VP Vance Refers Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to DOJ for Fraud Investigation

A new report from the House Oversight Committee accuses Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and State Attorney General Keith Ellison of ignoring years of fraud warnings – and it is now serving as the basis for a referral from Vice President J.D. Vance to the Department of Justice.

The Fraud

As reported on Wednesday’s AM Update, Vice President Vance escalated the Trump administration’s fraud fight in Minnesota Monday evening when he referred Walz and Ellison, both Democrats, to the DOJ for possible criminal investigation.

The vice president said the referral is based on a new 205-page report published earlier this week by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. Titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: How Tim Walz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota’s Fraud Explosion,” the report accuses senior Minnesota officials of knowing about widespread fraud in federally funded social programs for years while failing to stop payments to suspect providers and allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers.

The Oversight Committee’s report marked the latest development in a scandal that has been consuming Minnesota politics for months after viral reporting late last year helped bring national attention to massive fraud allegations across the state’s social services system.

The feds have so far prosecuted and convicted dozens, mostly members of the state’s Somali community, relating to three major schemes – a meals program for needy children called Feeding Our Future, a program for individuals at risk of homelessness, and an autism therapy program.

The scale of the alleged fraud is believed to be at least $9 billion in plundered taxpayer dollars, and it drew such immense backlash that Gov. Walz suspended his re-election campaign in January. In March, Walz and Ellison were called to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of a hearing called “Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part II.”

At that hearing, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) pressed the governor on allegations that whistleblowers were discouraged from raising concerns about fraud because officials feared accusations of racism or Islamophobia. Watch:

The Referral

Announcing the referral on X, Vance noted that “Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimidated whistleblowers, they must face justice.”

In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who oversees the National Fraud Enforcement Division, Vance asked the DOJ to investigate what Walz and Ellison’s offices knew, whether Walz misled the public about his administration’s awareness of the fraud, whether whistleblowers were intimidated, and whether any stolen taxpayer money may have reached foreign terrorist networks.

Gov. Walz and AG Ellison pushing back on the news. A spokesperson for Walz referred to an earlier statement from the governor in which he said, “This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke.”

Ellison, meanwhile, giving a statement to CNN. “It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries,” it read, in part. “That is not what government is for, and it diminishes public trust in our institutions.”

For now, the referral does not mean charges are forthcoming. Instead, the Justice Department has been asked to review the allegations and will decide whether there is enough evidence to open a criminal investigation, pursue charges, or decline to move forward.

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