The Minnesota Board of Pardons — which includes Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison — voted unanimously to pardon an illegal immigrant from Laos with three assault convictions, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
At Xayasounethone Chandee was convicted of assault in 1992, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation in 1995, DHS said. Chandee also had a conviction from 2008 for two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, according to the agency.
Chandee entered the country as a Green Card holder when he was a minor. He was later stripped of his immigration status due to his criminal convictions, DHS said.
The board called an emergency meeting Monday after learning that the Trump administration could deport Chandee this week, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/05/04/minnesota-grants-pardon-to-at-ricky-chandee-who-was-facing-deportation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Minnesota Public Radio.
DHS called the board&#8217;s decision &#8220;absolute insanity,&#8221; adding that it could foil its plans to deport him.
“Minnesota&#8217;s sanctuary politicians&#8217; pardon took away this violent thug’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the U.S.,&#8221; Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement on Thursday.
Chandee applied for a pardon shortly before federal immigration agents arrested him in January, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
The Clemency Review Commission, which recommends clemency decisions to the pardon board, voted 6-0 in favor of Chandee&#8217;s pardon, the outlet reported. The board wasn&#8217;t scheduled to meet until June, but moved up the meeting after learning that Chandee could be deported within days.
“There is nothing in this application, or nothing in the facts before us that would suggest that Mr. Chandee is a danger to the public in any way, shape or form,” Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, who sits on the board, said of the pardon. “He has a lot of family support, which is obviously very important, and he&#8217;s had that support over the last 29 years.”
A federal appeals court in Louisiana paused Chandee&#8217;s deportation for 14 days after his attorney filed a request last week, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The federal government is likely to challenge Chandee&#8217;s pardon, his attorney, Linus Chan, said.
Chan also argued that the 2008 conviction never happened, the outlet reported. There was also no mention of it in his clemency application.
“There is no such conviction, and I am reaching out to DHS about where this information is coming from,&#8221; Chan said.
The commission recommended clemency for all applicants, except one, who were at risk of deportation, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Untitled design – 2026-05-07T083536.407

Blue State Pardons Illegal Immigrant With Rap Sheet To Block Deportation Efforts

deportation

Keith Ellison

Minnesota

Tim Walz

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.

Barack Obama Campaigns With Tim Walz On First Day Of Early Voting In Wisconsin

New Report Contrasts Minnesota Fraud With Big Wins For Red State Taxpayers

Crime

Fraud

Trump Administration

U.S.

A federal judge on Saturday denied Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s request for an injunction to halt the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, finding the case did not justify extraordinary judicial intervention.
U.S. District Judge Katherine M. Menendez, a Biden appointee, wrote that Ellison and lawyers for St. Paul and Minneapolis had asked the court to extend existing precedent to the point of novelty, noting in her order that “none of the cases on which they rely have even come close.&#8221;
The lawsuit, filed in early January by Ellison alongside the Twin Cities, sought a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to halt “Operation Metro Surge,” an extensive federal immigration enforcement action in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Minnesota officials argued that the deployment violates constitutional protections, including the 10th Amendment’s limits on federal power.
She later noted that a separate injunction she had issued in a different case restricting certain ICE tactics was recently lifted by an appeals court, saying that if that order was too broad, “then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would.”
Menendez also wrote that she was “particularly reluctant to take a side in the debate about the purpose behind Operation Metro Surge,” and acknowledged that it was difficult for the court to determine “at what point Defendants’ alleged unlawful actions … become so problematic that they amount to unconstitutional coercion and an infringement on Minnesota’s state sovereignty.” She added that there is “no precedent for a court to micromanage such decisions.”
The judge also found that the plaintiffs had not shown that the balance of harms decisively favored issuing an injunction, a key legal standard in these cases. “Ultimately, the Court finds that the balance of harms does not decisively favor an injunction,” Menendez wrote.
Prior to the decision, the federal government pushed back against the state’s lawsuit, dismissing the legal arguments as lacking merit. In court filings, the government called Minnesota’s claims an “absurdity” and “legally frivolous,” arguing that the 10th Amendment does not give states a means to block federal enforcement of federal law.
After the decision was released, Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/2017646363039715514">wrote</a> on X, “Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota.&#8221;
Ellison’s lawsuit came amid ongoing controversy in Minnesota over the enforcement operation, which has drawn protests and national attention. The injunction request was filed before the death of Alex Pretti.
Menendez’s ruling does not make a final determination on the underlying constitutional claims; it only denies the immediate injunctive relief sought by the state and cities while the broader lawsuit continues through the federal court system.
The denial underscores the high legal bar states face when attempting to block federal law enforcement, and ensures that at least for the moment, the fight over immigration enforcement in Minnesota will continue on the ground rather than in the courtroom.

