Vance refers Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, AG Keith Ellison to DOJ for probe over House panels damning fraud report

Vice President JD Vance referred Minnesota state officials, including Democratic Gov.Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, to the Justice Department for investigation and potential prosecution following the release of a blistering House Oversight Committee report examining benefit fraud in the state.On Sunday, the Oversight panel had sent a letter to Vance, who helms the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, urging him to further probe Minnesota.“I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation,” Vance posted on X Monday evening.

“Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and [intimidated] whistleblowers, they must face justice.”The powerful Oversight Committee began investigating theft of taxpayer funds in Minnesota after YouTuber Nick Shirley’s viral video in December of last year detailed how purported sham child care facilities got federal money.Minnesota is estimated to have lost at least $300 million in the separate Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, which led to dozens of individuals facing charges.A former federal prosecutor estimated last year that as much as $9 billion routed through Minnesota’s 14 Medicaid programs may have been lost to fraud since 2018.Walz and other Minnesota officials have pushed back at that eye-popping estimate.“The Committee’s investigation found that senior officials in the Minnesota state government … were aware of widespread fraud in federally funded social services programs for years, possessed the legal and procedural authority to stop payments and ban fraudulent providers, but repeatedly failed to act,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote.Vance underscored Monday that he is not prejudging whether Minnesota officials named in that report should be criminally charged.“We are not going to do what the Biden administration did and make judgments of...