Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced Thursday morning that she is running for governor of Minnesota in hopes of becoming Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s successor.
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, opted not to seek a third term after being embroiled in Medicaid fraud scandals in the state, which have garnered national attention.
“Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” she said in her campaign launch video opening her remarks, highlighting the recent tensions with federal immigration authorities as well as the June 2025 murders of two high-profile Democratic state lawmakers.
“I’m asking Democrats, independents, and Republicans to join our campaign – it is a homegrown one born in a moment like no other. It is for people who believe in something bigger than ourselves,” the senator, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, continued.
Assuming Klobuchar clinches the Democratic nomination, she could face a general election contest against Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth or MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, both of whom are seeking the Republican nomination.
The <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/governor-race-ratings">Cook Political Report</a> ranks the race as “Likely Democrat.” A Klobuchar victory would also create a vacancy in Minnesota&#8217;s U.S. Senate delegation, allowing her to appoint an interim replacement until a special election is held. Klobuchar was re-elected to the Senate in 2024 with more than 56% of the vote, defeating Republican Royce White, a former NBA player.
There’s already a closely watched Senate race in the state with the retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, as Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are in a heated Democratic primary, and former sports reporter Michele Tafoya and White are seeking the Republican nomination. The contest is currently ranked “Likely Democrat,” but it’s caught the attention of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is backing Tafoya.
The electoral fireworks come at a serious moment for the state. Border czar Tom Homan has taken charge of Operation Metro Surge following the controversial fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. The surge has led to widespread arrests of illegal immigrants and sparked protests, legal challenges, and sharp criticism from state and local officials who are calling for the federal presence to be scaled back.
Democratic leaders, such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Walz, have been at odds with the Trump administration over how to tackle immigration enforcement in the state.

Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In Charleston Ahead Of SC Primary

Amy Klobuchar Jumps Into Governor’s Race As Minnesota Remains Under Federal Scrutiny

Amy Klobuchar

Congress

Fraud

Immigration

Minnesota

Senate

Tim Walz

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ended his campaign for re-election, a stunning reversal and likely the end of the political career of a man who many pundits projected would be the Democratic nominee for president as early as 2028.
But if a once-popular governor can be toppled by widespread welfare fraud, where does that leave other Democratic presidential hopefuls?
The revelations of staggering levels of fraud in Minnesota — and Walz’s preemptive exit from the big stage — should send a chill down the spines of Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, and JB Pritzker, who are likely sitting on powder kegs of fraud themselves. What are the odds that Tim Walz is an outlier among blue-state governors with the exact same political philosophy and ideology? Unlikely.
Federal prosecutors allege more than <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/12/18/u-s-attorney-fraud-likely-exceeds-9-billion-in-minnesota-run-medicaid-services/">$9 billion</a> in Minnesota Medicaid dollars were stolen by scammers primarily from the state’s Somali community, an enormous sum, equivalent to roughly three-quarters of <a href="https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Somalia-GDP-2024-release-text-v3-2025.pdf">Somalia’s GDP</a>. Investigations are ongoing, and the real total loss may be even higher.
Welfare programs are an enormous money pot that inevitably attracts scammers. And the bigger the pot, the bigger the potential payoff for thieves. With state budgets the size of those in California, Illinois, and New York, not to mention Democrats’ general posture toward welfare expansion, it would be truly shocking if there were less fraud in those larger states.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requested data from the states on who is receiving food stamps early last year, including identifying information like Social Security numbers and, importantly, immigration status. The Trump administration has previously discovered that more than one million people were illegally receiving <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/cms-doge-identify-wasteful-duplicate-medicaid-enrollments.html">Medicaid in multiple states</a> — and it’s likely the same with food stamps and SNAP benefits. Individual states are not able to detect this kind of fraud: only the federal government can find it by comparing recipients across the states.
But Democrats have refused to help the Trump administration find fraud. In fact, <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-trump-administration-over-illegal-demands-states">in July</a>, 22 blue states sued to block the Trump administration from requiring the data. Democrats want the federal government to pay for food stamps without knowing who is receiving them.
Tim Walz and the other 21 governors have all seen the information they are currently hiding from the feds. In the absence of transparency from these elected officials, federal investigators, journalists, and citizens of goodwill all need to keep digging until the American people get the truth and law enforcement can bring fraudsters to justice.
Food stamp fraud is a known fact. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), more than <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107753.pdf">$10 billion</a> in the food stamp program is wasted every year — <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research">more than 10%</a> of the program. Some blue states have even higher error rates: Massachusetts and D.C. overpay by an average of more than <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-fy24QC-PER.pdf">13%</a> — and New York and New Jersey aren’t far behind at more than 12%. That means that one out of every eight dollars in these states is wasted — and this is just the waste, fraud, and abuse that we know about.
Nearly <a href="https://thefga.org/research/categorical-eligibility-in-food-stamps-is-fraud-by-design/">every Democrat-run state</a> in America also uses an accounting gimmick called Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, or BBCE, to hide its own erroneous payments from the federal government. BBCE means that if someone receives a non-monetary TANF benefit, like a brochure or the number to a welfare agency hotline, the state assumes that they qualify for food stamps, too, without bothering to check their assets to see if they are actually eligible. The result is an explosion in the welfare state, costing taxpayers more than <a href="https://thefga.org/solution/promoting-work-over-welfare/bbce/">$11 billion per year</a>, with the benefits going to people with liquid assets well above the limits set in federal law.
The good news is that, thanks to a new law signed by President Trump, states with high error rates can no longer waste federal tax dollars with impunity. States with food stamp payment error rates over <a href="https://www.sas.com/en_us/news/press-releases/2025/november/payment-integrity-food-assistance.html">six percent</a> are now legally required to start paying back a small part of the cost of the program. Left-wing Massachusetts could owe more than <a href="https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/understaffed-dta-faces-steep-snap-penalty-risks/">$250 million per year</a>. Deep-blue Maryland may be on the hook for more than <a href="https://marylandmatters.org/2025/12/03/maryland-may-face-more-than-300-million-in-new-snap-costs-due-to-high-payment-error/">$300 million</a>. This is a great first step, and not only will it help repay federal taxpayers, but it will also encourage states to finally get their act together and stop wasting money.
As the old story goes, criminals rob banks “because that’s where the money is.” And there are no bigger pots of money than the federal treasury and the bloated budgets of blue states. Attorney General Bondi and investigators across the country are beginning to look at where the real money is — and the fallout could bring down the entire top-tier slate of 2028 Democratic presidential nominees.
* * *
Adam Gibbs is the communications director for the Foundation for Government Accountability.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Opening Day Of World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026

