Congressional Republicans call on Minnesota’s Tim Walz to testify

Congressional Republicans on Wednesday called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to testify amid an ongoing social services fraud scandal, as the White House signaled it could expand its investigations into other blue states.

A day after the Trump administration said it would freeze hundreds of millions of dollars of child-care funds to Minnesota, House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer, R-Ky., invited Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, both Democrats, to appear before the panel on Feb. 10. 

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs,” Comer said in a Wednesday statement.

An earlier hearing, slated for Jan. 7, will feature Minnesota state officials who sounded the alarm or investigated the fraud.

“American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money,” he continued.

Walz, who took office in 2019, has come under fire in recent months over fraud scams that occurred during his administration. He has recently faced calls to resign. The scandals date back several years and may have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, according to prosecutors.

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have seized on reports of fraud to target Walz and other Democratic leaders, as well as Somalis living in Minnesota.

Also on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” that other states could be next and that Trump was on board with revoking the citizenship of implicated Somali Americans.

“Minnesota is the top of the list, but we know there has been massive fraud in blue states across this country. Look at California. Look at New York. These states will all be under investigation and consideration as far as this administration is concerned,” Leavitt said.

“Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused by people that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia,” Trump said Wednesday in a Truth Social post in which he also attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Somali American to serve in Congress. Trump called Omar “an ungrateful loser.”

Omar could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

“Lowlifes like this can only be a liability to our Country’s greatness. Send them back from where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth,” Trump said. He also called Walz a “crooked governor.”

A spokesperson for Walz, who was Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2024, responded on Wednesday: “We’re always happy to work with Congress, though this committee has a track record of holding circus hearings that have nothing to do with the issue at hand.”

 “While the Governor has been working to ensure fraudsters go to prison, the President has been selling pardons to let them out,” the statement continued.

In a Wednesday press release, Ellison defended his record, claiming he has “prosecuted over 300 Medicaid fraud cases and won over $80 million in recoveries and restitution for the people of Minnesota,” since taking office in 2019.

Ellison also said he and his team were “exploring all legal options” in response to the halted child-care funds.

“This hasty, scorched earth-attack is not just wrong, it may well be illegal,” Ellison said.

The freezing of child-care money, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel’s Sunday announcement of a surge of federal agents to Minnesota, followed a viral video posted over the weekend by a conservative influencer that purported to show nonoperational child-care facilities that received federal funds. 

The video brought renewed attention to long-simmering allegations of fraud that have raised questions about Walz’s leadership and led to the targeting of Minnesota’s large Somali community for its alleged role in various schemes.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and Assistant Secretary Alex Adams announced the funding freeze in a post Tuesday on X. O’Neill also announced a nationwide verification system to authorize child-care payments, demanded that Walz investigate individuals suspected of fraud and announced a fraud-reporting hotline.

“We believe the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake daycares to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the past decade,” O’Neill said.

“Funds will be released only when states prove they are being spent legitimately,” O’Neill wrote in a subsequent post.

Vice President JD Vance applauded the move.

“Turning off payments and forcing verification before taxpayer money flows out the door is one of the most important steps we can take to end the fraud in Minnesota. But there will be many more to come,” Vance said Tuesday on X.

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday posted that 98 individuals had been charged and more than 60 had been found guilty in court. Of those charged, 85 are of Somali descent, according to Bondi.

“We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!” Bondi said on X.

Investigations into Minnesota’s social services program date back several years. A federal prosecutor in Minnesota said earlier this month that more than a dozen Medicaid-funded programs were being probed and that as much as half of the $18 billion in taxpayer funds spent on those programs since 2018 may have been stolen.

One Covid-era scam, which hinged on a Minnesota nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, led to charges for dozens of defendants who allegedly stole $250 million in taxpayer funds.

Walz has come under fire for allowing the fraud to transpire on his watch. This weekend, a group of Minnesota Republicans called on Walz to resign, citing the state’s “fraud crisis.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., has also called on Walz to step down. In a statement to CNBC on Wednesday, Emmer praised the Trump administration’s actions and took aim at his state’s governor.

“Tim Walz’s incompetence and inaction has hurt every Minnesotan, and now Walz is suffering the consequences,” Emmer said. “His failed leadership has allowed billions to be stolen from hardworking Minnesota taxpayers.”