-big-wins-for-red-state-taxpayers">previously reported</a>, SFOF shared its sweeping oversight report with Vance via letter in late February, pledging state-level cooperation as the White House elevated fraud enforcement into a national priority.
That report detailed how SFOF’s network of conservative treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers, spanning 28 states, helped recover or safeguard roughly $28 billion in taxpayer funds in a single year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, and financial mismanagement.
In that sense, the new polling represents both a political and policy reinforcement of a message the group has been advancing for months: that fraud is not just a law enforcement issue, but a central economic concern.
The administration has increasingly echoed that framing. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-launches-war-on-fraud-taps-vance-to-lead-fed-crackdown-on-benefits-scams">tasked</a> Vance with leading a government-wide task force aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in public benefit programs and strengthening safeguards against abuse. Officials have warned that large-scale fraud is draining billions from programs intended to serve vulnerable Americans while undermining public trust.
The administration’s renewed focus on fraud comes as congressional Republicans continue to highlight high-profile cases like the sprawling pandemic-era fraud scandal in Minnesota, which Trump has <a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/trump-state-union-mn-stunning-corruption-ilhan-omar-exchange">described</a> as a “stunning example” of systemic failure, and as oversight efforts ramp up heading into the midterms.
That federal push is now converging with state-level efforts already underway, since before the administration formalized its initiative, SFOF members have positioned themselves as frontline watchdogs of taxpayer dollars, a role Oleka reiterated in a recent letter to Vance.
“In the months and years ahead, SFOF and our state financial officers stand ready to support you and everyone in the administration involved in this fight as allies already on the battlefield,” he wrote. “By working together, we can protect our nation’s treasure to the fullest extent against every foe and every plot to endanger it.”
State officials say the polling suggests that approach is aligned with voter sentiment across the political spectrum.
“The survey makes clear that Americans across the political spectrum are concerned about their tax dollars being lost to fraud and waste,” Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks, the group’s national chairman, exclusively told The Daily Wire. “When accountability weakens, the financial burden ultimately falls on households.”
That connection is borne out in the data. A majority of voters, 53%,  say government policy, spending, or taxation is the primary driver of rising costs, while 70% say there is too little oversight and support more aggressive fraud investigations.
As the administration leans further into fraud enforcement as both an economic and political issue, with Vance at the center and state-level allies reinforcing the message, the findings are likely to serve as fresh ammunition in what is shaping up to be a defining policy fight ahead of the 2026 midterms.

EXCLUSIVE: The ‘Invisible Tax’ Quietly Hitting Your Wallet Is Getting Harder To Ignore