Anti-ICE protest

‘No Precedent’: Fed Judge Denies Minnesota Injunction To Stop ICE Surge

Courts

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Late Tuesday night, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged that authorities would soon arrest those who stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement&#8217;s presence in the Twin Cities.
“There will be arrests tied to that, and people will be brought to justice for how they violated the law in that situation,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kristi-noem-promises-arrests-in-the-next-several-hours-over-church-stormed-by-anti-ice-activists?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Kristi+Noem+Promises+Arrests+%E2%80%98In+The+Next+Several+Hours%E2%80%99+Over+Church+Stormed+By+Anti-ICE+Activists">Noem said</a>.
To do so, the Trump administration could use a law long weaponized against pro-life protesters to prosecute those who disrupted the church service, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, made it a federal crime for pro-life protesters to block the entrances of abortion facilities. Though the law was also meant to protect crisis pregnancy centers and churches, data obtained by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) <a href="https://roy.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-roy-reintroduces-legislation-repeal-face-act">shows</a> that 97% of FACE Act prosecutions through 2024 targeted pro-life individuals. 
While conservatives have long warned that the law has been weaponized against pro-lifers, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anti-ice-activists-storm-minnesota-church-with-don-lemon-doj-launches-probe?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Anti-ICE+Activists+Storm+Minnesota+Church+With+Don+Lemon%3B+DOJ+Launches+Probe">stunt</a> by leftist agitators at the Cities Church in St. Paul creates an opportunity for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to flip the historical application of FACE on its head. 
The FACE Act penalizes those who “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
That would appear to apply to the storming of Cities Church by a group of activists organized by the Racial Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. The protesters yelled and chanted slogans at worshipers, causing the service to end early. Lemon filmed the demonstration under the guise of an independent journalist and badgered the pastor of the church with questions while the disruption was taking place. 
Ryan Tucker, the director of the Center for Christian Ministries at Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Wire that the religious component of the FACE Act has rarely been used. He noted that historically, local and state law enforcement have stepped in to address FACE Act violations, but no such help appears to be forthcoming in Minnesota. 
“Here in Minnesota, at least the state attorney general has come out and said that he&#8217;s not going to do anything to assist or to pursue any violations of state law,” Tucker said. “What&#8217;s really disheartening here is that you&#8217;ve got the lead lawyer of the state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, saying that he&#8217;s not going to do anything to prosecute these individuals under those local laws, and in fact, has attempted to validate their actions, completely forgetting that the FACE Act even exists.”
Tucker added that it was very rare for activists to disrupt church services.
“The idea that one could go into a church, disrupt it, threaten the parishioners, and somehow get away with it, which is just absolutely unheard of,” he said. “Churches certainly have the right to worship freely without fear that protesters are going to invade their space and traumatize the families that are present, but that&#8217;s exactly what happened this past weekend.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/don-lemon-could-face-criminal-conspiracy-charges-over-involvement-in-minnesota-church-protest?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Don+Lemon+Could+Face+‘Criminal+Conspiracy’+Charges+Over+Involvement+In+Minnesota+Church+Protest">suggested</a> on Monday that the Justice Department would bring FACE Act-related charges against the protesters. 
“I see various crimes that have occurred,” she told podcaster Benny Johnson. “Exactly what they are I’m not going to flag, but the FACE Act has been mentioned as one of the predicates there. In other cases, the Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences.”
Dhillon was referring to how President Joe Biden’s Justice Department ramped up FACE Act prosecutions, pairing it with the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act to garner lengthy prison sentences for peaceful pro-life advocates who demonstrated at abortion facilities. 
Biden’s Justice Department successfully prosecuted these cases across the country — from Michigan to Tennessee and Washington, D.C. — and got lengthy prison sentences for multiple defendants. 
 Lauren Handy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-activist-sentenced-to-over-four-years-in-prison-over-protest-at-d-c-abortion-facility">was sentenced</a> to 57 months in prison for her role in an October 20 sit-in at the notorious D.C.-based Washington Surgi-Clinic late-term abortion facility.
In another case, 64-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pardoned-pro-life-activist-says-hes-running-on-adrenaline-and-the-holy-ghost-after-trump-pardon">Calvin Zastrow</a> and 75-year-old Chet Gallagher were sentenced to prison after they participated in a protest at an abortion facility in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, that involved them praying, singing, and speaking to women arriving at the facility. They were convicted under the FACE Act and the KKK Act for conspiracy against rights, a charge that could come with over 10 years of prison time. 
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-should-not-have-been-prosecuted-trump-pardons-23-pro-lifers-targeted-by-biden-doj?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan+and+Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98They+Should+Not+Have+Been+Prosecuted%E2%80%99%3A+Trump+Pardons+23+Pro-Lifers+Targeted+By+Biden+DOJ">pardoned</a> the two dozen peaceful pro-life protesters during his first week in office. 
Dhillon suggested that Lemon might be subject to the KKK Act conspiracy against rights application if it could be proved that he had knowledge of the protest before it took place. 
“Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He went into the facility, and then he began ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part of a criminal conspiracy, it isn’t.&#8221;
As Lemon questioned a pastor during the disruption on Sunday, he asserted that the activists had a First Amendment right to stage a protest in the church. Tucker was unconvinced with this claim, noting that you can’t make a First Amendment claim while infringing on “someone&#8217;s ability to freely worship.”
Trump on Tuesday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-minnesota-church-protesters-should-be-jailed-or-thrown-out-of-the-country?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump%3A+Minnesota+Church+Protesters+Should+Be+Jailed+Or+%E2%80%98Thrown+Out+Of+The+Country%E2%80%99">called</a> for the agitators who stormed the church to be imprisoned or “thrown out of the country.” His Justice Department appears to be ready to take that action. 
“The FACE Act is just the start. Like I said, you have material support for disruptive activities, you have conspiracy to violate civil rights, you have potentially the use of other instrumentalities to commit crimes,” Dhillon said on Monday. 
The Trump administration has already used the FACE Act to go after left-wing activists who target religious services. In September, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-lawsuit-under-face-act-against-violent-protestors-synagogue-west">filed charges</a> under FACE against a group of protesters who targeted a Jewish synagogue in New Jersey.
Soon after taking office, Trump’s Justice Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-doj-rolls-back-bidens-aggressive-prosecution-of-pro-lifers?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+DOJ+Rolls+Back+Biden%E2%80%99s+Aggressive+Prosecution+Of+Pro-Lifers">issued a memo</a> stipulating that FACE Act cases would only be prosecuted in cases of violence or extreme property damage, a reversal of Biden’s policy.

