Vice President JD Vance made a criminal referral Monday targeting Minnesota's Democratic leadership, asking the Justice Department to investigate Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison over allegations of fraud in state social services programs.
Vance announced the move on X, stating that Minnesota officials must face consequences if they "facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimated whistleblowers." The referral followed a report and letter from the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee, which accused Walz and Ellison of knowing about widespread taxpayer fraud in federally funded social programs for years without taking action.
Neither Walz nor Ellison responded directly to the criminal referral Monday evening. Their offices dismissed the House report through spokespeople speaking to other news outlets.
The timing connects to Vance's role leading the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a position he assumed in February after President Trump's State of the Union address declared a "war on fraud." Shortly after taking the role, Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz announced a pause on federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota.
Walz called that pause a political attack. "Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota," he wrote on X on Feb. 25.
Minnesota's recent federal scrutiny began with allegations of fraud involving daycare centers. The state maintained in January that the facilities at the center of the investigation were operating properly. In April, federal law enforcement agencies raided locations as part of a welfare fraud investigation involving search warrants the Department of Homeland Security said related to "rampant fraud of American taxpayer dollars."
Trump and his allies characterized the fraud as conducted by the state's Somali community. Walz, however, praised the federal action, crediting Minnesota state agencies for detecting "irregular behavior and reported it." He wrote on X that "that's how the system is supposed to work, and our agencies will keep at it as long as there are fraudsters around to put behind bars."
The current referral is not the first time federal prosecutors under Trump have targeted Walz. The Justice Department opened an investigation into Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in January, alleging they conspired to obstruct federal immigration enforcement through public statements. That probe followed a surge of immigration officers to Minneapolis that led to protests and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal officers. Walz has characterized the immigration investigation as politically motivated.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Vance's move signals the Trump administration intends to aggressively pursue fraud allegations against blue state officials, though the pattern of escalating probes against Walz raises questions about where investigation ends and political leverage begins."
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