Walz goes silent amid accusations that Democrats sent goons to disrupt fraud investigations
Minnesota House Republicans are locked in a fierce partisan clash with Democrats as GOP lawmakers call for accountability from Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) and his administration for their years of failure to stop widespread welfare fraud that robbed hardworking taxpayers.
It is estimated that the fraud in Minnesota connected to 14 “high-risk” Medicaid services could top $9 billion.
Swanson further claimed senior-level Minnesota DHS officials 'harassed and abused our unit for committing the sin of trying to expose a huge amount of fraud.'
The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, led by Rep. Kristin Robbins (R), has held dozens of hearings, aiming to address these issues.
Robbins has slammed Walz for declining the committee’s invitation to testify before House lawmakers, despite being in the Capitol building for his State of the State address the same evening as the committee’s Apr. 28 hearing.
Robbins stated that his “decision-making over the last seven years … should be addressed,” pointing to a 2019 report from the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, published early in Walz’s administration, that revealed issues in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program.
While Robbins’ committee has not heard testimony from Walz, it has questioned members of his administration. However, Robbins stated lawmakers “did not get satisfactory answers.”
Republicans have introduced a wave of legislation to address the core issues at the heart of the state’s fraud crisis. However, Democrat lawmakers have put up resistance.
Last year, Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to establish an independent Office of Inspector General to investigate. Currently, the OIG is under the Minnesota DHS, an executive branch agency. After weeks of party-line disagreements, a bipartisan OIG compromise advanced in late Apr. 2026.
The “Fraud Isn’t Free Act,” introduced in Feb. 2026, would have required state agencies to implement a corrective action plan in response to fraud in any program they administer. However, the proposal failed to pass a House committee.
GOP lawmakers are also pushing the “Take It Back Act,” introduced in April, which is still in play. If passed, it would impose a 100% tax on an individual or organization convicted of fraud in a state or federal court.
RELATED: Walz tries to take credit for raids on day cares in Minnesota — and Kash Patel humiliates him
As the state remains in the national spotlight for ignoring years of red flags, lawmakers are facing a tied House and are up against the clock, with the legislative session set to conclude in mid-May.
On Apr. 28, FBI Minneapolis and its federal partners raided 22 child-care and autism centers. The criminal search warrants included the infamous “Quality Learing Center,” which misspelled “learning” on the business sign posted outside its establishment, as featured in journalist Nick Shirley’s reporting that uncovered rampant fraud tied to the state’s Somali community.
That same day, Robbins’ fraud committee gathered for a hearing to discuss the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, during which Jay Swanson, a former Minnesota state trooper and a former manager of the Minnesota Department of Human Services child care provider investigation unit from 2014 to 2019, provided damning testimony.
Swanson explained that he was involved in an investigation that led to a federal indictment of the owner of the Salama Child Care Center in 2017. The owner ultimately pled guilty, was sentenced to two years in prison, and was ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution, Swanson said.
“The Salama Child Care Center was located at 1411 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. That address might ring a bell for some of you because of a YouTube video taken last December at the Quality Learing Center, which was being operated at the same address,” Swanson told lawmakers, referring to Shirley’s reporting.
Swanson further claimed senior-level Minnesota DHS officials “harassed and abused our unit for committing the sin of trying to expose a huge amount of fraud in the CCAP program.” He noted that some of those individuals are still working at the state DHS.
He told lawmakers that by mid-2017, the leadership at the Minnesota DHS was not focused on stopping CCAP fraud, but “the focus was on stopping the people that are investigating CCAP fraud.”
Swanson stated that the state DHS unit he led was closed shortly after the special Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor report that flagged major weaknesses in the DHS’ fraud controls.
“Rather than INCREASING criminal investigations of childcare fraud after an OLA report came out early in his Administration, @GovTimWalz and DHS closed the unit,” Robbins wrote in a post on X. “They knew and they intentionally stopped criminal investigations.”
Robbins questioned Randy Keys, the inspector general of the Minnesota Department of Child, Youth, and Families, during the Apr. 28 hearing about whether he would want to “reinstate a criminal investigation unit” in the DCYF. This agency was established in 2024 to take over responsibility for child care-related programs from the DHS.
