Comer to accuse Walz of ignoring massive Minnesota welfare fraud in high-stakes hearing

House Oversight Committee Republicans are set to face Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison in a high-stakes hearing on welfare fraud Wednesday morning.

“While Gov. Walz dithered, taxpayers lost billions of dollars. Attorney General Ellison also claimed his office was aggressively holding fraudsters accountable, but his statements failed when tested against the record,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., will say, according to a prepared opening statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

“We spoke with more than thirty whistleblowers, many current employees and Democrats, who said they were ignored, retaliated against, and even surveilled for voicing their concerns. Instead of protecting whistleblowers, the Walz administration protected the system that enabled fraud.”

Hours before the hearing began, the committee released a 53-page report accusing both Walz and Ellison of knowing about the fraud allegations much earlier than thought.

“As the Committee continues to review documents and interview whistleblowers, it is clear that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison knew about fraud in federal programs administered by the State of Minnesota long before they told the American people,” the report said. The statement was included.

“Interviews with current and former Minnesota State public officials confirmed that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison were aware of the corruption.” [Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)] and high-risk Medicaid programs administered by DHS as early as spring 2019 and [state food aid] programs managed by [the Minnesota Department of Education] As early as April 2020.”

Both Walz and Ellison have previously pushed back against accusations that they knowingly allowed fraud in Minnesota’s social programs and accused Republicans of politicizing the situation.

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The high-profile hearing is the culmination of a months-long investigation by the House Oversight Committee targeting allegations of fraud in Minnesota.

The panel had previously interviewed current and former officials in the state government, including those focused on food aid.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on February 12, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota indict multiple people Stole more than $240 million From the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future. But the investigation has since expanded to include investigating multiple government-run programs for potential fraud. Child care providers that receive government funding are also under scrutiny, particularly in the Somali community.

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And the committee’s report accused the state’s progressive leadership of ignoring evidence of fraud in an effort to appease the Somali community in Minneapolis.

“The Committee found that Minnesota lacked adequate oversight efforts to verify that taxpayer dollars were being used appropriately and could have stopped the flow of money to fraudsters at any time but chose not to do so out of fear of political retribution from the politically active Somali community,” the report said. The statement was included.

“More legislative efforts are needed at the federal level to prevent this massive waste, fraud, and misuse of federal dollars from happening again.”

In his opening statement, Comer will call the scandal “one of the most comprehensive surveillance breakdowns the Committee has ever examined.”

“Billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen from social service programs as warnings pile up, whistleblowers speak out, and government officials choose delay and denial over action,” he will say.

“Federal prosecutors estimate that $9 billion may have been stolen from just fourteen Medicaid programs administered by the State of Minnesota. As our investigation shows, this happened because state leadership repeatedly failed to intervene. What we uncovered in Minnesota is not a paperwork error or a few bad actors slipping through the cracks. This is a persistent failure of leadership.”

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Democrats on the committee, meanwhile, accused Comer of trying to distract from the fallout from President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants in Minneapolis; this includes the killing of two US citizens by federal agents.

At a previous hearing on the Minnesota scam, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said, “I encourage people to watch these videos and see for themselves what’s going on. And I hope that this committee will investigate this incident and that we hold full responsibility.”

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