JD Vance refers Tim Walz, Minnesota AG to DOJ for fraud investigation

Vice President J.D. Vance announced Monday that he has referred allegations involving Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Justice Department’s fraud division for a potential criminal investigation into alleged fraud in federally funded social service programs.

Vance made the announcement during an appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” when asked about a report by the House Oversight Committee alleging that state officials, including Walz and Ellison, were warned about fraud in the state but failed to act to stop it, in part due to threats of lawsuits and concerns of being accused of discrimination.

“We’re definitely going to investigate this, Jesse, and I think I can do a little bit of breaking news now because I left the White House to do this interview with you. And before we do that, we actually referred this particular case to the Department of Justice for a full criminal investigation. We’re not going to do what the Biden administration has done and make civil judgments until all the facts are out,” Vance said.

MINNESOTA FRAUD REPORT ACCUSES STATE AG OF ‘INCOMPETENCE, WILLFUL BLINDNESS OR WORSE’

“But what’s particularly troubling about this to me, Jesse, is that there were people in Governor Walz’s office who said, you know what? This looks like fraud. Apparently these Somali illegal immigrants are doing something very questionable, and then there were people shutting them down and silencing these whistleblowers and saying you’re a racist or you’re a xenophobe for asking questions about where the taxpayer money is going.” continued.

“What this means to me, Jesse, is that people don’t take fraud seriously. If it rises to the level of a criminal violation, we will investigate, and of course if it rises to that level, we will prosecute. We have to do it,” Vance added.

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A report claims that state officials were warned about corruption in the state but did not take adequate action. (Reuters/Tim Evans)

The vice president, who was tapped to lead the White House Fraud Elimination Task Force in February after President Donald Trump declared a “war on fraud” in his State of the Union address, later reiterated his comments on social media.

“Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimidated tipsters, they must face justice,” Vance wrote to X.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said President Donald Trump is “weaponizing the entire federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota.” (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz also previously said they were pausing federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota; Walz described the effort as a “revenge campaign,” saying at the time that it “had nothing to do with fraud.”

“Trump is weaponizing the entire federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said on Feb. 25. he said.