Independent journalist Nick Shirley blew the story on Somali fraud wide open with some good, old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism. His reporting was so effective that he drove Tim Walz to drop out of the gubernatorial race and received death threats.
Shirley remains unintimidated, and he dropped another damning video on welfare fraud, including a TSA whistleblower who alleges millions in taxpayer dollars have been ferried through American airports.
Now he's testified before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on this fraud.
🚨NEW: @nickshirleyy delivers opening statement at House Judiciary Committee hearing on fraud🚨@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/sQ3L3hrpe8
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) January 21, 2026
"I'm here today to speak on behalf of all hard-working, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens here inside of the United States," Shirley said. "I've helped bring to light widespread fraud that's happening inside our nation and we the people have had enough of our hard-earned money going towards fraudsters as if it's no big deal."
"As I speak here, I want to ask everyone a question: how much do we trust when we pay our taxes that it's going to benefit our nation? People erupted during the Boston Tea Party over a few percentages as they believed they were being taxed without representation. Nowadays, we have the representation, but do we trust our representatives?" Shirley asked.
"My name is Nick Shirley, and I made a 41-minute video that I posted on platforms like X and YouTube. My video received over 100 million views, and it created instant change within our government, as the federal government launched investigations and departments such as Health and Human Services froze over $185 million in childcare funding until businesses can prove they are legitimate businesses," Shirley said.
"I actually became aware of the fraud that was happening in Minnesota in June of 2025, as I was there for a separate video and Minnesotans started reaching out to me, asking me if I was making a video about the fraud," Shirley continued. "I said, 'Well, what fraud?' and this lady...says, 'Well, I'm having a hard time selling my properties because people are curious about these assisted livings that are popping up nextdoor to some of the houses that we're buying, or the home healthcare clinics that are popping up and we don't know who's next to these houses that we're trying to sell.'"
"I said I'm not going to come and make a video if I don't have any proof, so therefore I left Minnesota, and I continued to look for fraud in the best way I could. As I was getting my own information, a man by the name of David reached out to me, and he said, 'Hey, I have been investigating this fraud for years now. I have been driving by these childcare centers; I have never seen a single child, and I received information from the state of Minnesota as to how much money these places are receiving."
Shirley said that prompted him to return to Minnesota.
"We go to a daycare, and I'm instantly surprised by what we see," Shirley said. "The first thing I noticed is that all the windows are blacked out and there's no footprints in the snow of any children, there's no playgrounds or anything that would make it look like it's a childcare. But above me, a sign read open 7 a.m to 10 p.m. But there's nobody there, the doorbell didn't even work," Shirley said.
"And then we continued to go to other daycares and we noticed the same pattern: no children, blacked out windows, and one daycare — a learning center — spelled 'Quality Learing Center' instead of Quality Learning Center. They had received $1.9 million, and yet with that $1.9 million, they could not even spell 'learing' right on their sign," Shirley noted.
"Governor Walz has said he's been fighting fraud in Minnesota since 2019, and said the buck stops with him," Shirley added. "However, how long would it take for you to notice a million dollars leaving your bank account and not knowing where it's going? That's essentially what has been happening in Minnesota for years, as billions of dollars have been misplaced. And meanwhile, while people like Governor Tim Walz call people like me 'white supremacist' and 'delusional conspiracy theorist,' he actually decided to drop out of reelection because, I believe, of how deep and extensive this fraud is."
Someone in the room clapped at this, and Shirley thanked them before continuing, "Since my reporting, the HHS Department froze over $185 million, and to this day, not a single business has been able to [provide] proof of legitimacy. How fast would you be proving you are a legitimate business if you had children to actually feed and take care of? You'd be sending that paperwork instantly."
"I made this video to document the widespread fraud that has been taking place, as I truly believe all fraud is bad, and people like me, my generation, we're sick of seeing tax dollars go towards fraud," Shirley continued. "We just want to have the same opportunities that our fathers and our grandparents had, and when you see people making millions of dollars by committing fraud, it upsets everybody from all age demographics."
"So, I hope today we can have a good conversation, and I think we can all agree that fraud is bad, and that fraud is fraud and I wish the best for our country and I think that's what needs to be happening is to crack down on all forms of fraud. So thank you having me, and God bless the U.S.A.," Shirley said.