Walz Blasts Trump After Admin Freezes Minnesota Child Care Funds
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized the Trump administration this week after federal officials paused certain child care payments to the state amid expanded scrutiny of alleged fraud in Minnesota social services programs. “This is Trump’s long game,” Walz wrote Tuesday in a post on X, The Hill reported.
“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been his plan all along,” he added. “He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz wrote.
In a separate post Wednesday morning, Walz accused President Donald Trump of “using an issue he doesn’t give a damn about as an excuse to hurt working Minnesotans.”
The Department of Health and Human Services froze child care payments to Minnesota earlier Tuesday.
Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill said he demanded an audit from the Walz administration following allegations raised in a video published by YouTuber Nick Shirley.
O’Neill said all payments from HHS’s Administration for Children and Families to states nationwide will now require prior justification along with receipts or photo documentation.
Vice President JD Vance praised the move, calling it one of the “most important steps we can take to end the fraud in Minnesota.”
The Department of Homeland Security has also deployed agents to Minneapolis, while the Small Business Administration has paused grants to the state.
Since 2022, the Department of Justice has charged 98 individuals in connection with the fraud investigation involving programs under the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said earlier this month that “half or more” of the $18 billion billed to 14 state programs since 2018 could be fraudulent.
Court records reviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune indicate the confirmed amount may be closer to $218 million.
Walz ordered a third-party audit of the 14 programs in October, including the now shuttered Housing Stabilization Services program.
He also appointed Tim O’Malley earlier this month to oversee program integrity and strengthen fraud prevention efforts.
Republicans have accused Minnesota Democrats of failing to prevent widespread fraud, with some lawmakers calling for aggressive federal intervention, The New York Post reported.
“This is what the mafia does. They steal, they lie, they cheat,” Rep. Mike Haridopolos said Thursday on Fox News Live.
“The federal government has to use the full powers that we used to destroy the mafia back in the 1960s,” he added.
Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Minnesota officials should testify before Congress.
“They need to explain this to the American people and the people of Minnesota,” Chaffetz said Thursday on Fox & Friends.
President Donald Trump suggested the fraud total could exceed current estimates while speaking at a New Year’s Eve event at Mar-a-Lago.
“Can you imagine, they stole $18 billion,” Trump said.
“That’s just what we’re learning about. That’s peanuts,” he added.
The House Oversight Committee is expected to hold multiple hearings on the Minnesota fraud investigation in the coming weeks.
Influencer Nick Shirley accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of child care fraud, alleging more than $110 million in taxpayer funds were paid to child care centers he claims were not operating in a 42-minute video posted to X that has since gone viral.
In the video, Shirley and his crew visit multiple Minnesota child care centers on a weekday and say they found them empty and nonoperational.
“There’s no one here,” Shirley says on camera while standing outside one of the facilities. “This is a prime example of the billions of dollars in fraud happening right now in Minnesota.”
Shirley highlighted a Minneapolis facility called Quality Learning Center, noting that the word “learning” is misspelled on its exterior sign, reading “learing” instead. He claimed the center is licensed for approximately 99 children but appeared vacant during his visit.
Shirley alleged the center received $1.9 million in Child Care Assistance Program funding in 2025, in addition to millions of dollars in previous years.
DoJ Demands Records On Minnesota Same-Day Voter Vouching System-llllllllllllllll
Heightened scrutiny over Minnesota’s sprawling social services fraud case has prompted renewed attention to the state’s election procedures. A report circulated by Scott Presler, founder of Early Vote Action, has raised questions about Minnesota’s same-day voter registration and vouching system.
Under current state law, a registered voter may vouch for the residency of up to eight individuals seeking same-day registration, provided they live in the same voting precinct, Red State reported. Individuals who are vouched for are not permitted to vouch for others.
In addition, an employee of a residential facility may vouch for an unlimited number of residents of that facility.
Both voters and employees who vouch for others are required to swear under oath that the individual being vouched for is a resident of the precinct.
Critics say the process raises concerns about verification and oversight, particularly given the volume of same-day registrations.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has formally requested records from Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon related to the state’s same-day registration and vouching practices.
“This system seems facially inconsistent with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. We’ll see!” Dhillon wrote in a letter to the state.
Dhillon requested records from all federal elections over the past 22 months, including documentation supporting same-day registrations and materials related to the vouching process under Minnesota Statute 201.061, Subdivision 3.
The request covers elections, including the 2024 primary and general election.
Dhillon gave the state 15 days to provide the records to determine compliance with the Help America Vote Act.
Presler praised the move, calling it a significant step toward investigating election integrity concerns.
Federal agencies, including the FBI, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Homeland Security, are already conducting investigations in Minnesota on separate matters.
State officials have defended the election system, arguing that multiple safeguards are in place to prevent abuse.
Not all critics are persuaded by those assurances.
Bill Glahn of the Center for the American Experiment, a Twin Cities-based conservative public policy organization, questioned the effectiveness of those safeguards.
“It’s like murder’s illegal, but it happens all the time,” Glahn said.
“It’s a penalty of perjury,” he added. “You signed an oath, but if you signed as Mickey Mouse, they’re not going to find you.”
Nearly 500 employees in Minnesota’s state government say Gov. Tim Walz ignored repeated internal warnings about large-scale fraud involving state aid programs within the Somali community, and that he retaliated against staff who raised concerns.
The employees, who work within the state Department of Human Services, have for several years operated an anonymous X account outlining what they describe as ongoing cases of fraud and misuse of public funds. The group has previously directed warnings to state leaders and to Minnesota residents about patterns of financial abuse they say they identified in program oversight.
In a new post, the employees alleged that Walz not only failed to act on their alerts but also took punitive measures against staff members who attempted to report the issues through official channels. The governor’s office has not yet responded to the renewed claims.
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“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota,” the group said in a November 29 post referencing a New York Times article on the crimes. “We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got the opposite response.
“Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports,” they added. “Instead of partnership, we got the full weight of retaliation by Tim Walz, certain DFL members, and an indifferent mainstream media. It’s scary, isolating, and left us wondering who we can turn to.”