Economy

JD Vance

Politics

Trump Administration

A stunning <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/gavin-newsom-california-fraud">report</a> from City Journal alleges that while California collects some of the nation&#8217;s highest taxes to fuel a $300 billion annual budget, a mounting body of evidence suggests that systematic fraud has siphoned off at least $180 billion during Governor Gavin Newsom&#8217;s tenure.
From the collapse of the unemployment system to &#8220;ghost&#8221; healthcare providers and embezzled homelessness funds, public records paint a picture of a state government that has allegedly frequently suspended basic oversight, creating a vacuum filled by international crime rings and opportunistic scammers.
The most documented alleged failure occurred within the Employment Development Department (EDD) during the pandemic. According to fraud specialist Haywood Talcove and subsequent state admissions, the Newsom administration &#8220;suspended all of the rules&#8221; for eligibility to expedite payments.
The state officially <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/california-edd-fraud-payments-20-billion/">admitted</a> to paying out $20 billion in fraudulent claims, though independent experts like Talcove place the figure at $32.6 billion. State records confirmed the EDD paid out hundreds of millions in claims to active prisoners, including 133 inmates on death row. Memphis rapper &#8220;Nuke Bizzle&#8221; pleaded guilty to federal charges after recording a music video bragging about exploiting the EDD; he successfully obtained $700,000 using stolen identities.
California’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) has seen its budget double to nearly $197 billion under Newsom. However, the California State Auditor has designated &#8220;Medi-Cal Eligibility&#8221; as a &#8220;high-risk&#8221; issue every year since 2007, noting &#8220;eligibility discrepancies&#8221; that the state has failed to fix.
In 2025, the DOJ announced charges against three individuals for using Monte Vista Pharmacy to process fraudulent prescriptions by exploiting loosened pandemic-era restrictions. Sources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimate a 25% fraud rate in Medi-Cal since 2019. Using a more conservative 15% rate, experts calculate a loss of $146 billion on Newsom&#8217;s watch.
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&#8220;Meantime, in Sacramento, state legislators have begun sounding the alarm,&#8221; City Journal writes. &#8220;In February, Leticia Castillo, a Republican in the California State Assembly, proposed a <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2670&amp;utm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> that would create a Medi-Cal &#8216;fraud assessment task force&#8217; to &#8216;review current fraud prevention tools&#8217; and &#8216;evaluate how best practices from the federal government and other states could be applied in California.&#8217; To date, Newsom has not supported the bill publicly.&#8221;
</div>
The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which pays family members to care for the elderly, lacks basic oversight like unannounced home visits. Recent federal prosecutions have targeted caregivers who claimed hours for recipients who were actually incarcerated or deceased.
Despite spending $24 billion on homelessness in five years, California’s state auditor reported in 2024 that the government lacked sufficient data to even assess if the programs were working.
Cody Holmes, CFO of a state-funded developer, was charged with embezzling $2.2 million in homelessness funds to pay for exotic cars and a 6,500-square-foot mansion.
In 2024 and 2025, federal authorities charged over 50 individuals—many with alleged ties to Romanian organized crime—for using &#8220;skimming&#8221; devices to steal millions from the state’s Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system.
In November 2025, Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was charged with fraud for allegedly siphoning campaign and COVID-19 recovery funds. While Williamson has pleaded not guilty, two other well-connected aides struck plea deals.

Audit Records, Indictments Show $180 Billion ‘Empire of Fraud’ In California: Report

Audit Records, Indictments Show $180 Billion 'Empire of Fraud' In California: Report

Banks and everyday Americans can cash in if they report fraud, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on Monday. 
The Treasury Department issued an advisory to banks pushing them to monitor accounts more closely for suspicious activity, saying, &#8220;They’re the frontline in identifying financial fraud when nonprofits, whether its daycare centers, hospice care, start wiring big round numbers out, that&#8217;s a problem. There are large multi-national criminal organizations that are doing healthcare fraud, so we are all hands on deck.” 
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) works with financial institutions to detect suspicious activity under a rule requiring the reporting of transactions of $2,000 or more that appear to follow suspicious patterns. Bessent said &#8220;suspicious activity reports&#8221; are up 20% this year. 
Whistleblowers, whether they are institutions or individuals, whose tips lead to enforcement actions could <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0426">receive</a> awards ranging from 10 to 30 percent of the fines collected as a result of their information. Bessent said the program is looking for tips specifically related to &#8220;government programs where there is a lack of common sense.” He then described Minnesota’s childcare programs that did not actually take care of children as an example of such a program that lacked &#8220;common sense.&#8221;
In January, the Treasury Department launched a modernized website to encourage Americans to report government fraud. “It’s kind of like at TSA where they say if you see something, say something,” Bessent said. “And if you say something and it turns out you have helped us make a big recovery, we want to pay for that.” 
The <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/whistleblower/">website</a> encourages users to submit as much detail as they can, including the names and contact information of all individuals and entities involved in the allegations, a description of any evidence supporting the allegations, and — if applicable — the amount of money that may have been defrauded. However, only a first name, last name, phone number, subject area, and description of the issue are required to submit the tip. 
The scale of the problem the initiative aims to address is significant. The Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-105833">estimates</a> that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion each year to fraud. Tackling those losses has become a major policy priority. The initiative aligns with a core campaign promise from President Trump, who has pledged to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs. The Trump administration argues that, absent fraud, the $2 trillion annual deficit could be balanced by keeping funds within the system and ensuring they are used for the services the misdirected funds were originally intended to support.
In addition to encouraging public participation, the administration has also taken steps within the federal government itself. Alongside the civilian reporting program, President Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/">announced</a> the creation of a dedicated task force focused on identifying and eliminating fraud across agencies. Vice President JD Vance heads up the new task force, which kicked off its first meeting on Friday. The ongoing crisis in Minnesota, which was made a national topic by YouTuber Nick Shirley, was a central focus of the meeting.

