Vance refers Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota attorney general to DOJ for fraud investigation

Vice President JD Vance announced Monday that he is referring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison — both Democrats — to the Justice Department for a criminal fraud investigation involving social services programs.

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“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,” Vance wrote on X, adding that his referral was prompted by a letter and a report from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.

The committee’s report, published Monday, alleged that Minnesota state officials, including Walz and Ellison, were “aware of widespread taxpayer fraud in federally funded social programs for years” and did not take steps to stop it.

Walz’s and Ellison’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night on the criminal referral, but their spokespeople were dismissive of the GOP report in statements to other news outlets.

The committee also wrote a letter Sunday urging Vance, in his capacity as head of the White House’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, to review Minnesota’s social services programs.

Vance was named head of the task force in February after President Donald Trump announced a “war on fraud” in his State of the Union address. Shortly after that announcement, Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said they were pausing federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota.

Walz said at the time that the move had “nothing to do with fraud,” calling it a “campaign of retribution.”

“Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said Feb. 25 on X.

Minnesota came under federal scrutiny earlier in Trump’s second term over allegations of fraud involving daycare centers. The state said in January that childcare facilities at the center of those allegations were not operating improperly.

Federal law enforcement agencies in April conducted a series of raids to look into allegations of welfare fraud under what the Department of Homeland Security said at the time were search warrants “relating to the rampant fraud of American taxpayer dollars.”

Trump and his allies claimed the fraud was conducted by the state’s Somali community, a frequent target of his.

Walz appeared to laud the raids, saying they took place in collaboration with authorities in Minnesota and happened “because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.”

“That’s how the system is supposed to work, and our agencies will keep at it as long as there are fraudsters around to put behind bars,” Walz wrote on X, adding that people who commit fraud in Minnesota will get caught.

It’s not the first time the Justice Department under Trump has opened an investigation into Walz, who was former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

The Justice Department launched a probe into Walz and Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in January, alleging they conspired to impede federal immigration enforcement through public statements. The investigation came after a surge of immigration officers to Minneapolis, which led to protests and federal officers’ killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Walz has called that investigation politically motivated.