Welfare Fraud Threatens Top-Tier Democratic Presidential Nominees Ahead Of 2028

Welfare Fraud Threatens Top-Tier Democratic Presidential Nominees Ahead of 2028

2028 presidential election

Democrats

Elections

Gavin Newsom

J.B. Pritzker

Josh Shapiro

Minneapolis

Somalis

Minnesota’s decline did not occur overnight. It was engineered, year after year, under the failed leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota Democrats. Ideology replaced oversight, political narratives replaced accountability, and “compassion” became an excuse for corruption.
In 2009, Forbes magazine named Minneapolis the safest city in America. Today, however, our state is a shell of itself, no longer known for clean government or competent leadership. It is now known for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-blasts-coward-tim-walz-for-withholding-security-amid-fraud-probe-anti-ice-protests">fraud and abuse.</a>
Across the state, hundreds of childcare centers are under investigation for allegedly stealing <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/12/opinion/annual-600b-federal-fraud-is-killing-us-crack-down-now/">billions of taxpayer dollars</a> meant to help children. Federal auditors are demanding proof that children were even present at these make-shift daycares with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-quality-learing-center-is-officially-closed-state-records-show?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Minneapolis+Quality+%E2%80%98Learing%E2%80%99+Center+Is+Officially+Closed%2C+State+Records+Show">misspelled names</a> and fake addresses. Minnesotans are rightly asking how such a massive scheme could operate openly for years without intervention. The answer is obvious and uncomfortable: Tim Walz and Minnesota Democrats allowed it to happen.
A recent press conference captured the rot. A daycare operator claimed that enrollment records, documents that would supposedly exonerate his organization, were conveniently stolen during a break-in. Worse yet, as he spoke about his business, he wore <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15426835/minnesota-somali-daycare-fraud-nokomis-daycare-glasses-interpreter.html">designer sunglasses</a>, valued at thousands of dollars.
This was not an isolated failure. Under Tim Walz, widespread fraud has become a recurring pattern. The <a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/feeding-our-future-investigation/full-coverage-feeding-our-future-fraud-scheme/89-c288f8ca-2b8d-405f-b027-e15035bf42bf">Feeding Our Future</a> scandal exposed the laundering of federal nutrition funds, even as warning signs were ignored and whistleblowers were pushed aside. Oversight collapsed. Agencies failed. The amount of fraud in Minnesota can be tied up neatly in one sentence: Tim Walz awarded Ayan Abukar the &#8220;Outstanding Refugee Award,” and four years later, Abukar is one of thousands of Minnesotans convicted of what may be the <a href="https://knsiradio.com/2025/01/27/one-sentence-one-plea-announced-in-250-million-feeding-our-future-fraud-scheme/">largest case of fraud</a> in American history.
This only exposed the central deception of Democratic governance: the idea that fraud-ridden bureaucracies are synonymous with compassion. They are not. Real compassion demands accountability, because every dollar stolen through fraud is a dollar taken from a child who needs help.
I know what government assistance is meant to do because I grew up relying on it. I was raised by my divorced mother on welfare in Harlem and later with my father in a trailer park in Oklahoma. Nothing about my childhood promised success, and the only way out was hard work. I delivered pizzas to put myself through college. I went on to serve as an Army officer stationed in South Korea on the DMZ. Five years later, I was the first in my family to begin a business career in the private sector. My life is a living case study that the promise of America is available to everyone, regardless of race or social station — if they embrace it.
That path was only possible in the United States. But I wouldn’t have been able to do that in today’s Minnesota.
Minnesota Democrats outright reject the very principles of hard work, merit, grit, and dedication. Under their leadership, fraudsters live lavishly while working families are lectured about “equity.” Agencies distribute billions of taxpayer dollars with no verification. Democrats moralize about social justice while presiding over the largest fraud scandal in American history. And unfortunately, fraud is only one symptom of a much deeper problem.
Sadly, the same Democratic ideology that tolerated corruption has also undermined public safety in our state. Under Governor Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis, once one of America’s safest major cities, fell into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/us/minneapolis-government-george-floyd.html">chaos</a>. In 2020, rioting and looting turned entire neighborhoods into war zones while Walz hesitated, excused, and justified lawlessness. We witnessed politicians excuse rioting and looting for four-days while families fled Minneapolis and trust evaporated.
Let’s be honest – it’s not any better today. The Left’s open border policies that began under Joe Biden’s administration have further strained local resources and eroded confidence in the rule of law. We’re seeing violent rioters destroy businesses, fight law enforcement, and cause chaos in our streets. Meanwhile, they are encouraged and egged on by Democrat leaders. Meanwhile, crime is out-of-control and families are scared to have dinner or see a show in Minneapolis.
As a result, businesses have left the state in droves, and we have quickly become a desert for opportunity and economic growth. Taxes continue to skyrocket, and both families and small businesses leave for safe havens. They don’t have to move far. It’s not only Florida, Tennessee, or Texas; instead, they are finding refuge in the neighboring states of Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. From an economic perspective, nearly every economic indicator in Minnesota has been in free fall for a decade.
If this state were a publicly traded company, its leadership would have been fired and its stock dumped years ago.
Now, Tim Walz is <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/05/us-news/gov-tim-walz-expected-to-drop-reelection-bid-amid-minnesota-somali-fraud-probe-report/">stepping aside</a>, and Minnesota Democrats want voters to believe the damage leaves with him. The sad truth is, Walz is not the exception; he is the product of a one-party system that normalized failure. This fraud did not occur in one day. It happened over years, in plain sight, while Minnesota’s legislators from both parties voted, agencies approved payments, and oversight mechanisms failed again and again.
Let me be clear — we can’t fix the problems in St. Paul by electing another legislator from St. Paul. We need someone like me, a political outsider and a successful businessman. You don’t have to look far to see how President Trump has revitalized our economy with his business background and shook up the status quo to Make America Great Again. That’s what I want to emulate in Minnesota.
If we want to dismantle the largest fraud case in American history and restore trust in our state’s government, Minnesota needs leadership fundamentally different from what Democrats have to offer. We need someone willing to audit aggressively, prosecute decisively, and dismantle corrupt systems without fear of political backlash. We need a leader who understands that compassion without accountability is not kindness, it is betrayal. Minnesota does not need another lecture from progressives. It needs a reckoning.
This November, we have a once-in-a-generation moment to elect a leader that rejects the notion of socialism – doubles down on free market capitalism and our country’s Judeo-Christian founding principles. The future of Minnesota looks bright if we choose wisely.
* * *
Kendall Qualls is an Army veteran, business leader, and the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Tim Walz announces he won’t seek reelection for Minnesota governor, January 2026