“No,” Keys replied. “It’s very important in our system to ensure that administrative investigations are kept separate from criminal investigations. … What we’re doing is protecting the integrity of the investigations and our ability to use that information.”
RELATED: FBI RAIDS 'Quality Learing Center' and nearly 2 dozen more in Minnesota FRAUD investigation
Less than two years ago, Walz was the darling of the national Democratic Party after Kamala Harris nominated him to join her on the 2024 presidential ticket.
Minnesota’s benefit fraud crisis, however, has damaged Walz’s political career, leading him to drop out of the re-election race. Walz’s prolonged failure to address the fraud prompted House Republicans to propose resolutions H.R. 6 and H.R. 7 in March that would move to impeach the governor and Attorney General Keith Ellison.
H.R. 6, which called for Walz’s removal, accused the governor of engaging “in corrupt conduct in office by violating his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the laws of this state.” It claimed he knowingly concealed or permitted others to conceal “widespread fraud … despite repeated warnings, audits, reports, and public indicators of systematic abuse.”
H.R. 7, which aimed to impeach Ellison, claimed that the attorney general “failed to discharge faithfully the duties of his office to the best of his judgment and ability, by engaging in corrupt conduct in office and committing crimes and misdemeanors.”
The criticism against Ellison stemmed from his alleged ties to those involved in the Feeding Our Future scandal. In 2021, Ellison met with criminal defendants involved with Feeding Our Future, 10 months before any indictments were filed. Shortly after their meeting, Ellison accepted over $10,000 in campaign donations from individuals tied to the group.
Ellison returned some of the campaign donations in 2022, soon after federal indictments were filed. Other campaign funds were returned in May and Dec. of 2025.
House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska insisted that the only power the House has for accountability in the “multibillion-dollar fraud scandal that’s embarrassing our state” is impeachment.
Democrat lawmakers rejected the impeachment efforts. Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL) called the attempt a “simple, stupid distraction” and a “political circus.”
Jordan accused Republicans of targeting Walz and Ellison because they “don’t like them,” and claimed GOP lawmakers should be focused on the “absolute solutions” that could prevent “scamming businesses” in the future.
“We actually have a fraud committee that could be doing this, but they haven’t heard any bills to actually crack down on fraud, so I don’t know what they’re doing either. This is exactly the kind of political stunt that has taken over our politics,” Jordan said. “This is an insane waste of time. I can’t believe this is what the Republican caucus is choosing to spend their limited committee time on.”
Walz similarly called the GOP’s effort “a waste of time.” He told Republicans to “just get over it and move on” because his term is coming to an end.
Ellison has insisted that his 2021 meeting with individuals involved in the Feeding Our Future scandal was “routine,” he wrote in a Minnesota Star Tribune op-ed in Apr. 2025.
“I took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know, and some turned out to have done bad things. I did nothing for them and took nothing from them,” Ellison wrote.
In Dec. 2025, a spokesperson for Ellison claimed that the AG did not receive donations from anyone who attended the 2021 meeting and that he had “returned every contribution from the handful of people associated with Feeding Our Future as soon as he was made aware of those connections.”
The procedural resolution to consider H.R. 6 and H.R. 7 was rejected along party lines on Apr. 15 in the Rules Committee.
Walz's office and Ellison's office did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.
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COUCH POTATOES: Desperate late-night hosts bore viewers with Tim Walz, John Kerry
Johnny Carson made us howl by having the biggest stars on the galaxy grace his “Tonight Show” couch.
Sinatra. Reynolds. Rickles. Martin.
'We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.'
Modern late-night shows settle for the likes of John Kerry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Both far-left Democrats appeared on late-night this week, eager to take the hosts’ softball queries and smack ‘em out of the park.
Walz’s chat on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” found him deflecting the massive fraud in his state to, you guessed it, President Donald Trump. Any tough questions about Cap’n Jazz Hands quitting his re-election campaign? Hardly.
At this point, one of those “Technical Difficulties: Please Stand By” signs would be better than these late-night hacks ...
Mind freak
Psychic abilities are overrated, apparently.
Sunny Hostin, in a daily scrum to prove who the dumbest “View” host is, told the ABC show crowd this week about her unique skill set. No, it doesn’t involve twisting the truth into a Bavarian pretzel. She’s already proved that more than a few times.