Don Lemon, Nekima Levy-Armstrong

How The Law Weaponized Against Pro-Lifers Could Be Used To Prosecute Anti-ICE Agitators

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Bill Clinton

Department of Justice

Don Lemon

Donald Trump

FACE Act

Harmeet Dhillon

Pro-Life Movement

Religious Freedom

After a group of leftist activists and ex-CNN host Don Lemon disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday, on Monday Lemon hosted Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXtqt_ovbsQ">podcast</a>, where Ellison insisted that the activists had a right to disrupt the service.
The Daily Wire reported:
<blockquote>
Dozens of protesters crowded into Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday as part of a “clandestine operation” to “disrupt business as usual,” activist leader Nekima Levy-Armstrong told Lemon, who embedded with the protest group. The protest lasted roughly 30 minutes and effectively ended the church service as it drove congregants out.
</blockquote>
Lemon asked Ellison about the church invasion, prompting this response:
<blockquote>
The protest is fundamental to American society; this country started in a protest. It’s freedom of expression; people have a right to lift up their voices and make their peace. None of us are immune from the voice of the public. Quite honestly, I think that you got the First Amendment, freedom of religion and the freedom of First Amendment and freedom of expression. I think it’s just something you gotta live with in a society like this.
</blockquote>
Ellison ignored the 1994 FACE Act, which made it to prevent people from exercising religious freedom at places of worship. It<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/248"> states</a>: “Whoever by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure intimidate, or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship” could be prosecuted under the law.
“This administration is real tender about things when it comes to their own interest,” Ellison claimed. “But they don’t care about the same things when the things don’t lie in their favor. So they’re getting tender about a church service now.”
“They’re arresting people in clinics, schools, churches, anywhere they choose to do it,” he alleged. “They don’t really care about sacred and sensitive places unless it works in their favor.”
Ellison somehow segued to President Trump’s criticism of Jimmy Kimmel for his remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk, then threw in this completely unrelated remark about Trump: “The mad king won’t let you say jokes about him.”
Tim Pearce contributed to this article.

Keith Ellison Defends Disruption Of Minnesota Church Service After Leftist Protest