Minnesota Is A Case Study In Democratic Failure. Here’s How We Fix It.

Opinion

Republicans

President Donald Trump accused Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) of having knowledge of billions of dollars in alleged fraud, saying Sunday night that she should be jailed or face &#8220;worse punishment.&#8221;
“There is 19 Billion Dollars in Minnesota Somalia Fraud. Fake ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan [sic] Omar, a constant complainer who hates the USA, knows everything there is to know. She should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia, considered one of the absolutely worst countries in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She could help to MAKE SOMALIA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump has long feuded with Omar and repeatedly called for her to return to her homeland of Somalia. During his first term, controversy erupted after a &#8220;send her back&#8221; chant broke out at a rally while he was discussing her.  
Earlier on Sunday, Trump claimed Omar and Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz supported the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota because doing so helped distract attention from political pressure on them. 
“ICE is removing some of the most violent criminals in the World from our Country, and bring them back home, where they belong,” Trump said. “The thugs that are protesting include many highly paid professional agitators and anarchists. Is this really what Minnesota wants? The crooked Governor and ‘Congresswoman’ Omar, who married her brother, don’t mind because it keeps the focus of attention off the 18 Billion Dollar, Plus, FRAUD, that has taken place in the State! Don’t worry, we’re on it!”
Minneapolis has been the focus of anti-ICE protests since an agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving her vehicle toward him. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, with federal officers being assaulted and federal vehicles targeted with vandalism. 
Trump has considered invoking the Insurrection Act and sending in troops if ICE agents continue to be impeded in Minnesota. Government officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-readies-1500-troops-for-potential-minnesota-deployment-u-s-officials-say?author=Reuters&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Pentagon+Readies+1%2C500+Troops+For+Potential+Minnesota+Deployment%2C+U.S.+Officials+Say">said</a> Sunday that they had ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers based in Alaska to prepare for deployment to Minnesota if needed. 
The protests come at the same time federal officials have initiated numerous investigations into alleged welfare fraud schemes that have taken billions of dollars in federal funding.  
As these investigations play out, the Trump administration has frozen<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-welfare-funds-to-five-blue-states-over-fraud-concerns?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+Welfare+Funds+To+Five+Blue+States+Over+Fraud+Concerns"> funding</a> for programs that provide childcare and food assistance. This includes Department of Health and Human Services-operated programs like the Child Care Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant program.

MixCollage-19-Jan-2026-07-17-AM-2737

Trump Calls For Ilhan Omar To Be ‘Jailed’ Over Fraud, Warns Of ‘Worse Punishment’

