Vance refers Minnesota’s Walz and Ellison to DOJ for alleged fraud investigation

JD Vance referred Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to the DOJ over fraud. Ellison called the referral a political stunt.

Walz and the Minnesota Department of Human Services have said fraud is being addressed, but Walz called the estimated amounts “sensationalized.” The post Fraud czar JD Vance asks DOJ to investigate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison appeared first on MS NOW.

Both Walz and Ellison have defended their actions against fraud, dismissing a separate Justice Department inquiry involving state leaders as politically motivated

Vice President JD Vance has referred Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation based on a wild conspiracy theory.In a letter Monday to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald at the DOJ’s Fraud Enforcement Division, Vance relayed allegations that Walz and Ellison had “repeatedly failed” to address fraud in Minnesota’s social services. The allegations were sourced from a 205-page report published Monday by House Oversight Committee Republicans, who claimed that Walz and Ellison were aware of “credible, systemic fraud concerns” since as early as 2019, and that Walz’s administration went to “great lengths” to keep it quiet. A closer look at the actual report found that those “great lengths” included regular “check-ins” and one Department of Health Services employee who brought up concerns of contract noncompliance, was found to be “disruptive,” and was placed on investigative leave. In a letter to Vance sent alongside the report, House Oversight Chair James Comer urged the vice president’s team “to direct the appropriate executive branch agencies to conduct a thorough review of all of Minnesota’s social services program integrity measures, oversight processes, reimbursements, and enrollment from 2019 to the present.”Vance shared his letter to social media, announcing that he’d passed the allegations onto the DOJ. “Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimated [sic] whistleblowers, they must face justice,” Trump’s “fraud czar” wrote. But the right-wing fervor over fraud allegations in Minnesota is a fabrication designed to punish Democrats and antagonize immigrants. The claims stem from a video by Nick Shirley, a White House–favored propagandist, who tried to expose Somali immigrants for allegedly using childcare centers to steal public money. Despite uncovering no actual evidence of fraud, MAGA made his video go viral, and the feds followed soon after to Minneapolis. In reality, Minnesota has previously investigated and prosecuted improper payments to childcare services, as well as unrelated high-profile fraud prosecutions involving other Minnesota social services. Ellison called the referral a “political stunt.”“It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries,” Ellison said in a statement. “That is not what government is for, and it diminishes public trust in our institutions.”

Vice President JD Vance is pressing federal prosecutors to investigate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison over allegations they failed to stop widespread social services fraud.

House report said governor and state attorney general Keith Ellison were aware of ‘widespread taxpayer fraud’ in social programsUS politics live – latest updatesThe US vice-president, JD Vance, asked the Department of Justice to investigate Tim Walz, his rival in the 2024 election, after a congressional report renewed allegations of inaction and retaliation over fraud schemes in Minnesota.In the Trump administration’s latest broadside by the federal government against the midwestern state and its political leaders, Vance referred Walz, its Democratic governor, and Keith Ellison, its Democratic attorney general, for investigation. Continue reading...