GettyImages-1764152391

Uncle Sam Wants You To Snitch. You’ll Even Get Paid Big For It.

Scott Bessent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump&#8217;s anti-fraud Task Force is delivering its opening marching orders this week in a memo from Vice President JD Vance, obtained first by the Daily Wire. The memo outlines a four-part plan that includes more prosecutions, better prevention methods, and targeting programs that are most ripe for abuse.
The newly-minted task force&#8217;s primary objective is to stop fraud that is &#8220;bleeding the federal government dry, robbing taxpayers, and denying honest Americans the services for which they have paid,&#8221; according to the memo, which comes from Vance and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Task Force. The &#8220;Tackling Fraud Across Public Programs&#8221; memorandum is directed to members of the anti-fraud team, which includes White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
The Task Force plans to prosecute those committing fraud and to recover as much fraudulently obtained money as it can, focusing on high-spend, low-verification programs. It acknowledges that recovering money lost to fraud is exceptionally difficult, and therefore emphasizes the need to improve prevention methods to stop the money from flowing out in the first place.
According to the memo, the federal government loses about $250 billion annually due to fraud, and only recovers about $10 billion of it, due to the &#8220;pay-and-chase&#8221; method of government payments.
For immediate next steps, the Task Force is ordered to first instruct all its members to report anti-fraud measures that are currently underway, and to investigate the Biden administration&#8217;s policies on fraud prevention — and report back on whether the Biden administration &#8220;failed to use available tools to prevent fraud, and to what extent.&#8221;
Other initial steps include assessing and implementing existing data analysis tools and tech, identifying more tools for combatting fraud, proposing new regulations and legislation, and creating new teams within agencies.
The memo identifies three primary reasons to significantly increase fraud prosecutions: the American people&#8217;s right to justice, the need to establish deterrence against fraud, and the need for accountability.
&#8220;The widespread fraud has not been committed by isolated bad actors; large and powerful networks have furthered this fraud. The American people have a right to know how the fraud problem has gotten so bad, and prosecutions will shed light on how this happened,&#8221; the memo reads.
DOJ&#8217;s new Assistant Attorney General for Fraud, Colin McDonald, will be serving as a member of the Task Force and leading the prosecutorial proceedings.
<div id="attachment_1066553" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-first-look-at-the-trump-admins-playbook-to-root-out-government-fraud/president-trump-and-vp-vance-sign-documents-establishing-fraud-task-force" rel="attachment wp-att-1066553"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1066553" class="wp-image-1066553 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266913798-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266913798-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266913798-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266913798-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266913798.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;We cannot litigate ourselves out of the fraud problem,&#8221; the memo states. &#8220;Research findings show over 1,000,000 suspicious Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and more than 2,000 suspicious durable medical equipment (DME) companies. The federal government simply does not have the resources necessary to recover all of the money lost to fraud once it has been paid out. Many fraudsters are judgment proof and therefore could not pay back the money they stole even after a successful prosecution.&#8221;
The task force also identifies &#8220;hostile, partisan, and lawless federal judges in nearly every state&#8221; as another barrier to litigating the fraud away.
To stop fraud from taking place at all, the task force wants major payor agencies to &#8220;use data to check for patterns of fraud like unreasonable growth, impossible services, too many companies at the same location, and other hallmarks of fraud.&#8221;
&#8220;The government must establish fraud indicators by which the major payor agencies can detect fraud and deny payment,&#8221; the memo says. &#8220;And major payor agencies must learn to refuse payment when the risk of fraud reaches unacceptable levels. In light of the fraud crisis, agencies must abandon their presumption in favor of payment; they must pay only when they are confident that the payment is legitimate and lawful.&#8221;
Many of the government agencies already have existing tools that they can use to combat fraud — at HHS, as the memo points out, there are technological systems already in place for both detecting and blocking fraud. The only problem: these systems have &#8220;long been used incorrectly&#8221; and the fraud detection has been done after the money has already been sent. Fixing these systems will be part of the task force&#8217;s job: the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, which is housed under HHS, has already deployed &#8220;new preventative approaches&#8221; that put blocks on fraud services up front.
The memo identifies a handful of &#8220;high-spend, low-verification&#8221; programs that will be targeted: Medicare and Medicaid ($2 trillion a year in spending), Department of Labor&#8217;s Unemployment Insurance ($43.5 billion a year), Department of Agriculture&#8217;s SNAP program ($101 billion a year), Health and Human Services&#8217; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ($16 billion a year), Department of Housing and Urban Development&#8217;s Rental Assistance / Public Housing ($64 billion a year), and the Small Business Administration loans and assistance ($104 billion a year).