Donald Trump

Ilhan Omar

Somalia

As the Trump administration investigates rampant welfare fraud in Democrat states, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) wants to toughen the penalties for foreign fraudsters.
Cotton introduced a <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/welfare_fraud_deterrence_and_recovery_act.pdf">bill</a> on Thursday that would set mandatory minimums for non-citizens convicted of fraud and allow for automatic deportation for those convicted of fraud. The Trump administration has launched major fraud investigations into states like California and Minnesota, where dozens of Somali migrants have been charged with crimes.
“Migrants who steal Arkansas taxpayer dollars by committing fraud shouldn’t be let off with just a slap on the wrist,” Cotton told The Daily Wire. “My bill will ensure these criminals face harsher consequences.”
Cotton’s &#8220;Welfare Fraud Deterrence and Recovery Act&#8221; would impose a two-year minimum prison sentence for non-citizens or naturalized citizens convicted of stealing federal welfare funds. If the person stole more than $100,000 worth of funds, the sentence would be no less than five years, according to a copy of the proposal shared with The Daily Wire.
Defrauding federal welfare programs would also come with immigration consequences. Foreigners who were denaturalized would be barred from reentry into the United States and foreigners convicted of fraud would be subject to expedited deportation. Cotton’s bill would also make it easier to denaturalize someone convicted of fraud.
Under the bill, a Fraud Recovery Task Force would be established by the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute fraud cases.
Cotton’s proposal comes after the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-welfare-funds-to-five-blue-states-over-fraud-concerns?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+Welfare+Funds+To+Five+Blue+States+Over+Fraud+Concerns">froze funding</a> for programs that provide childcare and food assistance in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York as officials probe whether the benefits are being illegally funneled to non-citizens. The specific programs being halted in those states are the Child Care Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant program.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance announced that a new assistant attorney general position out of the Justice Department would be formed to focus on fraud in Minnesota.
“To make sure that we prosecute the bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible … we are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance said at a press briefing. “Now, of course, that person’s efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort, because unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.”

Congress Is Running Out The Clock On Any Big Moves By Year’s End

Cotton Says Foreign Fraudsters Should Face Swift Deportation As Investigations Escalate

Crime

Tom Cotton

Trump Administration

U.S.

Senator Ed Markey appears to be blocking a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in COVID-era government programs, seemingly siding with fraudsters and against the United States government.
The House of Representatives <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the &#8220;SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act&#8221; in July by voice vote, signaling overwhelming bipartisan support. The <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/SM/SM00/20250722/118539/BILLS-119HR4495ih.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-page bill</a> simply gives more time for prosecutors to charge people who swindled two COVID bailouts, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
The programs were so fraud-ridden, and the dollar amounts so great, that investigators and prosecutors have a large backlog. Congress already added another five years to the prosecution window for the biggest COVID programs, the Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment bailouts.
But Markey, the top Democrat on the Senate panel overseeing the Small Business Administration, which took the lead on the pandemic recovery, appears to be using his position to block passage in the upper chamber. The Senate Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), <a href="https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/ranking-member-markey-votes-out-legislation-emphasizes-need-for-tariff-relief-for-small-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved the bill</a> in July. But it has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1199?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22s1199%22%7D&amp;s=1&amp;r=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not been</a> brought to the floor for passage.
&#8220;Senate Democrats are blocking my commonsense bill to extend the statute of limitations for COVID crimes, meaning criminals like those recently exposed in Minnesota will get away with it simply because the clock will run out,” Ernst told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It should be a no-brainer to side with taxpayers instead of fraudsters.&#8221;
The apparent blockage raises the question of whether Democrats have become the party of fraud, siding with the likes of the notorious Somali fraudsters who cost the government billions but vote for Democrats as a bloc.
The Biden administration doled out COVID billions using a &#8220;pay and chase&#8221; philosophy, meaning they erred on the side of getting money out the door, with the justification that they would claw back wrongly paid payments later. But the schemes were so numerous that they are still being uncovered, so not extending the statute of limitations amounts to simply paying scammers and not chasing at all.
John Hart, a former Senate aide who now leads the spending watchdog group Open The Books, said under Senate procedure that if a bill passes a committee and has the support of the top Republican and Democrat on that committee, it is fast-tracked for passage by the full chamber. &#8220;If the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Markey, would give the go-ahead, it could be passed by unanimous consent. That process helps uncontroversial bills succeed without extensive Senate procedures,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire.
The restaurant program cost $29 billion, and the inspector general found that recipients representing 12% of that did not even file the required paperwork. The shuttered venue program, which bailed out concert halls, cost $15 billion, more than half a billion dollars of which was identified by SBA as <a href="https://www.sba.gov/document/report-25-21-sbas-oversight-shuttered-venue-operators-grant-recipients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potentially improper</a>. Both programs ran out of money, meaning fraudsters likely stole slots from more deserving businesses.
A spokesman for Markey — who has represented Massachusetts in Congress since 1976 — did not return a request for comment on what, if any, objection he has to the bill.
<div id="attachment_1027513" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1027513" class="size-full wp-image-1027513" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ed Markey, at right (Photo by Mel Musto/Getty Images)</div>
Hart said it&#8217;s hard to see a legitimate gripe.
&#8220;This issue ought to be unanimous. It could be on President Trump’s desk today. What, exactly, is controversial about prosecuting cases of fraud? Every dollar spent this way is unavailable for Americans who truly need it,&#8221; he said.
Reducing fraud in all government programs used to be an area of bipartisan agreement, with members of the minority party joining the majority in wonky policy discussions. After all, stopping fraud means liberals would have more money for other programs, or Republicans could use the savings to lower taxes.
If the Democrats have moved from the party of big government to the pro-fraud party, one contributing factor could be identity politics. The Biden administration drew the ire of the SBA inspector general by deciding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to even attempt to collect</a> PPP loan repayment from businesses that were not eligible to have their loans forgiven, citing &#8220;equity&#8221; as justification.
In the state of Georgia alone, two state legislators, both of them black Democrats, have been accused of <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/a-second-georgia-house-democrat-is-accused-of-unemployment-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stealing</a> from COVID bailout funds. In Virginia, a former state legislator, an Arab Democrat, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/11/11/covid-relief-fraud-ibraheem-samirah/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of taking fake PPP loans.
The case of an African-born <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-contracting-officer-charged-with-pandemic-bailout-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USAID employee</a> who stole PPP loans raises the question of whether the Biden administration even attempted to stop fraud. He got money on the basis that his purported company did not make as much money in 2020 as it did in 2019 due to the pandemic. But state records and federal tax returns would have shown that the company didn&#8217;t even exist.
Markey, as the top Democrat on the committee overseeing perhaps the most-defrauded government spending spree in history, is the poster child for the notion that Democrats may now simply be apathetic, or even in denial, about fraud — even as fraud in places like Minnesota reaches such heights that it could make Great Society-style programs impossible.
Last month, Hart, along with this reporter, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wires-luke-rosiak-will-testify-before-the-senate-on-massive-federal-dei-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> before the Senate Small Business Committee about reducing fraud. Most Democrats on the committee didn&#8217;t bother to attend, and those who did — led by Markey — made no attempt to find ways to reduce fraud, instead suggesting that the programs at issue were not enough billions to care about, or using their time on anti-Trump tirades about topics outside of the committee&#8217;s jurisdiction.
Ernst was surprised, saying, &#8220;Individuals who used Barbie dolls as their photo identification were approved for SBA loans. This is totally unacceptable. &#8230; [Markey] said the largest amount of waste, fraud, and abuse is not in the Small Business Administration programs. &#8230; This is, however, the Small Business Committee. &#8230; Are my Democrat colleagues saying we should be ignoring billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse?&#8221;

