Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, pictured at a progressive political convention in Barcelona, Spain, in April, has been referred to the Department of Justice for investigation of his role in the social services fraud scandal that has rocked his state. (Aldara Zarraoa / Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz June 9, 2026 at 1:22pm
Politicians who presided over gargantuan fraud in Minnesota’s Somali illegal immigrant community might soon face justice.
According to Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance announced Monday on the network’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” program that he has referred Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic State Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota to the Department of Justice for investigation.
“We’re certainly going to investigate this, Jesse, and I guess now I can make a bit of breaking news because I left the White House to come here to do this interview with you. And before I did, we actually referred this particular case to the Department of Justice for a full criminal investigation,” Vance said, according to Fox.
Vance also said President Donald Trump would not weaponize the federal government the way his predecessor did.
“We are not going to do what the Biden administration did and make judgments of the law before all the facts are in,” Vance said.
Still, Minnesota Democrats look to be guilty of at least egregious neglect and possibly crimes.
“But here’s what’s particularly troubling about this to me is, Jesse, you had people within Governor Walz’s office who were saying, ‘You know what? This looks like fraud. It looks like these Somalian illegal immigrants are doing something that’s very shady,’” Vance said. “And then you had people who shut them down, who shut these whistleblowers down and said,, ‘You know, you’re a racist or you’re a xenophobe for asking questions about where taxpayer money is going.’”
That sort of behavior demands investigation and perhaps more, the vice president said.
“What that means to me, Jesse, is that clearly people weren’t taking fraud seriously. Whether it rises to the level of a criminal violation, we’re gonna investigate it, and of course, if it does rise to that level, we’re going to prosecute it. We have to,” Vance said.
Late last year, YouTube personality Nick Shirley exposed rampant instances of apparent fraud in the Minnesota Somali community and ignited a scandal that eventually derailed Walz’s plans to run for a third term as Minnesota governor.
In a series of videos that went viral in December, Shirley visited locations in Minneapolis that purported to provide publicly funded services, such as child care, only to discover, for instance, no children on site.
Then, the Trump administration surged Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Minnesota. But violent anti-ICE protests resulted in the deaths of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Shortly thereafter, Trump called for a “softer touch” in immigration enforcement.
In his February State of the Union Address, however, the president promised to punish politicians who enabled the fraud.
Finally, in March, Trump appointed Vance to head up the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
Monday on the social media platform X, the House Oversight Committee posted what it called a “BOMBSHELL report exposing how Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison fueled Minnesota’s fraud explosion.”
BREAKING: We just released a BOMBSHELL report exposing how Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison fueled Minnesota’s fraud explosion.
$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
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 8, 2026
Also Monday, Vance shared the Oversight Committee post, along with his own letter to Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald.
“These allegations raise several issues that the National Fraud Enforcement Division must immediately investigate,” the vice president wrote to McDonald.
Vance proceeded to identify those issues, including whether Walz and Ellison knew about the scope of the fraud, whether they tried to cover it up, and whether they might have violated federal civil or criminal law.
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
In April, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the DOJ had already opened more than 8,000 fraud cases involving stolen taxpayer dollars nationwide and expected to open many more.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