Church

Leftists

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said there was no hope for the city- and state-filed lawsuits against the federal government over the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and resources to states like Minnesota and Illinois.
Honig said that he&#8217;d read the lawsuits coming out of both blue states, and that they read more like &#8220;political diatribes&#8221; than lawsuits that any shot at achieving the demands presented within.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
CNN’s Legal Analyst Elie Honig on the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits against ICE: “They’re really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits… There is no way a judge can say, ‘You, federal law enforcement agency, you are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state… <a href="https://t.co/dAkIbuSbDp">pic.twitter.com/dAkIbuSbDp</a>
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/2011076616449822738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I&#8217;ve read both the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits,&#8221; he began. &#8220;They’re really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits.&#8221;
&#8220;If you look at what both states are asking the courts to do, it&#8217;s to kick ICE out of those states and cities and to bar ICE from carrying on federal law enforcement in Illinois and Minnesota,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;That&#8217;s the top thing both states said to do, and they cite zero precedent for that. There is zero precedent for that. There is no way a judge can say, ‘You, federal law enforcement agency, you are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state or city.'&#8221;
Honig went on to say that the best case scenario — for the states in question — was that the states might get the courts to call for hearings and put a spotlight on the manner in which ICE was executing that law.
&#8220;If they get sympathetic judges, [they might get] a judge who’s going to ask questions of ICE, who’s gonna hold hearings, who is to demand questions about how they’re training, how they are carrying out their policy,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;You also could have judges that issue sort of symbolic orders along the lines of, ICE, you are not to violate the law &#8212; but that’s already the case. It’s already not allowed for ICE to violate the law. So these lawsuits, which appear to be coordinated, they’re potentially powerful political statements, but I don’t give them much of a chance of achieving the legal thing that they’re asking for in the courts.&#8221;
Host Kate Bolduan noted that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) had referred to the surge of ICE agents in his state as an &#8220;invasion&#8221; and asked Honig to weigh in on that characterization as well.
&#8220;I mean, it’s a powerful sort of rhetorical term. You heard a lot of things about an invasion and how horrible this is,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Even if every allegation made in both complaints is true, and we don’t know that, it doesn’t necessarily give them a constitutional legal remedy here.&#8221;
He concluded by outlining the constitutional problem underlying the lawsuits, noting that any judge ruling in favor of either state would be in violation of the supremacy clause, &#8220;which says the federal government gets to carry out federal priorities and the states cannot stop them.&#8221;

House Democrats Hold Press Conference On Environmental And Social Policy In Financial Regulation

Even CNN Analyst Destroys State Legal Attacks On ICE: ‘Political Diatribes Masquerading As Lawsuits’

Media

Politics

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said that Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz refused to provide him security during a scheduled interview at the state capitol amid ongoing protests and a high-profile fraud investigation.
Bessent told conservative activist Chris Rufo that Walz is &#8220;a coward&#8221; who is &#8220;afraid of what&#8217;s coming&#8221; amid Treasury Department investigations into allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. The interview, which was released on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVlKt9NoSvw&amp;t=33s">The Blaze</a>, was initially scheduled to be held inside the Minnesota State Capitol, but it had to be moved to another location because Walz &#8220;would not guarantee that the Treasury Secretary of the United States of America would have police protection,&#8221; according to Bessent.
&#8220;Tim Walz is a coward. He is a coward,&#8221; Bessent <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2010885601038393657">said</a>, adding, &#8220;He is afraid of what&#8217;s coming. He&#8217;s not going to be able to hide behind this curtain because we will get there, and I don&#8217;t have to go into the Capitol building to investigate him. I would love for him to come to Treasury and answer some questions. I can guarantee you that he will be safe and sound then. Depending on what we discover, I don&#8217;t know about his future.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to Walz&#8217;s office for comment.
The state capitol was the site of at least one large demonstration last Friday, which remained peaceful as thousands of demonstrators gathered to hold a vigil for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Walz attended the vigil at the state capitol and was surrounded by state troopers, Fox 9 <a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/minneapolis-ice-shooting-community-demands-justice-renee-good-capitol-vigil">reported</a>.
Bessent is in the Twin Cities as the Treasury Department seeks to &#8220;combat rampant government benefits fraud.&#8221; The fraud probe stems from a federal indictment against dozens of Minnesotans — most of them of Somali descent — alleging that they received state funds for welfare programs, but the funds were &#8220;diverted to benefit Somali fraud rings.”
The Treasury secretary&#8217;s visit to Minneapolis coincides with anti-ICE protests and clashes with federal law enforcement officers. The demonstrations have continued for more than five days after the shooting death of Good. Along with pushing back against the Trump administration&#8217;s fraud investigation, Minnesota also filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop the surge of federal agents to the state, arguing that Minnesota is being unfairly targeted over &#8220;differences of opinion.&#8221;
“The obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy, and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Shortly after Minnesota filed the lawsuit against the federal government, the Trump administration deployed 1,000 more Border Patrol agents to the state to continue the immigration crackdown.
On the fraud front, Bessent <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2010891373097173211">suggested</a> that the federal investigation into Minnesota uncovered some troubling issues with Ellison.
&#8220;There are evidently some disturbing tapes of AG Ellison in meetings with people who donated to him — them calling for political favors to stop the investigations,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So, we&#8217;ll see. Again, I don&#8217;t want to get out ahead of the investigation. We&#8217;re going to be very methodical, and Chris, I can guarantee you, when the bear trap snaps, we&#8217;re going to get these folks.&#8221;
Bessent&#8217;s comment about Ellison likely refers to the attorney general&#8217;s highly scrutinized December 2021 meeting, during which Ellison spoke with individuals linked to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. A nearly 55-minute <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/keith-ellison-held-chummy-meeting-with-feeding-our-future-fraudsters-weeks-before-fbi-raid-audio-shows-contradicting-minnesota-ags-public-statements/">recording</a> from the meeting revealed that Ellison condemned the Minnesota Education Department&#8217;s probe into Feeding Our Future, claiming it was done in &#8220;a very racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic manner.&#8221;
When reached for comment, Ellison&#8217;s office directed The Daily Wire to an <a href="https://www.startribune.com/attorney-general-keith-ellison-my-meeting-before-feeding-our-future-raid-was-routine/601335939">op-ed</a> the attorney general wrote last April in response to criticism of the meeting.
&#8220;I took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know and some turned out to have done bad things,&#8221; Ellison wrote in the op-ed. &#8220;I did nothing for them and took nothing from them. Some months later, some of them were held accountable for their illegal conduct in the Feeding Our Future case, as well they should have been. I’m glad they were.&#8221;
Somali immigrants in Minnesota are also accused of funneling stolen government funds to Somalia and into the hands of the terrorist organization, Al-Shabaab.
&#8220;There&#8217;s tons of luxury properties and cars that have been bought over there,&#8221; Bessent said, referring to East Africa. &#8220;How the hell does this happen? How did it happen? President Trump is outraged. I&#8217;m outraged. The American people should be outraged.&#8221;