.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)

This Democrat Is Singlehandedly Blocking The Prosecution Of COVID Fraudsters

COVID

Ed Markey

Joni Ernst

Politics

Small Business Administration

The federal prosecutor at the center of Minnesota&#8217;s massive welfare fraud investigation resigned on Tuesday as the Trump administration ramps up its broader push to uncover additional fraud in the state.
Joseph Thompson announced his resignation in an email without providing a reason for his abrupt departure, the Minnesota Star Tribune <a href="https://www.startribune.com/joe-thompson-us-attorney-who-uncovered-massive-fraud-in-minnesota-resigns-from-office/601563206">reported</a>. Thompson was the second-in-command at the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office in Minnesota and made a name for himself as the lead prosecutor in the Feeding Our Future fraud case, which resulted in more than 50 guilty pleas and seven convictions. He was appointed by President Donald Trump last May to serve as acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota until Daniel Rosen assumed the top position in October.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the United States and this office,” Thompson wrote in his email.
Two other prosecutors from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office also announced their resignations on Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs, who also prosecuted the Feeding Our Future case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Melinda Williams will also be leaving their posts.
Thompson&#8217;s resignation comes as he is being floated as a candidate for the Justice Department&#8217;s new assistant attorney general <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-announces-new-assistant-attorney-general-to-crack-down-on-nationwide-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">position</a>, which will focus on combating fraud. The new role was announced by Vice President JD Vance last week, and Vance said that the position&#8217;s &#8220;efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota.&#8221;
It&#8217;s unclear if Thompson&#8217;s resignation is related to his potential candidacy for the new DOJ position. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/3-prosecutors-quit-after-push-to-investigate-ice-shooting-victims-widow.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">reported</a> that &#8220;people with knowledge&#8221; of the situation said Thompson&#8217;s resignation is over disagreements with the Justice Department&#8217;s push to investigate the wife of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman fatally shot by a federal agent last week. Thompson opposed the Justice Department&#8217;s strategy as well as its decision to shut out state authorities from the shooting investigation, according to the Times.
The Justice Department did not say whether Thompson&#8217;s resignation was related to the shooting investigation. A DOJ official told The Daily, “As with any officer-involved shooting, each law enforcement agency has an internal investigation protocol, including DHS. As such, ICE [Office of Professional Responsibility] has its own investigation underway. This runs parallel to any FBI investigation.&#8221;
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O&#8217;Hara argued that the timing of Thompson&#8217;s resignation raises questions about the Trump administration&#8217;s justification for surging federal law enforcement and immigration agents in Minnesota.
“When you lose the leader responsible for making the fraud cases, it tells you this [immigration enforcement] isn’t really about prosecuting fraud,” O’Hara said.
Thompson&#8217;s work uncovering the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme threw Minnesota into the spotlight before more allegations of fraud involving Minneapolis&#8217;s large Somali population got the attention of the White House. Most of those implicated in the Feeding Our Future fraud case were of Somali descent, and now, the Trump administration is looking into claims of fraud being committed at Somali-run businesses and daycares, while swaths of immigration enforcement agents have been deployed to the Twin Cities.

