Category: Fraud
Trump has the chance to end the welfare free-for-all Minnesota exposed
It’s the $1.2 trillion question.
The United States spends roughly $1.2 trillion every year on means-tested welfare programs — cash aid, food assistance, housing subsidies, and medical care. The list runs through a thicket of acronyms: SNAP, TANF, SSI, EITC, ACTC, WIC, CHIP, ACA subsidies, and CCDBG, plus school meals, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing.
States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.
This guaranteed-income architecture now fuels a destructive cycle. Federal spending drives debt. Debt fuels inflation. Inflation expands dependence. And Washington responds by printing more money and sending it back to the states — without demanding serious accountability.
The result is a bottomless pit of spending, fraud, and inflation, with states handed endless federal funds and almost no incentive to police abuse.
Minnesota’s massive Somali-linked fraud scandal exposes this system in its most grotesque form. The question is whether President Trump will use it to force states to reclaim ownership — and responsibility — over welfare.
The day-care, nutrition, and medical fraud uncovered in Minneapolis is not an aberration. It is the predictable outcome of an open-ended entitlement state. Fraud networks thrive wherever federal money flows without limits or consequences. While the Minneapolis cases involved tight-knit ethnic networks, the underlying problem is national and structural. As long as states do not have to pay their own way, fraud will remain rational behavior.
California offers a parallel example. A report last summer found that roughly one-third of all community college applications in the state were fake — submitted solely to extract federal financial aid. That scam could not survive if California had to pick up the tab.
It isn’t just a blue-state problem, either. As Alex Berenson has reported, Indiana’s Medicaid spending on “autism behavioral therapy” exploded thirtyfold in just six years, reaching $75,000 per child for a few hours a week of unproven playtime therapy. When federal dollars cover the bill, discipline evaporates.
RELATED: Government fraud meets its worst enemy: Some dude with a phone
Wanlee Prachyapanaprai via iStock/Getty Images
Many Americans ask how Minnesota allowed the Feeding Our Future scandal to persist for years. The answer is simple: Washington supplied unlimited money, and the state faced no budgetary consequence for ignoring warning signs.
Over 200 day-care and medical providers allegedly siphoned billions across Medicaid, child care, and nutrition programs. That scale of fraud does not occur without political indifference — or worse.
States have every incentive under this system to look away. Federal money enables a closed loop of special interests, dependency, and electoral protection. Oversight threatens the flow.
Devolving welfare programs to the states — using fixed block grants rather than open-ended federal matches — would cut this dynamic off at the knees. States must balance their budgets. They do not have a printing press. When fraud costs real money, enforcement follows.
This is the moment for Trump to make that case. Either states raise taxes to fund welfare programs themselves, or they reform and prioritize them. That choice restores democratic accountability.
Consider the contrast. The United States spends roughly $1 trillion on national defense — protecting everyone. Yet we now spend even more on means-tested welfare that serves narrower populations while distorting the economy for all. Open-ended welfare spending drives inflation, which then forces more people onto welfare. End the money-printing, and fewer people will need subsidies in the first place.
RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud
NoraVector via iStock/Getty Images
In response to the Minnesota scandal, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget froze $10 billion in funding for TANF and the Child Care Development Fund across several states. That is a start. But temporary freezes will not survive the next Democrat administration.
The durable fix is statutory restructuring — through budget reconciliation — to force states to assume full financial responsibility for welfare programs. Without unlimited federal backstopping, abuse becomes politically and fiscally intolerable.
Critics warn that block grants spark a “race to the bottom.” The 1996 welfare reform suggests the opposite. When states gained ownership, many innovated — emphasizing work, child-care support, and fraud reduction. Accountability improved because incentives changed.
Yes, benefits should be limited to the truly needy. Open-ended entitlements allowed 250 “meal sites” to appear almost overnight in Minnesota, claiming to feed 120,000 children a day.
Force states to balance their books, and they will treat taxpayer money with respect. States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.
The real way to “feed our future” is to end inflationary money-printing and dismantle the infinite entitlement state — so families can afford food on their own again.
Minnesota Welfare Scandal Is the Fraud Warning Americans Finally Noticed
Growing national outrage over Minnesota’s welfare fraud is justified, but not because of where it took place or because it…
White House Creates New Assistant Attorney General Position To Go After Fraud
Vance said the White House decided the best way to streamline anti-fraud efforts was to create a new division at the Department of Justice.
Government fraud meets its worst enemy: Some dude with a phone
Nick Shirley knocked on doors. That was all it took to crack Minnesota’s multibillion-dollar fraud scandal — and expose the failure of the institutions that were supposed to catch it.
