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Vice President JD Vance said Monday that he has referred allegations involving Minnesota’s handling of large-scale welfare fraud to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation.
In a post on X, Vance said evidence gathered by the House Oversight Committee raised concerns that Tim Walz and Keith Ellison failed to act against widespread fraud and retaliated against whistleblowers who attempted to expose it.
“I’ve referred these allegations to DOJ’s new Fraud Division for criminal investigation,” Vance wrote. “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 referral followed the release of a House Oversight Committee report led by Chairman James Comer. The report concluded that Minnesota officials were aware of alleged fraud in state-administered welfare programs as early as 2019 but failed to intervene.
Comer said that he believes lawmakers uncovered evidence of criminal wrongdoing tied to the alleged cover-up.
“I think that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison should be held accountable,” Comer said. “I think that they’ve violated the laws.”
The report focused heavily on the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, which federal investigators say involved the theft of at least $300 million from federal child nutrition programs administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The committee also cited estimates that roughly $9 billion in fraud may have occurred in Minnesota Medicaid programs since 2018.
According to the report, state officials allegedly failed to implement sufficient oversight controls and, in some cases, retaliated against employees who attempted to raise concerns. The committee further claimed officials feared political retribution from the Somali community, where investigators said much of the fraud activity was concentrated.
Vance’s referral increases pressure on the Justice Department to determine whether evidence gathered by Congress warrants criminal charges or presentation to a grand jury.