Joe Thompson

U.S. Attorney Who Led Prosecution Of Sprawling Minnesota Fraud Ring Abruptly Resigns

The situation in Minnesota continues to roil the waters.
We are looking at the very real possibility of a standoff between the state government led by Governor Tim Walz — the failed vice presidential candidate who just had to step away from a third-term run in Minnesota because of the allegations of fraud — and the federal government.
On Thursday, Walz — who is in a world of hurt politically right now because of the Somali fraud scandal — compared this moment to the Civil War. Apparently, it is now the Civil War if you send ICE to enforce arrest warrants against criminals in this country.
Walz <a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/2009324277053755577?s=20">stated</a>:
<blockquote>When things looked really bleak it was Minnesota&#8217;s first that held that line for the nation on that July 3rd, 1863. And I think now we may be in that moment; that the nation is looking to us to hold the line on democracy, to hold the line on decency, to hold the line on accountability, and more than that, to rise up as neighbors and simply say, we can look out for one another. We can have differences. But we proved to the world going on 250 years that our democracy could hold. It feels to me like we&#8217;re at one of those inflection points.</blockquote>
I&#8217;ve said many, many times that when you have high-level politicians talking this way, it is truly bad for the country. When you say we are at the point where we are going to go to war with one another and a civil war is about to break out, and it&#8217;s the end of the country, these statements turn into self-perpetuating prophecies.
That’s because the more people believe they can&#8217;t get along with their neighbors, that there is no basis for a common Americanism, the more they are likely to see each other as enemies and not political opponents.
Walz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdZR7zeWX5Y">also said</a>:
<blockquote>I&#8217;d ask everyone to pause for a moment of silence to remember Renee Good, also to remember all that&#8217;s good and right about this nation. And, I&#8217;m going to ask folks if they can, I&#8217;d ask employers to give their people some space. I&#8217;d ask each and everyone to find a way to contribute in your community. Might be shoveling your neighbor&#8217;s walk. It might be being at a food bank.
It might be pausing to talk to someone you haven&#8217;t talked to before, but to show the goodness, to rise up to make sure that we&#8217;re being very, very clear about this, that we expect our constitutional rights to be respected, that law enforcement is local, that we expect accountability of our elected leaders and that we are not going to go quietly and we&#8217;re not going to give up on those things that matter so much to us. And chief amongst those is human dignity, respect, rule of law. All of the things that we know make this country great. </blockquote>
That’s bizarre, Orwellian language. Walz moves very quickly from “we should take this moment of silence, to go work at a food bank or talk to someone you&#8217;ve never talked to before,” to “we need to respect rule of law” while holding a moment of silence for a person who, at the very least, was involved in obstruction of the performance of law. When he says that law enforcement must be local, what he means is that federal law enforcement shouldn&#8217;t do its job.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2343-the-ben-shapiro-show?contentProgram=The%20Ben%20Shapiro%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
And when he says that we should “rise up,” when he says that we have an obligation to stand up for our constitutional rights — you do not have a constitutional right to be in this country illegally, nor do you have a constitutional right to thwart federal law enforcement’s pursuit of criminal illegal immigrants and their deportation. You do not have the right to do any of those things.
All of this is part and parcel, of course, of Tim Walz&#8217;s broader agenda, which is to label ICE as the Gestapo, which is what he did last year.
You wonder why people are out there confronting ICE? When you put people in a moral position where they feel they must confront federal law enforcement and do it over and over and over again, the basic rule is: the more people are confronting law enforcement, the more there will be bad situations that emerge from those confrontations.
This is just the way the world works.
Listening to Tim Walz talk about morality is astonishing, considering that just last year <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1933545681580409048">he said</a> that China — a true authoritarian state — might be the global moral authority.
He said: 
<blockquote>Who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that, because we are not seen as a neutral actor and we maybe never were. I don&#8217;t want to tell anybody that; I think there&#8217;s a lot of people say you always lean one way in this, but I think there was at least an attempt to be somewhat of the arbitrator in this. We saw President Carter do it with Begin and Sadat. We&#8217;ve had certain wins along the way that were actually mutually beneficial both ways. Now I ask who that is. And I mean consistently over and over again, we&#8217;re going to have to face the reality. It might be the Chinese.</blockquote>
Unbelievable. That person is the person who&#8217;s now the moral authority talking about authoritarianism? Remember, he presided over the riots in 2020 that shut down a city in his state because he was unable to handle basic law enforcement functions in his state.
The reason that Tim Walz is going so hard here is because he recently had to step away from running for a third-term because of the fraud in his state — a fraud scandal largely emanating from the Somali community, which, of course, is the community at issue in these immigration raids from ICE.
For Walz to preach about morality and the rule of law, he has to ignore his own history.
And he’s doing just that.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) killing, Minneapolis, January 2026

Tim Walz Warns Of ‘Civil War’ And Proves He Has No Moral Authority Left

Ben Shapiro

Civil War

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Protests

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that multiple money service businesses in Minnesota were under investigation for potentially transferring money stolen from the federal government overseas to Somalia.
Bessent made the comments during a press conference from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where he announced actions that the Treasury Department and the IRS are taking to crack down on fraud. He said that multiple money service businesses — non-bank financial institutions that transmit money — had been informed that they were under investigation.
“Our citizens have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror, or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters. Democratic Governor Tim Walz has allowed welfare programs and fraud to spiral out of control,” he said. “Billions of dollars intended for hungry children, housing for disabled seniors, and services for children with special needs were diverted to people who cheated the system, some of whom are not even American citizens.”
Bessent said that the IRS and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), the arm of the Treasury that investigates money laundering and terrorist financing, were looking into whether money fraudulently obtained through welfare programs went to Al-Shabaab, an Islamic terror group in Somalia.
Both agencies are investigating whether financial institutions complied with regulations to detect money laundering and other illicit activities. He did not disclose which money service businesses were under investigation.
“These businesses had an obligation to comply with anti-money laundering laws, and they will be held responsible for any crimes they committed,” he said.
Additionally, Bessent said that banks in Hennepin County, which encompasses Minneapolis, and Ramsey County, home to St. Paul, were being required to submit information about money transferred overseas.
Bessent estimated that around $300 million in funds had been fraudulently taken from the federal government through welfare programs meant to help impoverished children.
When asked by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Mary Margaret Olohan during the conference if Walz may be potentially wrapped up in the investigation, Bessent said, “It&#8217;s clear that Governor Walz has been negligent in his fiduciary duties as the chief executive of the state of Minnesota that this would happen on his watch, and we are actively pursuing all leads to see the level of involvement, whether it&#8217;s limited to just negligence and incompetence, or is something more than that.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> asks Sec. Bessent what role Tim Walz played in the Somali fraud scandal: <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &#8220;It&#8217;s clear that Gov. Walz has been negligent&#8230;We are actively pursuing all leads to see the level of involvement whether it&#8217;s limited to negligence and incompetence or… <a href="https://t.co/AY5IGfprY9">pic.twitter.com/AY5IGfprY9</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2009671316090003698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In recent weeks, the Trump administration has mobilized multiple departments to investigate alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota, including allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled to fraudulent daycares across the state throughout the past ten years.
The Department of Health and Human Services has stopped funding for childcare and other welfare programs to Minnesota while federal law enforcement investigates.

