Tipsheet

Vice President Vance Visited Milwaukee Today, and Here's What He Had to Say

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  July 08, 2026 2:55 PM

Vice President Vance paid a visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today amid his ongoing efforts leading the White House Fraud Task Force. Wisconsin's Democrat Governor, Tony Evers, has been one of several blue state leaders to refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration on SNAP audits and other fraud-prevention efforts, including voter fraud.

Here's more:

Vice President JD Vance will visit Milwaukee Wednesday to highlight the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud through the White House task force he chairs.

Vance is scheduled to deliver remarks at 11:30 am at the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing at Mitchell International Airport. The event focuses on the administration’s work rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in federal programs, building on earlier stops in other states.

The Vice President leads the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which was established earlier this year. Administration officials say the effort has already identified billions in improper payments and questionable benefits, particularly in areas such as food assistance and other entitlement programs. Vance has criticized some Democrat-led states, including Wisconsin, for refusing to share data that could help track fraud.

Several Milwaukee-area people have been charged in Medicaid-related fraud schemes, including Jasmine Cooper, who pleaded guilty at the end of June to $5.4 million in fraud. Fraud has cost Wisconsin taxpayers at least $15.5 million, and three others have already been sentenced to federal prison, including Markita Barnes, owner of Here For You Prenatal Care Coordination Services who received a 121-month sentence in March; Precious Cruse, owner of Caring Through Love, was sentenced in January to 111 months in prison; and Lakia Jackson was sentenced to 60 months earlier this year.

Back in April, a Milwaukee grocery store owner pleaded guilty to $1.6 million in a SNAP fraud scheme. Nael Jabbar of Franklin, who owned and operated Hot Spot Super Market, admitted to exchanging SNAP benefits for cash, giving SNAP recipients half of the transaction in cash while billing SNAP for the full amount.

The Vice President will also attend a Republican fundraiser in Milwaukee this evening.

Vance spoke at the 128th Air Refueling Wing.

"We're here to talk about fraud, we're here to talk about protecting your taxpayer money, and most importantly, we're here to talk about protecting the programs that exist, that are funded by the generosity of the people in this room and that ought go to the people they're meant for and not to make fraudsters rich," Vance said. "It's a very simple principle."

He then thanked CMS Administrator Dr. Oz, and Fraud Task Force members Kim Brandt and Scott Brady. "They have protected more of your money than anybody," Vance said. He also acknowledged Rep. Bryan Steil. "He has been a phenomenal champion for the state of Wisconsin."

"We have got to have a Governor who takes fraud as seriously as the President of the United States," Vance continued, "and that's Tom Tiffany."

"We don't have two parties that disagree about tax policy, regulatory policy. " We've got a party that's fighting for fraud and a party that's fighting against fraud," Vance said.

He also touted the Task Force's accomplishments.

"There are people setting up these programs, setting up companies that sell durable medical equipment, and they're not selling a single product, but they're billing for lots of product," Vance said. "Billions and billions of dollars was being billed to you."

"The fraudsters were getting rich ... but our seniors who desperately needed the resources, who desperately needed a hospital bed, and the oxygen tanks, they weren't getting them," Vance added. "Because the fraudsters were getting rich off the generosity of the American taxpayer."

"We came in and we said we are not sanctioning a single one of these companies to defraud the American people," Vance continued. "We saved billions of dollars."

"Not a single Congressional Democrat stood up and said they were going to fight against fraud," Vance said.  "But today, this is not about better or worse policy. It's about who is supporting the fraudsters and who is supporting you."

Vance said his grandparents, blue-collar Democrats, would not recognize today's Democratic Party.

"We have a program called the H1B Visa program," Vance said. "We're making sure fraudsters don't take advantage of these visa programs."

"You know what's happening way too much? Big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers," he continued. "If you are trying to take advantage of that visa program, you are not allowed into the United States of America.

Vance also announced the Department of Labor started issuing dozens of subpoenas and launching investigations into 'foreign fraudsters' who are taking advantage of the H1B visa program.

"Here's a simple principle. American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it," Vance said.

Vance then showed charts on another fraud, specifically allografts, a medical procedure used to cover wounds or burns with skin grafts.

"I didn't even know this program existed," he said.

"If you go back to 2019, 2020, 2021, you see less than a billion dollars is paid for these skin grafts," Vance noted. "These are very important procedures for the people who need them. What happened under the Biden administration? All of a sudden we go from less than a billion dollars spent on these skin grafts to $15 billion in 2025. And actually, in 2026 the number was supposed to be $25 billion, but because we cut down on fraudulent payment and fraudulent billing, we saved you $25 billion."

"Again, my friends, we want the people who deserve these treatments, who need these treatments, to have access to them," Vance said. "If we spend all your money given these treatments to fraudsters instead of giving them to the people who need them, then those programs aren't going to exist anymore."

"When we allow that money that ought by rights go to feed children poor children but instead goes to fraudsters, we destroy the social fabric of the United States of America," Vance said.

"When you pay your tax dollars, it goes to the people who need it, not to the fraudsters. Which is why we're throwing those fraudsters in prison. It's exactly where they belong," he said.

"In Milwaukee, with the government of this state looking the other way, we had people who were allowing fraudsters to get rich off of that prenatal care without providing a dime of services to young moms who need it," Vance said, noting that a lack of prenatal care increases the risk of infant mortality. He then talked about one of the fraudsters who took Medicaid funds, which led to a scaling back of the program.

"If you fight to take money away from needy moms and give it to this woman and her Louis Vuitton bags, you should have your a** thrown the hell out of Washington D.C.," Vance said, slamming Congressional Democrats yet again.

"We have the opportunity to keep the momentum of the last couple of years and particularly of the last few months," Vance said in his closing. "We can keep on fighting fraud, or we can reward the fraudsters. We can kick criminal illegal aliens out of our country or we can reward people for stealing your tax money. We can protect those moms who need that prenatal care, or we can give away to people who are trying to take advantage of you and take advantage of the system."

"This is not a normal election. We're not running against people who maybe have different ideas about tax policy or regulatory policy," he added. "To the people watching at home, I understand. You're of course not going to agree with the President and the Vice President about every single issue. But what I hope we can all agree on is the simple principle that the people's government exists to fight for the people and not the fraudsters."

"So please help us out by sending Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil back to Washington, D.C. Keep the pro-fraud party out of Washington, keep these guys fighting for you."