This week, Hostin shared a deeply personal strength.
I believe I have psychic abilities. I recall when I was a child at about 5 years old. You know, I grew up very poor, and I dreamt a number. And my grandmother was like, ‘We are going to play that number.’ We used to call it playing the numbers, and my entire family won based on that number.
Did she foresee how “The View” would become the train wreck TV that it is today? If so, she may be the real deal ...
'Chainsaw' chatter
Leatherface is ready for his close-up. Again.
A mad bidding war for the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise is over, and newbie director Curry Barker ("Obsession”) will do the honors for A24 films.
But why?
The 1974 original is a classic for all the right reasons. It’s raw and shocking, and it reinvented horror in ways that are still reverberating today. It’s the original nightmare fuel, complete with an odd vocal cameo by John Larroquette. (And he was paid in pot. Literally.) Except we haven’t had many quality “Massacre” films since then.
Eight films. Only one could be considered a keeper, the unjustly attacked 2003 reboot starring Jessica Biel. The rest have modest reasons to recommend them, at best, but only for horror junkies.
Will the ninth film since the original hit the jackpot? Barker directed the no-budget horror film “Milk & Serial,” a creepy affair that became his calling card. “Obsession,” brimming with positive prerelease buzz, drops next month.
If not, well, the next reboot is only a few years away ...
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Cho chooses violence
Projection is a terrible drug.
The left routinely tells us who they are by projecting their darkest impulses on their ideological foes. And Margaret Cho is example A, B, and C.
Maybe D.
The far-left comic raged against all things Trump in a new interview. She didn’t stop there.
I am a Democrat, but I also feel like there’s this weird attachment to decorum and taking the high road, and none of that is gonna work. We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat. We just need somebody who is willing to put them all in prison — do the right thing and put them all in prison.
Taking the high road? Apparently, Cho was struck in the head around 2017 and just woke up from a nearly decade-long coma. We wish her well in her recovery ...
Rock 'n' roll swindle
The Boss missed out on that hometown discount.
Bruce Springsteen’s anti-Trump tour is getting all sorts of fawning press for all the obvious reasons. It could be partly why a 76-year-old rocker embraces his far-left shtick in the first place. He knew the legacy media would have his back.
Either way, a new review of his recent New Jersey concert hit the brakes on the media love fest.
Hard.
NJ.com’s review blasted Springsteen for a show "poisoned by hypocrisy.”
The blue-collar troubadour now charges exorbitant amounts for his tickets — up to $2,900 retail for the best seats in Newark Monday; prices he agreed to despite fan backlash. He’s selling No Kings-branded flags for $90 in the arena concourse.
The site leans to the left, but the Boss is so blatantly two-faced even his fellow liberals couldn’t ignore it: His glory days are far behind him.
The Medicaid fraud problem is not going away
John Locke’s "Second Treatise of Government," which inspired many of our nation’s founding principles, makes the simple assertion that the basic role of government is to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the consenting governed. Though our federal government has long since strayed from this purpose, opportunities to defend it are always a worthy endeavor.
That is why President Trump’s appointment of Vice President JD Vance to lead a new task force dedicated to rooting out fraud in the United States is a welcome undertaking.
There’s no incentive for states to police fraud: They can’t go over budget, and the feds still pick up the tab for illegitimate claims.
For too long, numerous states have abused federal dollars, failing to ensure that many recipients are even real or qualified for federal funds and leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab. Contrary to the media narrative that the administration is simply on a blue-state witch hunt, the billions of dollars stolen in Minnesota (yet to be returned) tell a different story.
For once, the executive branch is demonstrating proper oversight in the service of the American taxpayer, and it is long overdue.
Federal prosecutors estimate that, across 14 Minnesota Medicaid-funded programs, fraud totals more than $9 billion. That number is half of all federal matching funds allocated to the state since 2018.
It’s often said that taxation is theft. In Minnesota, it appears to be policy.
Correctly, Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Vice President JD Vance, have turned off the credit card until Minnesota officials can clean up their act.
Following a January CMS effort to get the state into compliance, the agency is also deferring payment for Q4 of 2025, having identified $259.5 million in fraudulent and illegal claims.