Bessent Says Fed Shouldn’t Delay On Rate Cuts, CNBC Says

Feds Flag Financial Institutions That May Have Sent Money To Somali Terrorist Org

Scott Bessent

Treasury Department

Republicans are increasingly optimistic about flipping a U.S. Senate seat in the traditionally blue stronghold of Minnesota, a shift fueled by a massive fraud scandal that has already led to Democratic Governor Tim Walz dropping out of his re-election campaign. As the 2026 election cycle approaches, the GOP sees a rare opening to reclaim the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D), potentially upending the state&#8217;s Democratic dominance.
The core of the GOP’s momentum lies in the fallout from what investigators describe as the largest theft of taxpayer funds in American history. A sprawling network of fraud involving programs like &#8220;Feeding Our Future,&#8221; Medicaid exploitation, and autism services has allegedly bilked billions from state and federal coffers. The Department of Justice has already secured 64 convictions among nearly 100 defendants, many of whom are of Somali descent. Furthermore, the Treasury Department is investigating reports that stolen funds were funneled through &#8220;hawalas&#8221; to the al-Qaeda-linked terror group Al-Shabaab.
New <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/4411921/gop-minnesota-fraud-scandal-bid-flip-minnesota-senate-seat/">internal polling</a> from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) indicates significant vulnerability for the two leading Democratic contenders, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig. According to the survey, 55% of likely voters hold the Walz-Flanagan administration responsible for the misuse of funds, while 69% expressed concern over Rep. Craig&#8217;s handling of the issue.
The scandal has created a &#8220;messy&#8221; Democratic primary. While Craig represents the party&#8217;s more centrist wing, Flanagan’s candidacy is defined by a hard-Left record that has drawn both high-profile endorsements from figures like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and intense national scrutiny over state-level scandals.
Flanagan has consistently aligned herself with radical leftist causes, often centering her leadership on identity-based advocacy. She has been a vocal supporter of Minnesota’s Somali community; the most recent example was a <a href="https://x.com/AmyMek/status/2004423151778721947">video</a> that went viral over Christmas showing her wearing her version of a hijab and pledging to “have the back” of Somali immigrants against the federal government.
After President Donald Trump scorched Minnesota’s Somali community over allegations of massive welfare fraud and ties to terrorism, Flanagan <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR0z4DGidic/">posted</a> on Instagram to sneer: “You know, this vile, racist stream of consciousness from a President ‘Old Man Yells At Cloud,’ you’re disgusting.”
Flanagan’s record on social issues is equally polarizing. She was a primary architect of Minnesota’s “Trans Refuge” laws, which grant the state emergency jurisdiction over children seeking so-called gender-altering medical procedures, even without parental consent.
With 50% of respondents stating they are more likely to support a GOP candidate pledging stronger audits and oversight, the NRSC believes Minnesota is firmly &#8220;in play.&#8221; As Republicans fight to protect their 53-47 Senate majority, the combination of fiscal corruption and radical social experimentation has provided the GOP with the political ammunition necessary to potentially turn this deep-blue state red.

MixCollage-09-Jan-2026-11-29-AM-5834

Fraud Scandal Puts Minnesota Senate Seat In Play For Republicans

Peggy Flanagan

U.S. Senate

A new position will be created by the Justice Department to target fraud in Minnesota and across the country, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday.
Vance said that a new assistant attorney general position out of the Justice Department would be formed to focus on fraud in Minnesota. The announcement comes as there have been allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota from fake daycare centers to other welfare fraud schemes.
“To make sure that we prosecute the bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible &#8230; we are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance said at a press briefing. “Now, of course, that person&#8217;s efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort, because unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> announces the Trump Administration will create a new Assistant Attorney General position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud — focusing first primarily in Minnesota, then expanding nationwide. <a href="https://t.co/QnU1pti7kM">pic.twitter.com/QnU1pti7kM</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2009334017250996436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Vance said the new position was part of the administration’s interagency efforts to go after fraud he said was present in states like California, Minnesota, and Ohio.
“If you&#8217;re a young parent struggling to afford childcare in the United States of America, there are programs that we have to make it easier for your kids to get in daycare, for your kids to get in preschool,” Vance said. “Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants, and others.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he welcomed the announcement from Vance.
&#8220;Pres Trump/VP Vance’s announcement of a new Asst Atty General at Dept of Justice focused on fraud is GR8 NEWS 4 the American taxpayer Once Pres Trump selects his nominee I look fwd 2 overseeing their nomination,&#8221; Grassley <a href="https://x.com/ChuckGrassley/status/2009336588908765616">posted</a> on X.
Allegations of fraud in Minnesota, especially perpetrated by Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, have been the focus of the Trump administration in recent weeks, with federal law enforcement surging to the area. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services paused all childcare payments to the state of Minnesota while it investigated allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled to fraudulent daycares across the state throughout the past ten years.
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-uncovers-another-400-million-in-suspected-minnesota-fraud?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=12&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Uncovers+Another+%24400+Million+In+Suspected+Minnesota+Fraud">said</a> last week that her team had identified around $400 million in loans that may have been fraudulently obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. As a result, 6,900 borrowers in Minnesota were suspended from participating in SBA loan programs and could face further punishment.
In a larger move, the department also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-welfare-funds-to-five-blue-states-over-fraud-concerns?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+Welfare+Funds+To+Five+Blue+States+Over+Fraud+Concerns">froze funding</a> for programs that provide childcare and food assistance in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York as officials probe whether the benefits are being illegally funneled to non-citizens. The specific programs being halted in those states are the Child Care Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant program.

