ANALYSIS
Vance refers case of alleged Minnesota fraud involving Walz and Ellison to DOJ
According to a House report, Minnesota officials were alerted to irregularities in public funds, but did not act for fear of lawsuits and being accused of discrimination.
JD Vance in Pennsylvania
Vice President JD Vance announced that he has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a criminal investigation into possible fraud in federally funded social services programs in Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz and the state Attorney General Keith Ellison would be implicated in the investigation.
During his appearance on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime," Vance revealed that, just before the interview, he had formally referred the case to the fraud division the DOJ. "We are not going to do what the Biden administration did and make judgments of the law before all the facts are in," he stated.
Whistleblowers silenced and accused of racism
A report by the House Oversight Committee found that Minnesota state officials, including Walz and Ellison, were alerted to irregularities in the use of public funds but did not take sufficient action to stop them. Among the reasons cited were fear of lawsuits and being accused of discrimination.
Vance especially highlighted concerns about how internal whistleblowers were treated: "But here's what's particularly troubling about this to me is, Jesse, you had people within Governor Walz's office who were saying, you know what? This looks like fraud. It looks like these Somalian illegal immigrants are doing something that's very shady, and then you had people who shut them down, who shut these whistleblowers down and said, you know, you're a racist or you're a xenophobe for asking questions about where taxpayer money is going," he continued.
Threat of criminal action against Walz and Ellison
The vice president, who leads the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, emphasized that the team will thoroughly investigate whether the facts constitute crimes and, if so, will proceed with the corresponding sanctions.
"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," Vance later wrote on his X account.
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