Tim Walz/Scott Bessent

Bessent Blasts ‘Coward’ Tim Walz For Withholding Security Amid Fraud Probe, Anti-ICE Protests

Scott Bessent

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'

Somalis

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has launched a sweeping investigation into alleged systemic fraud and misuse of federal funds in Minnesota’s social services programs. The inquiry is scheduled to begin on January 7, 2026. This initial session will feature testimony from Minnesota state lawmakers, including Republican Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson, and Marion Rarick, who claim that their prior warnings about fiscal misconduct were ignored by state leadership.
The investigation targets a &#8220;heist&#8221; of taxpayer dollars that has occurred during the administrations of Democrat Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. Chairman Comer has formally invited both Walz and Ellison to testify on February 10, 2026, <a href="file:///The%20press%20release%20stated">accusing</a> them of being &#8220;asleep at the wheel or complicit&#8221; in the disappearance of billions of dollars. To support the probe, the Committee has requested Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and scheduled transcribed interviews with various state officials.
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This congressional action coincides with an aggressive federal crackdown led by the Trump administration. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-uncovers-another-400-million-in-suspected-minnesota-fraud">announced</a> the suspension of 6,900 Minnesota borrowers linked to approximately $400 million in potentially fraudulent pandemic-era loans. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services has frozen all childcare payments to the state following allegations of widespread fraud at daycare centers. Federal investigators are also probing schemes involving fraudulent autism diagnoses and the &#8220;Feeding Our Future&#8221; program, which allegedly diverted funds intended for hungry children.
Critics, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesota-congressman-says-walz-administration-squashed-fraud-probe-to-appease-somali-voting-bloc">allege</a> that state leadership intentionally stifled investigations to maintain political support within specific immigrant communities. Reports suggest that Minnesota’s social programs may have lost as much as $9 billion to fraud since 2018.
While Governor Walz has defended his record and characterized the investigations as politically motivated attempts to justify funding cuts, Chairman Comer maintains that Congress has a duty to ensure accountability. The Committee’s ultimate goal is to expose the failures that allowed these &#8220;criminal actors&#8221; to exploit taxpayer-funded programs and to implement rigorous safeguards against future theft.

