Vice President JD Vance on Monday announced that he is referring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Justice Department for a criminal fraud investigation involving federal welfare programs.
“I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “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.”
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
Vance’s post comes after the House Oversight Committee released a report detailing how the Walz administration knew that fraud was rampant in his state and did almost nothing to stop it.
A spokesperson for Walz told NBC News, “This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke.”
Ellison released a statement saying, “It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries.”
The committee’s report laid out in detail how badly the Walz administration handled the fraud issue.
The report noted that Walz’s team and Ellison’s office were repeatedly informed about various entities receiving federal funds for services they were not providing. Despite having the authority to investigate these groups and cut off the funding, they chose not to act.
BREAKING: We just released a BOMBSHELL report exposing how Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison fueled Minnesota's fraud explosion.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 8, 2026
$9 billion in Medicaid lost. $300 million in federal child nutrition funds were placed at serious risk.
Read the report and key takeaways 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/Srh819XTDh
Indeed, even when Minnesota state employees dug too deeply and sounded the alarm on the issue, they were punished and silenced. The report suggests leadership wanted to ignore the issue because if they took action, they might be called racists and face criticism from other political interests.
The Walz administration’s refusal to take the issue seriously led to an estimated $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds being lost to scammers, all because they didn’t want to be called racist.
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