On Wednesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison faced calls to step down during a hearing of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on allegations of widespread fraud throughout the state.
Republican lawmakers also accused state Democrats of “enabling” fraud, with estimates suggesting the total could reach between $9 billion and $20 billion in Minnesota alone.
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-TN, tried to put that amount in context during the hearing.
“I can remember when our state budget [in Tennessee] was $19 billion,” Burchett said. “This is money that has been stolen and it will not be recovered. You all are to blame and every dadgum one of you ought to step down.”
Before the hearing, lawmakers on the committee released a report that alleged Walz and Ellison knew about credible fraud concerns in Minnesota and did not act on them. That report estimated the fraud at about $300 million in federal child nutrition funds and as much as $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds.
Walz had many heated exchangess with lawmakers regarding this particular issue. U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-MO, questioned Walz on what accountability steps have been taken since the fraud began coming to light.
“People have been put into new positions,” Walz stated in response to Burlison’s question regarding if anyone has been fired. When pressed again by Burlison, Walz stated “people stepped away.”
“Minnesota is drowning in fraud and Walz is just shuffling deck chairs while taxpayers get robbed,” Burlison said in a statement following the hearing.
During the hearing, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-FL, specifically addressed allegations that Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan “intimidated” whistleblowers who tried to expose fraud. Donalds revealed that the committee has received 30 letters from whistleblowers detailing those allegations, arguing that state officials did not do enough to actively prosecute fraud.
Walz stated he had “no knowledge” of that.
So far, 98 people have been indicted on fraud related crimes in Minnesota. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who has previously accused state officials of assisting in the fraud scheme, stated during the hearing his concern with the relationship between fraud and the Somali immigrant community.
“Eighty-five percent of people indicted were Somali Americans,” Jordan said. “A key voting bloc, and I think that’s what drove this whole thing.”
While Republicans grilled Walz and Ellison on fraud, even calling for their impeachments, House Democrats chose to focus on issues like ICE activity in Minnesota and suspended federal funding to some social services in the state. In one exchange though, U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-AZ, called the hearing “outrageous.”
“Mr. Chairman, it’s outrageous that this is what we’re choosing to spend our time on in the Oversight Committee,” Ansari said.
“Fraud?” asked Chairman and U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-KY.
“. . . Yes, fraud,” Ansari responded.
Not a single Minnesota representative, from either side of the aisle, sits on the committee. Neither Ellison or Walz have released a statement since the committee hearing.
This all comes as independent and federal investigations are ongoing after billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded fraud schemes were uncovered in recent months, as extensively reported by The Center Square. Since the story first broke a few months ago, numerous arrests have been made and federal investigations remain ongoing.
Officials in the Trump administration have called the widespread welfare fraud in Minnesota “the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars through welfare fraud in American history.”
Minnesota Republicans have been conducting their own hearings on the matter. State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, stated in a hearing on Monday that the fraud is a “web.”
“This is a web and we keep finding these webs over and over,” Robbins said. “I just feel like we are still missing the mark to dismantle these webs of fraud.”