MixCollage-02-Jan-2026-11-43-AM-3696

House Oversight Launches Investigation Into Multibillion-Dollar Minnesota Fraud

House Oversight Committee

James Comer

House Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota accused the state&#8217;s Democratic Governor Tim Walz and leftist Attorney General Keith Ellison of covering up massive fraud committed by Somali immigrants so that they could retain that community&#8217;s vote in future elections.
In an interview with The Daily Wire&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-260102-member-exclusive?elementPosition=1&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+For+You&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">Morning Wire</a>&#8221; on Wednesday, Emmer said that the best way to address rampant fraud in Minnesota would be to remove Walz, Ellison, and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from office. He argued that under Walz, the state government would continue to cover up fraud, a large percentage of which is allegedly committed by residents of Somali descent.
&#8220;Today there are roughly, by some estimates, about 80,000 Somali immigrants that are living in Minnesota,&#8221; Emmer told &#8220;Morning Wire.&#8221; &#8220;The vast majority of them live in Minneapolis or Hennepin County, an area called Riverside. There&#8217;s probably 50,000 to 60,000 of them right there.&#8221;
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW BELOW:
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The Republican congressman said that the large Somali community, which typically votes heavily for Democrats, is key to Walz&#8217;s and Ellison&#8217;s hopes of winning reelection, since they struggle to win votes in rural Minnesota. Walz and Ellison are nearing the end of their second terms, and both announced they will seek a third in 2026.
&#8220;So what is this about?&#8221; Emmer asked. &#8220;This is about the fact that when he and Keith Ellison took office, Keith Ellison instantly set up a policy in his attorney general&#8217;s office that required his approval before any further investigations into fraud could go forward. Guess what? He&#8217;s never approved one of them.&#8221;
&#8220;They need that 60,000 to 80,000 Somali population. They need them to be voting for them. That&#8217;s what this is all about,&#8221; Emmer added. &#8220;And what ends up happening because they refuse to deal with the problem.&#8221;
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One of the recent Minnesota fraud scandals involved the &#8220;Feeding Our Future&#8221; program, which received federal funds and claimed to distribute meals to hungry children during the COVID pandemic but allegedly never did so. The vast majority of those charged in the fraud scheme were of Somali descent. A federal prosecutor said earlier this month that Minnesota&#8217;s social programs have lost at least $9 billion to fraud since 2018, a timeline that spans all of Walz&#8217;s two terms as governor.
Daycare and learning centers linked to Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis area have also come under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-daycare-fraud-has-been-going-on-at-least-a-decade-and-theres-video-to-prove-it">scrutiny</a> for suspected fraud after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video last week, showing him visiting numerous daycares that have received state funding, but don&#8217;t appear to be serving any children. The Trump administration vowed to investigate the alleged fraud and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-conduct-door-to-door-checks-at-suspected-minneapolis-fraud-sites">deployed</a> federal agents to Minneapolis earlier this week to conduct door-to-door checks on suspected fraud sites.
The Department of Health and Human Services also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-all-child-care-payments-to-minnesota-amid-daycare-fraud-scandal?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+%E2%80%98All+Child+Care+Payments%E2%80%99+To+Minnesota+Amid+Daycare+Fraud+Scandal">froze</a> all child care payments to Minnesota over the fraud allegations.
Emmer said that fraud is &#8220;everywhere&#8221; in the Walz administration.
&#8220;I want to make it clear, I&#8217;m very grateful for [President Donald Trump] raising this issue, because we&#8217;ve been trying to get people to notice for the last three years,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It&#8217;s only because of what he has done that now all of a sudden people are stepping back in horror as to what&#8217;s been going on in Minnesota.&#8221;
Three Republican Minnesota representatives sent a letter to Walz on Wednesday, asking if he would commit to cooperating with federal investigations into alleged fraud.
&#8220;Minnesotans, and the American people at large, deserve answers. What has happened in our state is nothing short of an illegal transfer of money from hardworking taxpayers to criminal actors, many of whom entered our country as foreign nationals and repaid our hospitality with absolute contempt for our laws and values,&#8221; said Reps. Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, and Michelle Fischbach.

Tom Emmer/Tim Walz and Keith Ellison

Minnesota Congressman Says Walz Administration Squashed Fraud Probe To Appease Somali Voting Bloc