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

EXCLUSIVE: First Look At The Trump Admin’s Playbook To Root Out Government Fraud

Andrew Ferguson

Donald Trump

Young Woman Standing Before a Dynamic Digital Screen, Immersed in Internet Visualization. Internet Cyberspace with Web Content, Icons, Animated Stream of Online Applications and Entertainment

Everything Is Fake Now — And It’s Worse Than You Think

Artificial Intelligence

Fake accounts

Food

illegal immigrants

Matt Walsh

Music

Opinion

scams

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday establishing a new federal task force aimed at combating fraud in government benefit programs, with Vice President JD Vance set to lead the initiative.
The new body, formally titled the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, will coordinate a government-wide effort to investigate and prevent fraud affecting programs administered jointly by federal, state, and local governments, including housing, food assistance, and health care benefits.
According to administration officials, the task force will develop a national strategy to identify vulnerabilities in government benefit systems and implement stronger safeguards such as identity verification requirements, documentation standards, and audits designed to prevent abuse.
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&#8220;This is a very big thing that we’re doing&#8230; having to do with all of the fraud that’s taking place in our country.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> prepares to sign an Executive Order establishing a <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a>-led task force to root out fraud, as outlined in his State of the Union address. <a href="https://t.co/5tSg93E1Io">pic.twitter.com/5tSg93E1Io</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2033638488864587776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, will serve as vice chair of the task force, while White House adviser Stephen Miller will act as senior adviser. Cabinet-level officials will participate as needed depending on the programs under review.
The effort is part of a broader “war on fraud” designed to root out large-scale scams that divert taxpayer money away from programs intended to assist vulnerable Americans. “In states across the country, fraudsters are depriving vulnerable citizens of basic social services, stealing billions of your tax dollars, and eroding America’s social fabric,” a spokesperson for Vance told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/16/us-news/trump-to-formally-name-vance-chair-of-fraud-task-force-with-these-states-in-crosshairs/">New York Post</a>. “This fraud has happened on such a massive scale that it’s endangering the future viability of America’s entire social safety net.”
The order comes amid heightened scrutiny of fraud in government-funded programs, including a major scandal in Minnesota involving fraudulent claims tied to nutrition and autism care services that has resulted in dozens of criminal indictments. Officials say the administration believes similar vulnerabilities may exist in states including California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado.
The task force is also being launched as the administration moves to strengthen federal enforcement efforts. Trump recently nominated Colin Macdonald to serve as the Justice Department’s first assistant attorney general focused specifically on fraud enforcement.
Earlier this year, Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, announced that $259.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements for Minnesota would be withheld amid fraud concerns, giving Gov. Tim Walz 60 days to submit a corrective action plan.
Vance also announced a nationwide pause on certain companies seeking Medicare subsidies for durable medical equipment such as canes and walkers, while federal officials review the program for potential abuse.
Outside watchdog groups praised the move as a necessary step to address waste and fraud in government programs. “The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) salutes President Trump for ordering the creation of this task force and stands ready to support him and the Vice President as key allies already on the battlefield,” said OJ Oleka, CEO of SFOF.
Oleka pointed to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-contrasts-minnesota-fraud-with-big-wins-for-red-state-taxpayers">recent report</a> from the group showing that 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers recovered roughly $28 billion in taxpayer funds from waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone. “Our fiscal watchdogs are on the frontlines of this fight in the states,” Oleka said. “Their successful oversight should serve as a model for this task force as it works to expose and eradicate fraud nationwide.”
The administration says the new task force will coordinate closely with state financial officials and federal agencies as it develops its national anti-fraud strategy, which Trump officials argue is critical to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring public benefit programs remain sustainable for future generations.