Shirley visited Somali-run “businesses” that had received millions in taxpayer funds. His videos showed locked doors, covered windows, and empty buildings where thriving operations were supposed to exist.
When institutions feel threatened, they usually try to personalize the fight. That approach won’t work here.
Within days, the footage racked up more than 100 million views on X alone, triggered a flood of federal scrutiny, and helped force a political reckoning in a state where warnings had gone ignored for years.
Legacy media outlets initially dismissed the story as a “conspiracy theory” — until they couldn’t. Gov. Tim Walz (D) went from defending the programs to demanding crackdowns almost overnight. Federal authorities surged additional personnel and resources into Minnesota. What had been treated as untouchable suddenly became unavoidable.
What happened in Minnesota matters. But what happens next matters more.
You are about to see hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Nick Shirley imitators flood social media. Exposing government waste and fraud is no longer just journalism; it is an incentive structure and a business model.
Independent investigators armed with public records, smartphones, and social platforms will fan out across the country, documenting the gap between what government pays for and what actually exists. And the establishment has no effective way to stop them.
The old playbook no longer works.
When institutions feel threatened, they usually try to personalize the fight. Discredit the messenger. Destroy the movement by targeting its most visible figure. We saw this strategy deployed against the DOGE by turning government efficiency into a culture war about Elon Musk.
That approach won’t work here.
You can’t sue a thousand kids with iPhones. You can’t “fact-check” an empty building that’s supposed to be full of children. Calling something “misinformation” loses its power when the door is locked, the windows are covered, and fraud indictments follow months later.
RELATED: Fraud thrived under Democrats’ no-questions-asked rule
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
What’s emerging isn’t a movement with a leader — it’s a decentralized ecosystem. Accountability no longer depends on a single newsroom or institution. It comes from a generation that has figured out that exposing corruption is vastly more rewarding than working a shift at Starbucks.
That should terrify every political leader who has relied on the assumption that no one is really watching.
A single viral video now generates more pressure than a year of congressional hearings. The Minnesota press corps had years to uncover what Shirley documented in an afternoon. They didn’t look — not because the evidence was hidden, but because looking wasn’t incentivized. Now it is.
This shift is part of the reason I created Rhetor, an AI-driven political strategy firm designed to track what people are actually saying and doing in real time. Using these tools, we’ve identified billions of dollars in questionable spending beyond Minnesota.
In New York City, for example, migrant-related spending is projected to reach $4.3 billion through 2027. Audits have flagged contractors billing the city for empty hotel rooms — charging $170 per night while paying hotels closer to $100 and pocketing the difference.
Chicago has paid at least $342 million to staffing firms charging $156 an hour for shelter workers. Illinois spent $2.5 billion in 2025 under emergency rules with minimal oversight.
These are not isolated incidents. They share the same ingredients as Minnesota’s scandal: emergency declarations, suspended procurement rules, inexperienced contractors, and little meaningful oversight.
And someone is going to knock on those doors too.
The old gatekeepers understand what this means — and they’re panicking. For decades, investigative journalism required institutional backing. Stories could be delayed, softened, or killed outright if they threatened the wrong people and interests.
That system is dead.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The new investigative journalism runs on virality, not permission. The reporter is a 23-year-old with a ring light and a Substack. The editorial board is the algorithm. The feedback loop is brutal, immediate, and unforgiving. Get it wrong and the internet will tear you apart. Get it right and the story spreads faster than any newspaper ever could.
This isn’t replacing traditional journalism. It’s filling the void left when traditional journalism stopped doing its job.
Minnesota was the proof of concept. The data was public. The facilities were visitable. The fraud existed for years. Nobody looked — until looking became profitable.
Now it’s profitable everywhere.
The bureaucrats and contractors who built careers on the assumption that no one was watching are about to discover that everyone is. The politicians who treated emergency spending like free money are about to learn that the emergency is over — and the receipts are coming to light.
A generation that treats views like oxygen just learned that fraud is the best clickbait.
Good luck stopping that.
Minnesota’s fraud avalanche begins: How a ‘nonprofit’ scammed $250M meant for needy children
As Minnesota reels from the day care fraud scandal, the Feeding Our Future scam, a separate scheme that sparked broader investigations into the state’s oversight failures, continues to unfold in the courts.
The $250 million COVID-era con, which involved defrauding a taxpayer-subsidized child nutrition program, has already resulted in 78 individuals facing charges and 57 convictions, with additional charges pending.