Congress

Daily Wire Investigative Reporter Luke Rosiak details his reporting on governmental waste and fraud before Congress, controversy swirls around Zohran Mamdani’s administration-to-be, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) gives us an inside look at Minnesota’s fraud scandal.
It’s Thursday, December 11, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251211-member-exclusive">video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Senate Digs Into DEI Fraud</h2>
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Topline: The Senate is investigating a multi-billion-dollar DEI fraud scheme, as the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, sending markets soaring. 
Senate drills into DEI: The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program was initially intended to offer support for those deemed “socially and economically disadvantaged.” Under the Biden administration, federal agencies were instructed to ensure 15% of all contracts were given to businesses operated by minorities or women, meaning billions of taxpayer dollars were awarded based on race and gender in what became one of the largest DEI programs in the country.
Not only was the program intentionally excluding people based on race, but it was also ripe with fraud. Daily Wire Investigative Reporter Luke Rosiak documented countless cases in which minority business owners would win a contract, then outsource all the work to non-minority-owned businesses, pocketing most of the money in the process.
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Small Business held a hearing to address the fraud, and Rosiak testified about his findings.
“8A creates a random group of influence peddlers who like lobbyists, get rich by selling their access to government insiders to the benefit of big businesses, while driving up the cost for all of us. This is the kind of thing people hate about Washington. You owe it to voters to end this program,” <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/1998848540135555157?s=20">said</a> Rosiak.
Interest rates: On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board voted to cut interest rates by a quarter point to the 3.5%-3.75% range. That means rates have now come down by nearly 2% over the last year and a half. They’re now at their lowest point in more than three years.
There was not unanimous agreement from the voting members of the Fed Board. For the first time in six years, three of the twelve officials cast dissenting votes, with two saying cuts weren’t needed, and one saying the cut should be bigger.
Essentially, the disagreement stems from whether the Fed should prioritize the labor market, which has slowed significantly, or inflation, which remains well above the target range of 2%. Typically, rates are raised when inflation is high, and lowered when the labor market is cool. Ultimately, the Fed Board, led by Chair Jerome Powell, viewed the labor market as a more pressing matter, and said these cuts would help with hiring and unemployment. 
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Mamdani’s Rule Already Stirring Controversy</h2>
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Topline: As New York City braces for a seismic shift in leadership with democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani taking the helm as mayor next month, a wave of controversy is erupting over his early moves.
Many political pundits, particularly those on the Right, warned that Mamdani would endanger public safety and undermine law enforcement, and now they say they’re seeing evidence for these claims even before he has officially taken office.
One of the most talked-about moves came just days ago, when Mamdani put out a video addressed to immigrants living in New York City. In it, he <a href="https://x.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1997801475066745259?s=20">told</a> viewers they have the right to “stand up to ICE.”
Critics argue this goes beyond merely explaining constitutional rights. Some say it could embolden illegal aliens, even those with criminal records, to resist or evade lawful ICE action.
Mamdani’s transition: The transition team has been an explosive topic as Mamdani has tapped Mysonne Linen to be a key voice on justice reform on the “Committee on the Criminal Legal System.”
Linen was once a rising hip-hop star signed to Def Jam. But in 1999, he was convicted of two armed robberies where he held up taxi drivers at gunpoint. He served seven years and was paroled in 2006.
He then rebranded as a Black Lives Matter activist and co-founded Until Freedom with Linda Sarsour, a controversial pro-Palestinian activist who has also served as a Mamdani advisor.
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The choice has driven law enforcement apoplectic. Correction officers’ union head Benny Boscio called it “disheartening and deeply disturbing.” Retired NYPD brass such as John Chell see a pattern with Mamdani filling his team with anti-cop firebrands like black nationalist Lumumba Bandele, defund-the-police guru Alex Vitale, and others.
Mamdani says he just wants a broad array of “experiences and analysis” to draw from.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">What’s Behind The Massive Somali Fraud Scandal?</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1013137" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Congressional-Minnesota-Probe.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The sweeping fraud allegations coming out of Minnesota have sparked demands for more investigations and further action from political leaders in D.C. to protect against billions more in taxpayer dollars getting funneled into the hands of fraudsters. Morning Wire spoke with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th congressional district, about the scandal. (This interview has been lightly edited.)
Morning Wire: We have this massive fraud scandal continuing to unravel this week. What do you believe were the most critical oversight failures within the Walz administration? And how should Minnesota restructure its safeguards to prevent this from happening again?
Emmer: The first thing you do is you got to get rid of [Minnesota Democratic Governor] Tim Walz and [Minnesota Attorney General] Keith Ellison and [Congresswoman] Ilhan Omar. I mean, there&#8217;s your biggest structural problem right there. Let me put some context around this for your viewers, your listeners. … The facts are this: today, there are roughly 80,000 Somali immigrants that are living in Minnesota. The vast majority of them live in Minneapolis or Hennepin County–an area called Cedar-Riverside. … Tim Walz and Keith Ellison cannot get votes in greater Minnesota. Think about this: in the last election, Tim Walz outspent the Republican candidates $15 million to $1.7 million, and he won with 52%, just over 52% of the vote. If you look a little deeper, we have 87 counties. Tim Walz only won the 13 metro counties. We&#8217;ll go a little farther. If you look at the 74 counties that he lost, he got 37% of the vote, including losing his former congressional seat by eight points. So, what is this about? This is about the fact that when he and Keith Ellison took office, Keith Ellison instantly set up a policy in his attorney general&#8217;s office that required his approval before any further investigations into fraud could go forward. Guess what? He&#8217;s never approved one of them. … And it&#8217;s not that all Somali immigrants are bad. It just so happens that 90% of the crimes we&#8217;re talking about have been committed by people that are in the Somali community. And by the way, they have been sending millions back to Somalia into the hands of Al-Shabaab, a known terrorist group. So, if you look at Keith Ellison, he won by a little less than one point in his last election. What is this all about? This is all about them getting re-elected. They need that 60 to 80,000 Somali population. They need them to be voting for them. That&#8217;s what this is all about.
Morning Wire: You mentioned the word accountability. We do have some individual actors being convicted, but what about on the government level? What about some of these officials? Is there any action being taken to hold people accountable if they looked the other way knowingly? What investigations are going on with that, and what do you hope to see pursued?
Emmer: Look, I think our U.S. Justice Department is starting to pick up where Minnesota should have been involved investigating not only the fraud but who might have been not just incompetent but actively engaged in the fraud because they should be criminally held, criminally responsible. You&#8217;ve got Dr. Oz, who&#8217;s investigating a fraud on the Medicaid program. You&#8217;ve got Kelly Loeffler, who&#8217;s investigating fraud in the SBA program. You got Kash Patel, who&#8217;s busy with his team investigating Somali gangs that have frankly been running rampant in the Twin Cities committing crimes and no one will hold them accountable for it.