White House Holds News Conference

Vance Announces New Assistant Attorney General To Crack Down On Nationwide Fraud

Department of Justice

Executive

JD Vance

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer on Wednesday tore into his state&#8217;s governor, Tim Walz, saying that the Democrat &#8220;should resign&#8221; and would likely &#8220;leave office in cuffs&#8221; if he chose not to do so.
Emmer made his comments on the latest episode of the Republican Study Committee&#8217;s &#8220;Right to the Point&#8221; podcast, where he was joined by his fellow Minnesota Republican Reps. Brad Finstad and Michelle Fischbach about the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-ice-agent-fatally-shoots-agitator-as-chaos-erupts-in-minneapolis">still-unfolding situation</a> in their home state. The trio called out the leadership in their state, saying that whether they were complicit in the rampant fraud or had simply failed to deal with it, the full price of their actions had fallen on the people of Minnesota.
Among the issues on the table were the dozens already tried and convicted for fraud schemes connected to Feeding Our Future, many of them part of the Somali immigrant community; the additional fraud being investigated in the daycare and healthcare systems, also connected to the Somalis; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement&#8217;s (ICE) efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the state.
Emmer began by noting his sadness that so many different and massive fraud schemes — which a number of people have known about for years — were able to flourish in his state, and he credited President Donald Trump for finally forcing it into the headlines.
&#8220;The three of us and those that are testifying today have been calling out this fraud for years, and nobody would report it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Joe Thompson, the first Assistant U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, estimates the total fraud could amount to $9 billion.&#8221;
Emmer referenced Nick Shirley, the independent journalist who brought the fraud into the spotlight, saying that even though Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison (D-MN) had been in office for seven years, Shirley had been able to root out more fraud in a day than they had since they were elected.
Finstad noted that Emmer and Fischbach had co-signed a letter he sent to Walz in 2022, calling on him to address the situation.
&#8220;&#8216;This fraud has been going on in Minnesota for years. It&#8217;s time to get, you know, put a stop to it,'&#8221; Finstad said, paraphrasing the letter.
&#8220;This is criminal on all levels, you know, to no response. That was three or four years ago. And you know, this goes back to 2014, 2015, when we, you know, the news media was at that time covering when there was literal duffel bags of cash going through the Minneapolis Airport to Somalia. So fast forward. You know, we&#8217;ve been pounding this drum forever, and to this day, he has not responded to those letters or those calls for us to demand accountability.&#8221;
Emmer went on to say that while he was sad to see what was happening to his state, he was also angry at leadership for failing to step up and do the right thing.
&#8220;It hurts. I&#8217;m mad. I am very angry about this, because this didn&#8217;t have to be this way,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I mean, nobody seems to want to talk about the fact that we had a Democrat attorney general by the name of Laurie Swanson, who was literally investigating and prosecuting Somali daycare fraud back in 2017 and -18, nobody wants to talk about.&#8221;
But as Emmer noted, her investigations were cut short when she lost the gubernatorial primary to Walz — and then Ellison was elected to succeed her as attorney general.
&#8220;And what was his first action? His first action was to create a rule that there will be no more investigations without Keith Ellison&#8217;s express approval, and since then, there have been no investigations,&#8221; he explained.
&#8220;It is not racist to call out criminal activity,&#8221; Emmer continued. &#8220;It is not xenophobic to identify the group of people who are involved, and in this case, 90% of the people who have been charged in the largest pandemic fraud case in the country, the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scandal are from the Somali community.&#8221;
Emmer then turned on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oddsmaker-tim-walz-is-30x-more-likely-to-be-charged-with-a-crime-than-be-the-next-president">Walz,</a> who just recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-walz-drops-out-of-minnesota-governors-race-amid-fraud-concerns">suspended his reelection campaign</a> amid the growing fraud scandal: &#8220;Tim Walz, by the way, this thing is growing. I&#8217;m not going to be Minnesota Nice. I&#8217;m going to be Minnesota Real. Tim Walz should resign, and if he doesn&#8217;t resign, he&#8217;s probably going to leave the office in cuffs.&#8221;

Speaker Johnson Speaks To The Press Following GOP Caucus Meeting

GOP Whip Unloads On Tim Walz Over Rampant Fraud: ‘I’m Not Going To Be Minnesota Nice’

GOP Whip Unloads On Minnesota's Leadership Over Rampant Fraud: 'It Didn't Have To Be Like This'

Keith Ellison

Media

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