Much like the alleged day care scheme, in which care center owners allegedly received kickbacks from the government for children they never served, many of those working with the purported nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future were charged with billing for food that was never provided to children. Many of those involved in both of these scandals are Somali.
‘To be clear, this is not an isolated scheme.’
In September 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced the first wave of federal criminal charges against dozens of individuals tied to Feeding Our Future for their alleged role in scamming the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which provides free meals to children in need.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates the program, distributing federal taxpayer dollars on a per-meal basis to the Minnesota Department of Education, which oversees the program locally. The MDE then provides reimbursement funds to sponsoring agencies such as Feeding Our Future that support sites that distribute meals directly to those in need.
The first 47 defendants were accused of using government funds to enrich themselves while falsely claiming the money was used to feed over 30,000 children daily.
As part of the conspiracy, defendants allegedly formed numerous shell companies to receive and launder the taxpayer proceeds, submitting fraudulent documentation, including meal count sheets, food invoices, and attendance rosters with fake names. The Department of Justice reported that one of the fabricated rosters listed names created by a random-name-generating website. Some defendants allegedly used an Excel formula to populate random ages between 7 and 17, since the sites could be reimbursed only for meals provided to children.
The scheme allowed Feeding Our Future, which was founded in 2016 and claimed to have opened over 250 sites, to receive more than $18 million in administrative fees alone. The DOJ also claimed that some of the nonprofit’s employees accepted bribes and kickbacks, many in the form of cash disguised as “consulting fees,” from individuals and companies.
Instead of feeding children, the defendants allegedly used these funds to purchase luxury vehicles, travel internationally, and buy property in Minnesota, Ohio, Kentucky, Kenya, and Turkey.
The defendants’ charges included conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery.
RELATED: Fraud thrived under Democrats’ no-questions-asked rule
Photo by Brianna Soukup/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
The most prominent defendant to face charges is Feeding Our Future founder and executive director Aimee Bock.
When the MDE attempted to conduct oversight of the nonprofit’s sites and reimbursement claims, Bock and her organization responded by filing a lawsuit against the agency in November 2020, alleging that the MDE had discriminated against the nonprofit based on race, national origin, color, and religion. Feeding Our Future asserted that the MDE’s “administrative and procedural hurdles” were preventing low-income and minority children from accessing federally funded food programs.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray described the scandal as an “egregious plot to steal public funds meant to care for children in need.”
By October 2022, the first guilty pleas in the case began to emerge, with four defendants admitting they knowingly and willfully conspired to commit the fraud. By February 2024, the DOJ had filed nearly two dozen additional indictments and secured at least 10 convictions, through guilty pleas and jury verdicts.
Further charges emerged in June 2024 when five of the defendants were accused of attempting to bribe a juror.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, along with four other defendants, conspired to pay Juror 52 $120,000 in exchange for returning a not-guilty verdict.
According to the DOJ, the defendants targeted this particular juror because she was the youngest and a person of color. Their selection process included researching her online and obtaining her home address and information on her family’s background. One defendant was accused of following the juror home after she left the courthouse and placing a GPS tracker on her vehicle to collect information about her daily habits.
They allegedly sought to pay Juror 52 $200,000 in cash if she returned a not-guilty verdict on all counts for all defendants. Additionally, they planned to provide her with a list of “arguments to convince other jurors,” which apparently included persuading them that the prosecution was motivated by racial animus.
While all of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to bribe a juror, bribery of a juror, and corruptly influencing a juror, Farah faced an additional charge of obstruction of justice after he allegedly performed a factory reset on his phone to delete evidence of the bribe attempt.
Farah, the co-owner and operator of a for-profit restaurant that participated in the fraud scheme, was described by the DOJ as playing a leading role in the scam, personally pocketing over $8 million. Farah sent some of the stolen taxpayer funds he collected overseas, including laundering money through China and purchasing real estate in Kenya. The DOJ stated that the overseas assets cannot be recovered.
After Farah’s passport was seized and he was informed that he was the target of a federal investigation, he applied for a new passport in downtown Minneapolis, claiming it had been lost. Farah successfully obtained a new passport and attempted to flee the country by purchasing a one-way ticket to Kenya. Law enforcement took him into custody before he could leave.
He was ultimately convicted of numerous counts, including wire fraud, federal programs bribery, money laundering, and false statements in a passport application. He was sentenced in August to 28 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
All of the defendants involved in the bribery scheme pleaded guilty.
Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
A federal jury in March found mastermind Bock and co-defendant Salim Said guilty for their roles in the scheme. Jurors determined that the co-conspirators formed dozens of shell companies to enroll as food program sites. Said, the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, from April 2020 through November 2021, claimed to have served more than 3.9 million meals to children through the restaurant’s food site and another 2.2 million meals to other food sites.
Bock was convicted on multiple counts, including wire fraud and bribery. Said was convicted of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering, among other crimes.
Some of the actors accused of defrauding the Federal Child Nutrition Program were also tied to a scam impacting the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention Autism Program.
The DOJ filed charges on September 24 against 28-year-old Asha Farhan Hassan, claiming she participated in a $14 million autism fraud scheme. Hassan was previously charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future scandal.
According to the DOJ, Hassan registered Smart Therapy LLC in November 2019 and falsely listed herself as the sole owner. She enrolled the business as a provider agency in the EIDBI Autism Program, claiming to provide Applied Behavior Analysis therapy to autistic children. She also enrolled in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, claiming that her company served up to 1,200 meals per day to children.
Hassan allegedly hired unqualified individuals, often 18- or 19-year-old relatives with no formal training, to treat autism. To facilitate her government kickback scheme, she approached Somali parents to recruit their children to receive treatment, the DOJ said. If the child did not have an autism diagnosis, her team worked to qualify the child for subsidized services.
Parents reportedly received monthly cash payments ranging from $300 to $1,500 for participating in the scheme. These payments were allegedly hidden in fraudulent Medicaid billing. Several families reportedly went to other autism centers that offered to pay larger kickbacks than Hassan’s Smart Therapy.
Hassan pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud last month.
“From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson stated. “Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network. The challenge is immense, but our work continues.”
The DOJ continues to file charges against those allegedly involved in these fraudulent schemes. In November, the department indicted its 78th defendant tied to Feeding Our Future.
The Feeding Our Future scandal exposed only a fraction of the pervasive fraud schemes plaguing Minnesota’s government, driven by lax oversight under the leadership from members of the left-leaning Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. This initial discovery has since led to the uncovering of even more potentially stolen taxpayer dollars, such as the recent day care scandal.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
‘Without citing evidence’: NYT steps on a rake trying to attack Trump administration over fraud crackdown
The Department of Health and Human Services cut off five Democrat-run states’ access to over $10 billion in federal child care and family assistance funds on Tuesday, citing “serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs.”
The New York Times joined Democrats in criticizing the Trump administration’s anti-fraud campaign — but bungled its execution.
The Times’ Minho Kim opened his Tuesday piece with the following sentence:
The Trump administration plans to freeze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services and cash support for low-income families in five states controlled by Democrats, claiming widespread fraud throughout those states, without citing evidence, after a major welfare fraud scheme in one of them.
The sentence was later rearranged without an editor’s note but without any significant alterations.
‘The first response of Democrats to instances like the Minnesota fraud findings should not be to criticize the other side.’
It was not lost on critics that immediately after asserting that the administration claimed widespread fraud “without citing evidence,” Kim himself proceeded to allude to the damning evidence of widespread fraud in one of the states facing the funding pause — fraud that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged on Monday when giving up on his ambition of re-election.
Drew Holden, the managing editor at American Compass, suggested that the New York Times perhaps “got so used to saying that the Trump admin did something ‘without citing evidence’ that they didn’t realize they mention the ‘evidence’ in the same sentence.”
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Later in the Times article, Kim acknowledged that the funding freeze builds on the HHS’ pause of $185 million in annual childcare funds in the wake of credible allegations of massive fraud in taxpayer-subsidized day care facilities in the Gopher State.
Minnesota has been home to historic fraud committed by members of the Somali community in relation to coronavirus relief funding and allegedly in relation to taxpayer-subsidized day care facilities. The COVID scams in Minnesota have resulted in dozens of criminal convictions and scores of indictments in recent years. Government officials are working to ensure similar graft is not impacting other jurisdictions.
Following the publication of Kim’s piece, American Enterprise Institute fellow Ruy Teixeira stressed that “the first response of Democrats to instances like the Minnesota fraud findings should not be to criticize the other side for attacking them and wave the bloody shirt of racism against President Trump but rather to stress the seriousness of the problem and how it will not be tolerated.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Tim Walz’s Daughter Thinks Journalist Had ‘Ethical’ Duty To Not Blow Lid Off Somali Scammers
‘You can’t just go and do this’
Fraud thrived under Democrats’ no-questions-asked rule
Democrats bear clear responsibility for Minnesota’s spiraling federal program payment scandal. Either they failed to conduct meaningful oversight of billions in public funds over many years — or they conducted none at all. Their early response to the scandal explains why: They subjected its perpetrators to an unconscionably low standard of scrutiny.