US President Donald Trump, alongside Vice President JD Vance

Trump Launches ‘War On Fraud,’ Taps Vance To Lead Fed Crackdown On Benefits Scams

Executive

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) grilled Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) during a contentious Capitol Hill hearing addressing the rampant fraud in his state, much of which has been tied to the Somali immigrant community.
Mace specifically asked Walz a series of questions about fraud linked to funding designated to help children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder — and the Minnesota governor, combative at times, struggled to answer some of the most basic questions about the people in his state.
WATCH:
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Tim Walz can’t, or won’t, answer simple questions about the absolutely massive increase in Autism program spending in his state.
These numbers have been circulating publicly for some time.
This is just insane. What a fraud. <a href="https://t.co/eF2nWEL7Le">pic.twitter.com/eF2nWEL7Le</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/2029225712167620779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mace began by asking Walz how much the state of Minnesota had spent on autism programs in 2017. Walz at first said that he did not know, and when Mace challenged him directly — asking whether he&#8217;d prepared for the hearing ahead of time — he argued that he did not know because he was not the governor in 2017.
&#8220;We&#8217;re gonna do some Minnesota math today,&#8221; Mace said, and she eventually revealed that Minnesota had spent approximately $1,000,000 on autism programs in 2017.
&#8220;How much money was spent on autism in Minnesota in 2024?&#8221; Mace asked then.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have the number in front of me,&#8221; Walz replied. As governor I don&#8217;t —&#8221;
&#8220;Were you governor in 2024?&#8221; Mace asked.
&#8220;I was, but I&#8217;m not the —&#8221;
&#8220;Okay, so your excuse before, you didn&#8217;t know what 2017 autism numbers were because you were not governor, and today you can&#8217;t answer the numbers about 2024 as governor and you still said you prepared for this hearing today, it&#8217;s unbelievable,&#8221; Mace said. &#8220;$343,000,000 was spent in 2024. What percent increase is that, from one million to 343 million?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m not here to be your prop, go ahead and tell me,&#8221; Walz snapped.
&#8220;Are you governor of Minnesota or not?&#8221; Mace asked.
&#8220;Yes, I am,&#8221; Walz replied.
&#8220;Well, when I&#8217;m governor of South Carolina, you can sure as hell bet that I&#8217;m going to know the math,&#8221; Mace shot back, explaining that it those numbers represented a 34,200% increase.
&#8220;Do you know the number of children in Minnesota?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;I know that Minnesota ranked as a top three state for children in the last year,&#8221; Walz said.
Mace asked what the state&#8217;s total population was, and Walz knew the answer to that question: &#8220;5.7 million.&#8221;
&#8220;What is the total population of children in Minnesota?&#8221; Mace followed up.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have the number in front of me,&#8221; Walz said.
&#8220;Are you governor of Minnesota?&#8221; Mace repeated. &#8220;And you don&#8217;t know the number of children residing in Minnesota? &#8230; As governor, I expect you to know this information. Thank God you&#8217;re not the vice president.&#8221;