MRN_251211_V2

Morning Brief: DEI Fraud Exposed, Mamdani’s Radical Moves, & Minnesota Scandal Reveals Fault Lines

Morning Brief: Senate Digs Into DEI, Mamdani Picks Stoke Controversy, And The Politics Of MN Fraud

Federal Reserve

Jerome Powell

Morning Wire

New York City

Zohran Mamdani

Minnesota hasn&#8217;t had a Republican senator since Norm Coleman lost his re-election bid in 2008, but Minnesota Republicans might have their best chance since then to win a Senate seat after Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced on Thursday that she will not run for re-election in 2026.
The GOP is already excited about the opportunity in the blue state. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott told The Daily Wire, &#8220;Minnesota is in play, and we play to win. Minnesotans deserve a Senator who will fight for lower taxes, economic opportunity, and safer communities.&#8221;
In her retirement announcement, Smith reassured her constituents that Democrats have a &#8220;deep bench of political talent&#8221; from which her replacement will arise. Smith didn&#8217;t mention any names specifically — possibly out of embarrassment for who&#8217;s actually on that bench — so we compiled a list of potential candidates Democrats have to offer.
<h3>Tim Walz</h3>
<div id="attachment_876775" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-876775" class="wp-image-876775 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167066123-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images</div>
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is fresh off running one of the worst presidential campaigns in modern American history alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris. The failed 2024 vice presidential candidate, who had his pants pulled down on national TV by JD Vance during their debate in October, sits at the top of Minnesota&#8217;s &#8220;deep bench&#8221; of potential Senate candidates.
The open Senate seat would give 60-year-old Walz a chance to stay relevant on a national level, a development that could push Democrats&#8217; male outreach efforts back decades. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/us/politics/tina-smith-minnesota-senate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that an aide confirmed Walz is considering a run for Senate while also mulling a third term as governor. As ridiculous as it sounds, if Walz decides against the Senate bid, Democrats might be forced to make an even more bizarre choice.
<h3>Ilhan Omar</h3>
<div id="attachment_876781" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-876781" class="wp-image-876781 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1247561204-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Credit: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
Rep. Ilhan Omar could try to ride her wave of Somali support all the way to the Senate. The openly anti-America and anti-Israel Democrat will be &#8220;talking with Minnesotans about the future of the Senate seat,&#8221; according to her spokesman. This is the same woman who once <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-controversies-anti-semitism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> the 9/11 terror attacks as a day &#8220;when some people did something,&#8221; and compared the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban.
There&#8217;s no denying that an Ilhan Omar Senate bid would gain some traction in Minneapolis and Mogadishu, but her anti-America sentiment probably won&#8217;t play well on the farms in Traverse and Martin counties.
<h3>Keith Ellison</h3>
<div id="attachment_876801" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-876801" class="wp-image-876801 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2167837360-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</div>
Former DNC deputy chair and current Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is another politician being floated to run for Minnesota&#8217;s open Senate seat. Ellison, like Walz and Omar, already has experience in Congress as he served in the House from 2007 to 2019. And like Walz and Omar, Ellison has a great track record of pushing radical leftist policies.
Ellison is probably best known for his <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/nation-islam-calls-keith-ellison-cowardly-repudiating-louis-farrakhan/">ties to antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan</a>, and prosecuting Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second- and third-degree murder in the death of George Floyd. The Democrat AG also made headlines for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-news-whitewashes-vile-racist-comments-aimed-at-clarence-thomas-by-black-ag" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comparing</a> conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to a &#8220;house slave&#8221; and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-rips-into-democrat-ag-for-appearing-to-celebrate-brazils-x-ban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrating</a> Brazil&#8217;s crackdown on free speech when the country banned X. What a guy.
<h3>Peggy Flanagan</h3>
<div id="attachment_876825" style="width: 852px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-876825" class="wp-image-876825 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-842x576.jpg" alt="" width="842" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-842x576.jpg 842w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-300x205.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-768x525.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1947479530-2048x1401.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px" />Credit: Natasha Campos/Getty Images for IllumiNative</div>
Minnesota Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan has essentially already thrown her hat in the ring for Senate, <a href="https://x.com/peggyflanagan/status/1890089977637401055" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a> on X on Thursday, &#8220;I love Minnesota and my intention is to run for U.S. Senate and continue to serve the people of this state.&#8221;
Flanagan is known for her complete support of life-altering gender surgeries on children. In 2023, Flanagan used her position to vouch for gender procedures on minors while <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/protect-my-kids-from-ghouls-minnesota-lt-gov-slammed-after-telling-parents-to-support-gender-affirming-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wearing a shirt</a> emblazoned with a dagger next to the phrase &#8220;Protect Trans Kids.&#8221;
A few other Democratic candidates could emerge as the 2026 race heats up, including Reps. Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison, or former Rep. Dean Phillips. But running against the name recognition of politicians like Walz and Omar could prove difficult in a Democratic primary. They are the true stars of the Democrats&#8217; &#8220;deep bench&#8221; in Minnesota.

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