Education Secretary Linda McMahon has formally called on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to resign, accusing him of presiding over what she described as a massive and systemic fraud crisis spanning welfare programs and the state’s college education system, as reported by Fox News.
In a letter sent Tuesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, McMahon sharply criticized Walz’s record since taking office in 2019 and placed direct blame on his administration for allowing fraud schemes to flourish.
BREAKING: The Trump Administration is formally demanding the RESIGNATION of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz due to massive fraud and dereliction of duty
Linda McMahon just CAUGHT Minnesota engaging in massive education fraud, where “ghost students” received millions of taxpayer… pic.twitter.com/22xpwOR7ye
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 16, 2025
“You have been Minnesota’s Governor since 2019,” McMahon wrote.
“During that time, your careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a beachhead of criminality in our country. As President Trump put it, you have turned Minnesota into a ‘fraudulent hub of money laundering activity.’”
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McMahon concluded the letter by urging Walz to step down.
“Given your dereliction of the office entrusted to you by Minnesotans, I implore you to resign and make way for more capable leadership,” she wrote.
While Minnesota has drawn national attention over large-scale fraud cases involving nonprofits such as Feeding Our Future — alleged to have defrauded taxpayers of at least $1 billion — McMahon’s letter focused heavily on findings from the Department of Education related to fraud in the state’s college education system.
Fox News Digital reported last week that the Department of Education announced it had blocked more than $1 billion in student aid fraud during President Trump’s first year back in office, including schemes involving automated bots and so-called “ghost students.”
One such scheme allegedly centered on Riverland Community College, which averaged more than 100 potentially fraudulent applications per year, according to Fox News Digital. McMahon said federal investigators identified nearly 2,000 ghost students connected to Minnesota institutions.
“We call these fraudsters ‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist,” McMahon wrote.
“In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest — without attending the college at all.”
The letter detailed federal efforts to combat the schemes, including the implementation of “mandatory identity verification” requirements for certain first-time student aid applicants.
McMahon also criticized Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, citing her student loan history and her public positions on loan repayment.
The letter stated that Omar borrowed “tens of thousands” in student loans and “now does not think she should have to repay, despite her generous, taxpayer-funded salary.”
Alpha News previously reported that a conservative watchdog group urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to garnish Omar’s congressional wages, noting her $174,000 annual salary.
McMahon accused Walz of overseeing what federal officials have described as a “massive scandal of welfare fraud” affecting nearly every major federal assistance program.
The letter alleged that criminals in Minnesota exploited housing benefits, education aid, food stamps, small-business relief, and programs designed to help elderly Americans and children with autism, while Walz “did absolutely nothing” to stop it.
“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen — and for benefiting from it,” McMahon wrote.
“Stop defrauding American taxpayers. No politician is above the law, and my department, alongside every other agency under the leadership of President Trump, will continue to ensure that you will not be able to dodge accountability for your actions.”
Walz addressed the issue during a Friday press conference, announcing the launch of a new statewide fraud prevention initiative that will partner with a private forensic auditing firm.
The governor said the system was “taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters and criminals.”
“I take full responsibility for it,” Walz said. “I think, and I will acknowledge certainly to Minnesotans and to the press here, I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of communicating the hard work that’s being done.”
The remarks did little to quiet critics. Conservative commentator Dustin Grage told Fox News Digital that Walz’s statements fell short of real accountability.
“He threw out a quote that said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take accountability,’ and people will run with that quote,” Grage said. “But at the end of the day, not a single bureaucrat in this state in regard to the fraud has been fired. Not a single one.”
“So, that ultimately means, at the end of the day, if he’s to blame, the only one at this point who should be held accountable is himself,” Grage added.
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