JD Vance And Tim Walz Face Off In Vice Presidential Debate In New York

‘Thank God You’re Not The Vice President’: Nancy Mace Grills Tim Walz Over Autism Funding Fraud

'Thank God You're Not The Vice President': Nancy Mace Grills Tim Walz Over Autism Funding Fraud

Media

Nancy Mace

Somalis

Tim Walz

Republican lawmakers repeatedly pushed Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday over his handling of the Feeding Our Future scandal, which federal prosecutors have described as the nation’s largest COVID scam, involving $250 million for meals supposedly going to the hungry. 
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee, Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison faced questions about <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/The-Cost-of-Doing-Nothing_How-Tim-Walz-and-Keith-Ellison-Fueled-Minnesotas-Fraud-Explosion_3.4.26_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">findings</a> cited by Republicans that more than $9 billion in social service fraud has occurred under their watch. Both Democrats have claimed they took appropriate actions to combat and root out fraud. 
“For years, Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison presided over one of the most extensive breakdowns of oversight this committee has ever examined. Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen from social service programs while warnings piled up, whistleblowers spoke out, and state officials chose delay and denial over action,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) said. “Federal prosecutors estimate that as much as $9 billion may have been stolen from just 14 Medicaid programs administered by the state of Minnesota.”
The suspected fraud made up about half of the $18 billion distributed through the programs since 2018, Comer said. One notable example of fraud was the Feeding Our Future scam, in which fraudsters, some of whom were Somali nationals, billed the government for $250 million in meals that were never distributed. 
During the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pressed Walz on why payments to Feeding Our Future resumed just one month after the Minnesota Department of Education suspended them over suspected irregularities. 
Walz said they restarted because the agency said that the “court had required them to make those payments.”
Jordan then pointed to a <a href="https://mncourts.gov/about-the-courts/newsandannouncements/feeding-our-future-v-minnesota-department-of-education-correcting-media-reports-and-statements-by-governor-tim-walz-concerning-orders-issued-by-the-court">statement</a> from the Minnesota Judicial Branch saying Walz had made inaccurate statements about the payments and that the court “never ordered” them to restart. 
“The attorneys at the Department of Education interpreted that differently. Both of those judges are no longer on the bench,” Walz said. 
Walz was also asked about allegations that his office retaliated against whistleblowers who raised concerns about the state&#8217;s handling of fraud. Some have claimed they were told to stay silent over fears of being perceived as “racist” or “Islamophobic.” 
“I can&#8217;t speak to what they said. I can tell you it didn&#8217;t happen,” Walz told Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) when asked about claims his office retaliated against whistleblowers. 
The Trump administration has paused hundreds of millions in federal funding to Minnesota social service programs, citing widespread fraud concerns. 
Vice President JD Vance, who has been tasked by President Trump with leading efforts to combat federal fraud, announced last week that $260 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota had been paused pending further review.

