Vice President JD Vance announced Monday night that he would refer Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Fraud Division for criminal investigation.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report Monday morning exposing “senior Minnesota state officials, including Governor Walz and Attorney General [Keith] Ellison” for allegedly being aware of widespread taxpayer fraud in federal social programs, but failing to act. In an X post announcing Walz’s referral, Vance wrote, “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.”
I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation. Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimated whistleblowers, they must face justice. https://t.co/EatSBh9Gh6 pic.twitter.com/7JeFcgkTV0
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 9, 2026
The vice president wrote a letter to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, detailing the Oversight Committee’s allegations against Minnesota state officials. The report alleges that Walz and Ellison were aware of systemic fraud in the state’s social programs “as early as 2019,” and the Walz administration spent millions of dollars on private investigators and law firms “to silence staff.” (RELATED: Tim Walz’s Staff Hired Private Investigators To Silence Fraud Whistleblowers, Committee Report Finds)
The Oversight Committee wrote Vance a letter Sunday, requesting the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud “thoroughly review all of Minnesota’s social services programs in light of vulnerabilities created by efforts of state officials who, instead of mitigating fraud, actually sought to cover up or minimize reports and findings of fraud.” The task force was announced in March 2026, with Vance serving as Chairman and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson as Vice Chairman.
President Donald Trump announced a “war on fraud” during his State of the Union address, stating that “there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota” of the corruption “plundering America.” Minnesota has been under considerable scrutiny following independent journalist Nick Shirley’s viral exposes of alleged fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community in December 2025, which in part led President Donald Trump to establish the Justice Department’s Division for National Fraud Enforcement in January 2026.
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