The US vice-president, JD Vance, asked the Department of Justice to investigate Tim Walz, his rival in the 2024 election, after a congressional report renewed allegations of inaction and retaliation over fraud schemes in Minnesota.
In the Trump administration’s latest broadside by the federal government against the midwestern state and its political leaders, Vance referred Walz, its Democratic governor, and Keith Ellison, its Democratic attorney general, for investigation.
Ellison has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration.
The Republican-controlled oversight committee in the US House of Representatives released a 205-page report on Monday alleging Walz and Ellison knew about “widespread taxpayer fraud” in social programs and “repeatedly failed to act”.
It also claimed that state leaders retaliated against state employees who brought fraud concerns forward, “allowing criminal schemes to flourish and diverting critical resources from vulnerable Americans”.
Vance said on X that he referred the House report to the justice department’s 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,” he wrote.
In a statement, Ellison said the report’s allegations are “unfounded”, and that Vance’s referral is a “political stunt from an administration that uses the machinery of government to target its perceived opponents while extending leniency to those aligned with its interests”. It contains no evidence to show that he or his office ignored or failed to act on fraud claims, he said.
“The people of Minnesota know the difference between accountability and political theater. They have seen the consequences of these policies first-hand,” Ellison said. “A partisan report and a social media post from the vice-president do not change the record – and they do not change our commitment to uphold the law, protect the public, and pursue justice without fear or favor.”
Walz’s office pointed to his March congressional testimony, where he called the government’s attacks on Minnesota “political retribution” and detailed the action his administration had taken on fraud.
“This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke,” Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for Walz, said in a statement. “They continue to rehash COVID-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ICE, and the President’s insider trading.
“Governor Walz is glad to see fraudsters are going to prison. If the committee is concerned about corruption, they should investigate why President Trump continues to let fraudsters out of prison.”
Fraud in Minnesota emerged as a fixation of the Trump administration late last year, when rightwing influencers elevated long-running fraud prosecutions and made videos alleging new schemes. Fraud claims, particularly against Somalis, served as an underpinning to send thousands of federal immigration agents into the state, where two US citizens were killed in the streets by agents earlier this year.
The justice department is also reportedly investigating Walz, Ellison and local officials for allegedly hindering immigration enforcement.
The federal government has attempted to freeze funding streams for programs including childcare funding and food assistance over fraud concerns.
The largest scheme, a $250m fraud, involved a Covid-era non-profit called Feeding Our Future, which submitted false claims that the group fed children, but instead the money was used to fund “lavish lifestyles”, the federal government has said. The orchestrator of the scheme, Aimee Bock, was recently sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison. Dozens of others, largely Somalis, have been prosecuted as part of the case.
Other programs, including childcare providers and autism therapy providers billing Medicaid, have faced charges more recently as fraud investigations continue. The ballooning fraud led Walz to end his bid for a third term as governor, with him saying he needed to focus on leading the state and couldn’t give an election campaign his attention.
James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and chair of the House oversight committee, claimed in a statement that Walz and Ellison were “responsible for one of the most stunning oversight failures this committee has ever examined”.
The report claims the Minnesota officials were aware of fraud in social service programs as early as 2019. State agencies were able to suspend or stop payments to providers if they suspected fraud, but “failed to act”, it alleges. This inaction led to hundreds of millions of federal funds to continue going to fraudulent services, the report says.
“Testimony and documents show that concerns about litigation and accusations of discrimination – not legal barriers or directives from law enforcement – were cited as reasons for continuing payments to suspected fraudsters,” Comer’s press release said.
House Republicans brought Walz and Ellison in for questioning earlier this year, and released a truncated version of the report in March. House Democrats on the oversight committee released their own report, saying House Republicans were using fraud as a pretext to go after Minnesota, writing that Republicans were “once again relitigating a fraud scheme that is being aggressively investigated and prosecuted by federal and state authorities”.