Minnesota Gov. Walz And AG Ellison Testify At Hearing On Social Services Fraud

Walz Grilled Over Oversight Failures In Nation’s Largest COVID Scam

Congress

James Comer

Fraudsters are robbing America blind. The federal government <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-105833">estimates</a> fraud costs a family of four roughly $4,000 each year.
Fraud is the inevitable byproduct of a bloated bureaucracy that spends <a href="https://www.bea.gov/data/government/receipts-and-expenditures">$11 trillion annually</a> at the federal, state, and local levels. To conduct an audit, we would need an army of indefatigable accountants. In the past, we couldn’t raise such an army, but now we can. We simply need competent leadership in Congress to deploy it.
This system could have saved <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-fraud-feeding-our-future-medicaid-9911799c0d0149a64a042abed095be57">billions</a> in Minnesota alone. Instead of sending millions in taxpayer dollars to the <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/dr-oz-on-medicaid-fraud-fact-finding-mission-in-minnesota-2b-could-be-at-stake/">400 supposed</a> healthcare providers huddled in an industrial building in St. Paul, Minnesota, our government could have sent an FBI team. They would have stopped payments to “<a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/dozens-charged-in-250-million-covid-fraud-scheme-092122">Feeding Our Future</a>,” where fraudsters faked child rosters, randomly assigned ages, and reported meal volumes wildly inconsistent with site capacity — the kind of fraud that is easy for an AI to catch.
The technical solution is to use AI to spot and block fraudulent government payments, such as those to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-quality-learing-center-is-officially-closed-state-records-show">fake daycares</a> in Minnesota. Your bank already does it. If you live in Minneapolis and your card is used in Florida, your bank will deny the transaction and call you within minutes. By contrast, the government’s optional payment screening service has been branded <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/M-25-32-Preventing-Improper-Payments-and-Protecting-Privacy-Through-Do-Not-Pay.pdf">a failure</a>.
Modern AI tools can detect fraud patterns that fool humans, such as multiple nonprofits with the same address, beneficiaries, board members, and employees. These tools automatically flag anomalies like spikes in billing and implausible service delivery. When something is suspicious, these tools can stop the payment for further investigation by a human team.
Congress should require all agencies to run any payment over $10,000 through a fraud detection system and change the law to allow the government to pause suspicious payments. AI can adjudicate most cases quickly. Narrow exceptions should be made for cases where immediate payments are critical to national security. The system can exist within the Treasury, Government Accountability Office, or even report directly to Congress. Regardless of where it lives, we need an elite team of data scientists, engineers, and investigators who oversee our all-important tax dollars competently and ethically.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and state Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) testify on alleged misuse of federal funds in Minnesota at <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GOPoversight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OversightDems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OversightDems</a> – LIVE on C-SPAN3 <a href="https://t.co/LkMJ0ZVExm">https://t.co/LkMJ0ZVExm</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2029197002651701402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Source: @cspan/X.com
But tech is not enough. We need the legal tools to stop fraudulent payments immediately. Would you keep paying the bill on a stolen credit card for years? That’s what the government does. When agencies suspect fraud, they often continue paying fraudsters until a court declares the “vendor” to be violating their contract. “Feeding Our Future” received $250 million of taxpayer money for years after the first <a href="https://www.governing.com/management-and-administration/minnesotas-inadequate-oversight-led-to-250m-meal-program-fraud?utm_source=chatgpt.com">allegations</a> of fraud. When Minnesota’s Department of Education slowed the payments on its suspicions, “Feeding Our Future” sued; the judge <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/judge-rebukes-walz-assertion-that-he-ordered-mde-to-resume-payments-to-feeding-our-future/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">questioned</a> whether the agency had followed the required administrative procedures, and payments to fraudsters resumed. This illustrates a general point — fraudsters know that even credible red flags rarely trigger an immediate stop-pay and criminal prosecution, because agencies lack <a href="https://www.governing.com/management-and-administration/minnesotas-inadequate-oversight-led-to-250m-meal-program-fraud?utm_source=chatgpt.com">investigatory tools</a> and fear losing in court.
Congress, however, lacks technical competence and leadership. While half of all senators are <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48535">lawyers</a> by training, there is only <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48535">one senator</a> with an engineering degree. The Senate is not representative of America’s immense economic growth, driven in large part by technologists. It’s time for us to harness that technology to make the government serve us better.
Our prosperity and freedom are at stake. Polarization and growing mistrust in our institutions, coupled with enormous peacetime deficits, are a combustible mix. We can quell it with technology and competent leadership. Stamping out large-scale fraud could cut our deficit by as much as a quarter. Addressing waste as well could eliminate our deficit entirely. Only when families feel the benefits of our prosperity in their own budgets — through lower taxes, cheaper childcare, and healthcare — will the political pressure cool and give us space to confront our most serious challenges as a nation.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Americans laid the foundation of the most successful democratic government in the world. Our government grew with our prosperity — eventually making full oversight impossible by human effort alone. Today, we have the technology to make our government the most upright and efficient in the world. We need leaders who are capable and willing to use it to protect our taxes, our freedoms, and our future. 

