Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat in front of the House Oversight Committee today and tried to explain how $9 billion in taxpayer money vanished from his state’s social services programs while he was busy running for Vice President. Spoiler alert: he blamed Trump.
You can’t make this stuff up! The guy who presided over the largest COVID fraud scandal in American history — nine billion dollars, with a B — told Congress that the real problem is “political retribution” from the Trump administration. That’s like the Titanic’s captain blaming the iceberg for being in the wrong lane.
Here’s what actually happened. During COVID, the federal government sent mountains of cash to states to feed kids who couldn’t get school lunches. Minnesota had a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future that was supposed to distribute those meals. Instead, it became the biggest meal fraud operation in American history. The organization went from receiving $307,000 in 2018 to $199 million in 2021. When asked if he noticed that modest 64,000% increase, Governor Walz told Congress, “Not specifically, but I know it increased during the pandemic.”
Not specifically. Nine billion dollars. Not specifically.
Feeding Our Future’s operators weren’t exactly subtle about where the money went. They bought Porsches, mansions, and first-class tickets to Istanbul. They popped champagne at resorts in the Maldives. They purchased entire buildings in Kenya. Federal prosecutors say 85 of the 98 people charged are of Somali descent, and the Treasury Department is now investigating whether stolen funds made their way to al-Shabaab — the largest al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa — through informal money transfer networks called Hawala.
So your tax dollars were supposed to feed hungry kids in Minneapolis. Instead, they may have funded terrorism in Somalia. And Tim Walz didn’t notice.
The governor displayed despicable behavior when lawmakers asked him very basic questions about how much money his state fraudulently spent and just how far he went to avoid looking at the obvious welfare scheme.
It gets better. State employees who DID notice — about a thousand whistleblowers — were fired, blacklisted from state agencies, or escorted out of government buildings. State Rep. Robbins testified that the Walz administration’s response to the fraud warnings was, and I quote, “They actually did nothing when they got into office.” One grant manager approved $680,000 for a single month’s work with zero proof anything was done, then resigned days later to go work for the grantee. (Nothing suspicious there!)
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) grilled the governor about another whistleblower named Faye Bernstein. Bernstein was called a racist and Islamophobe over her efforts to bring the massive welfare fraud being committed in her home state to the attention of top lawmakers. Rep. Gill hammered Walz over his handling of Bernstein in a dramatic exchange
Then there’s Attorney General Keith Ellison, Walz’s partner in oblivion. Ellison had a recorded meeting with Feeding Our Future affiliates — people now on trial for fraud — and his focus, according to congressional testimony, was “ensuring money continues to flow.” Not “are these children actually being fed?” Not “should we audit these numbers?” Just: keep the cash moving. And did those Feeding Our Future folks donate to Ellison’s campaign? You bet they did.
Rep. Tom Emmer flat-out accused Ellison of “quid pro quo” — obstructing investigations in exchange for campaign donations. Ellison insists he rejected their help. On a tape. That he didn’t know was being recorded.
Walz’s defense strategy today was predictable. He accused the federal government of “targeting Minnesota” and using fraud as a political weapon against him. This is the man who was on the Democratic ticket for Vice President eighteen months ago. The man whose party floated him as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. Now he can’t even run for a third term as governor because his own party told him to sit down.
Remember Rod Blagojevich? The Illinois governor who tried to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat and ended up in federal prison? That scandal involved a few million dollars and one corrupt politician being stupid on a wiretap. Minnesota’s scandal involves $9 billion, 98 defendants, potential terrorism financing, and a governor who claims he didn’t notice any of it. Blagojevich got 14 years. Just something to keep in mind.
The Oversight Committee isn’t done. Chairman Comer is expanding the investigation to other states, because if Minnesota’s Medicaid programs were hemorrhaging money at a 50% fraud rate — and that’s the prosecutors’ estimate, that half of $18 billion in spending since 2018 was stolen — what do you think is happening in California? In New York? In Illinois? Mark my words: Minnesota is patient zero for a nationwide audit of COVID-era social services spending that’s going to make DOGE look like a warm-up act.
And here’s what nobody’s talking about yet. JD Vance already froze $185 million in HHS funding to Minnesota. That’s not a one-time thing. Every state that can’t account for its COVID funds is about to get the same treatment. The governors screaming loudest about “political retribution” in six months will be the ones whose books look the worst. (Funny how that works.)
As for Walz — the man who wanted to be a heartbeat from the presidency — his political career is already over. He just doesn’t know it yet. You don’t testify before Congress about $9 billion in fraud on your watch and walk away as a statesman. You walk away as a cautionary tale that parents tell their kids about what happens when you’re so busy climbing the ladder that you forget to look out the window.
Welcome to the most expensive “oops” in American history.