Like clockwork, officials, including Gov. Walz, began to plead on behalf of victims of a potential Medicaid fallout, portraying themselves as the defenders of the very Minnesotans victimized by the fraud they enabled.
In a House Oversight Committee hearing just a few weeks ago, Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison faced questions with a surprising lack of urgency. When asked if he felt the state’s efforts to return funds were successful, Walz denied culpability: “I can’t speak to that ... I don’t have any part in that.”
Despite media outlets defending the state’s “good-faith effort” to make amends, the estimated $80 million returned still falls short of even 1% of the money stolen from taxpayers.
Similarly, Walz refused to elaborate on whether government officials who enabled fraud had been fired. During the Oversight Committee’s investigation, it was revealed that dozens of whistleblowers who reported fraud inside the Minnesota Department of Human Services were retaliated against. Minnesota DHS hired outside entities to investigate staff who fell out of line.
The reason? Dozens of whistleblowers reported that they were told not to say anything about the fraud for fear of being called “racist” or “Islamophobic.”
Not only did Walz and Ellison know about massive welfare fraud in the state, but they went to great lengths to keep it that way, afraid that cracking down on the disproportionate amount of Medicaid fraud in the Somali community would harm them politically.
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This level of fraud is historic. But rather than making a good-faith effort to identify fraud and recover taxpayer funds, Minnesota may become the first state to pursue the unprecedented step of suing CMS instead of using the agency’s internal appeals process. While state officials claim they are at a loss over how to satisfy CMS requirements, doubling down on fraud is doubtlessly not the solution CMS is looking for.
Vance, now tasked with developing a nationwide anti-fraud strategy, should build on CMS’ approach in Minnesota, one that directly targets the root of the problem.
Minnesota, like many states, receives a Federal Medical Assistance Percentage of 90% for adults covered under the ACA expansion. In practice, that means for every dollar the state spends, the federal government contributes nine. States that spend more get more. There’s no incentive for states to police fraud: They can’t go over budget, and the feds still pick up the tab for illegitimate claims, ultimately passing the balance on to taxpayers.
In context, CMS’ Medicaid funding pause in Minnesota functions as a blunt but effective check: no oversight, no money. Should Minnesota decide to bolster program integrity and ensure that Medicaid assistance only goes to Americans who are truly in need, it can confidently spend its cash again with the assurance of federal backing.
In the meantime, every other state would be wise to take note and get its house in order before Vance drops the hammer.
Tampon Tim Walz MELTS DOWN about Minnesota fraud
Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.) was in front of the Oversight Committee this week when he was confronted by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) about fraud in his state — and his reaction did not make him look good.
“Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison, you have presided over one of the worst government fraud scandals in American history. This was money intended to feed hungry children, help kids with autism, provide food and shelter and health care to the needy, and more,” Mace began.
“You both allowed billions in these American taxpayer dollars to be pillaged and plundered by Somali pirates. You knew this was happening. You chose to do nothing about it. And in some cases, you even enabled it,” she continued.
“My questions this morning, my first go to Governor Walz. And I hope you learned some lessons from your last hearing with me on the Oversight Committee. Have you learned anything since then?” Mace asked.
“I did,” Walz responded angrily. “That if I didn’t speak up, two of my people would be dead, Congresswoman, and I warned you.”
“Governor Walz, what is a woman? Have you learned that lesson? Do you know what a woman is?” she asked, ignoring his previous response.
“I’m not here to be your prop for your obsession,” Walz said.
“If you can’t define what a woman is, you certainly can’t define what fraud is,” she responded, before asking Walz how much money was spent on autism in Minnesota in 2017.
“I don’t have those numbers in front of me,” he answered.
As Mace continued to question him on the fraud, Walz repeatedly answered that he wasn’t there to be Mace’s “prop.”
“Congresswoman Nancy Mace held him to account,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler comments.
“Of course, you remember his nickname, Tampon Tim. The reason that we call him Tampon Tim is not to be vulgar. It’s not because we’re petty and we’re hurling an ad hominem at him,” Wheeler says.
“It’s because Governor Tim Walz put tampons in boys’ bathrooms in Minnesota. Because he won’t answer the question, ‘What is a woman?’ Because he’s so captured by leftist ideology,” she adds.
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