* * *
Mark York is a Harvard-trained computer scientist and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota. 

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

America Is Bleeding Billions To Fraud — How AI Could Shut It Down

Banks

Federal Government

Minneapolis

Technology

A new report is adding fuel to Republican efforts to frame 2026 as the opening salvo in President Donald Trump’s so-called “War on Fraud,” just days before House lawmakers are set to question Minnesota’s top officials over what the president has described as one of the largest public-fraud scandals in the country.
The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) <a href="https://sfof.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SFOF-2025-Oversight-Report.pdf">report</a>, released Tuesday morning, claims that 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers across 28 states recovered or returned $28 billion in taxpayer funds this year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, unclaimed property, and investment mismanagement. The organization says the report will be issued annually.
In a letter accompanying the report, SFOF CEO OJ Oleka wrote to Vice President JD Vance, who was tasked during the State of the Union with helping lead the administration’s anti-fraud initiative, pledging state-level cooperation with federal enforcement efforts. The letter was also sent to Associate Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald, recently nominated by Trump to serve as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement at the Justice Department, a role supporters have dubbed the administration’s “fraud czar.”
It comes at an auspicious time for the administration and his supporters. The United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is preparing to question Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison over oversight failures connected to a sweeping pandemic-era fraud case involving a federally funded child nutrition program in Minnesota.
During his State of the Union address, Trump singled out Minnesota as a “stunning example” of systemic fraud, alleging that billions in taxpayer funds were siphoned off through fraudulent schemes. Federal prosecutors have previously charged dozens of individuals in connection with the case, which centered on misuse of COVID-relief funds intended to feed low-income children. Court filings have detailed large sums improperly obtained, though the precise dollar totals remain the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.
Republicans argue the case reflects broader governance failures in Democratic-led states. In a statement obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire ahead of the Oversight hearing, Republican Minnesota State Senator Jordan Rasmusson said taxpayers “deserve answers on why billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen through fraudulent schemes under the failed leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison,” adding that federal intervention has been critical in prosecuting offenders.
Oleka framed the Minnesota case as a cautionary tale. In his statement, also exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire,  he called it “a criminal heist of historic proportions” and argued that eliminating the state treasurer’s office in Minnesota diffused financial oversight authority. Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 abolishing the elected treasurer position, consolidating certain duties under other state offices.
Supporters of Walz and Ellison have previously maintained that the fraud was uncovered through state and federal cooperation and that prosecutions demonstrate the system ultimately worked. The governor’s office has said it has implemented additional oversight mechanisms since the scandal emerged.
The SFOF report contrasts what it describes as aggressive fraud recovery efforts in red states with what it characterizes as lax oversight in states like Minnesota.
The new report from the State Financial Officers Foundation details what it describes as a coordinated effort by conservative financial officers to aggressively police public spending and return money to taxpayers.
According to SFOF, its members uncovered $5.7 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone, while generating or returning another $22.3 billion through investment earnings and unclaimed property programs, totaling $28 billion in what the organization calls protected or restored taxpayer funds.
Among the largest waste and fraud findings highlighted in the report were in Florida, where Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia identified roughly $1.86 billion in what SFOF described as excessive or wasteful local government spending, and in Kentucky, Auditor Allison Ball flagged approximately $1 billion in Medicaid waste and lapsed education funds.
Whether the upcoming Oversight hearing produces new disclosures remains to be seen. But with the White House publicly elevating fraud enforcement as a national priority, and state financial officers positioning themselves as frontline partners, the Minnesota case is likely to serve as a test of competing narratives: one arguing systemic executive failure necessitating strong preemptive action, the other pointing to eventual detection and reaction as evidence of accountability.

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