Vice President Vance Refers Minnesota Officials for Fraud Investigation
Vice President JD Vance has decided to send a referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. This move comes after findings from the House Oversight Committee’s recent investigation were made public.
Late Monday, Vance, who was recently appointed as the Trump administration’s “Fraud Czar,” posted a letter directed to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald on social media.
“I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation. Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath, or threatened whistleblowers, they must face justice,” Vance said.
In the letter, he mentioned a report titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: How Tim Walz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota’s Fraud Explosion,” which he and McDonald had received from Representative James Comer, the Oversight Committee Chair.
This 54-page report, released on the same day, outlined a troubling trend: warnings about fraud reached the highest levels of the Minnesota state government, but necessary actions were postponed or ignored, and payments continued despite clear signs of fraud.
The committee’s conclusions included several serious allegations:
- Walz’s administration had been aware of systemic fraud issues in social services as early as 2019, despite Walz later suggesting otherwise.
- Walz allegedly retaliated against employees who raised concerns, employing intimidation tactics, including threats of surveillance.
- The oversight failures by Walz and Ellison led to an estimated $300 million in losses of federal child nutrition funds and significant risk to $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds.
- It was suggested that stolen funds potentially contributed to international terrorist networks and supported criminal activities.
“Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison clearly did not protect taxpayer dollars, but it raises questions about whether this was due to incompetence or deliberate neglect,” the report concluded.
Vance reminded both the assistant attorney general and the public that President Trump had mandated the creation of a Fraud Task Force, emphasizing that further investigations are crucial, as fraud not only affects taxpayers but also deprives vulnerable communities of necessary services.
“I am confident that, under your leadership, the Justice Department will address this referral with appropriate urgency,” Vance added in his letter.
Walz, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 election, previously announced he wouldn’t seek reelection following the fraud allegations. In the month following his announcement, the Trump administration withheld nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding intended for Minnesota.
Last month, the Justice Department filed charges against 15 individuals accused of misappropriating over $90 million from state-managed Medicaid programs. One defendant allegedly billed for 24-hour care that was never provided, while another charged for services that were supposedly delivered to children not accurately diagnosed with autism.