What began as a fraud investigation into federal programs meant to feed poor children has expanded rapidly. During the pandemic, a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future became the centerpiece of what federal prosecutors described as the largest COVID-era fraud scheme, involving roughly $300 million. That scandal soon widened to include fraud in autism services and housing programs. Now investigators allege that day-care centers billed taxpayers for caring for nonexistent children — one facility even displaying signage with a misspelling of “learning.”
No criminal enterprise of this size and duration emerges unless its participants believe they will not face consequences. Democrats let the fraud happen.
As revelations mount, consequences follow. Former vice presidential nominee Tim Walz abruptly abandoned his bid for a third term as Minnesota’s governor. Yet nothing suggests the full scope of the scandal has come into view, either geographically or financially.
The estimated cost continues to climb. Last summer, a federal prosecutor put the total at more than $1 billion. Just last month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson warned the figure could reach $9 billion — and that estimate covers only the schemes already uncovered. As trials proceed, new defendants emerge, and plea deals surface, the total is likely to rise farther.
Instead of demanding answers, Democrats rushed to deflect scrutiny. In Seattle, newly elected mayor and self-described democratic socialist Katie Wilson inserted herself into the controversy by issuing a statement “on the harassment of Somali childcare providers” and posting a hotline number for alleged “hate crime” victims — before any comparable fraud investigation had even begun.
Minnesota Democrats adopted the same playbook. They framed oversight itself as “racism,” attempting to shut down inquiry by exaggeratedly embracing the broader Somali community from which many of the fraudsters came. That rhetorical move does more harm than good. It links an entire community to criminal activity — something Democrats appear not to mind if it shields them politically.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan illustrated the tactic in a video statement delivered while wearing a hijab: “I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.” Flanagan, notably, is also running for the U.S. Senate in 2026.
The symbolism revealed more than intended. Democrats did not merely treat the Somali community as “part of the fabric” of Minnesota. They treated fraud perpetrators as apart from the fabric — exempt from scrutiny, audits, and accountability.
RELATED: ‘More corrupt than Minnesota’: Trump mocks Newsom after launching California fraud investigation
Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images
Local reporting points to warning signs stretching back more than a decade. Yet Democrats allowed massive federal programs to operate under standards so lax that fraud flourished unchecked.
Despite their rhetoric of inclusion, Democrats effectively segregated oversight itself. They refused to apply basic accountability to billions in taxpayer dollars. At minimum, that constitutes gross incompetence.
The underlying reality is simpler. Democrats let the fraud happen. Whether through neglect or willful blindness, they allowed these programs to operate without serious supervision while evidence of abuse accumulated.
Fraud on this scale does not persist without a sense of impunity. That impunity may have grown gradually through years of nonexistent audits and rubber-stamped claims. Or it may have been reinforced more explicitly. Either way, no criminal enterprise of this size and duration emerges unless its participants believe they will not face consequences.
The precise nature of Democrat culpability remains to be determined. Was it incompetence? A DEI mindset that discouraged scrutiny? Political quid pro quos? Tim Walz’s sudden exit from the governor’s race suggests that the answers may prove damaging.
What is already clear is this: Minnesota’s fraud scandal did not happen in spite of Democratic governance. It happened because of it.
Trump administration sends Democrats into hysterics by freezing funding to 5 blue states over fraud concerns
President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that those responsible for the historic fraud in Minnesota — members of the Somali community in particular — aren’t just ripping off the Gopher State but the country at large.
“Think of it: $19 billion at least they’ve stolen from Minnesota and from the United States,” said Trump.
“We’re not going to pay it any more. We’re going to have [Gov. Tim] Walz go pay. We’re not going to pay them, and we’re not going to pay California, and we’re not going to pay Illinois.”
In the wake of the president’s remarks, the Trump administration cut off five Democrat-run states’ access to over $10 billion in federal child care and family assistance funds.
‘It’s a giant scam.’
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it had barred California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York from accessing nearly $2.4 billion in Child Care and Development Fund money; $7.35 billion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Family funds; and $869 million in Social Services Block Grant funds.
“Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement. “This action reflects our commitment to program integrity, fiscal responsibility, and compliance with federal requirements.”
HHS Assistant Secretary Alex Adams, the head of the Administration for Children and Families, emphasized the government’s responsibility to “ensure these programs serve the families they were created to help,” adding that “when there are credible concerns about fraud or misuse, we will act.”
Photo by Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
HHS indicated that the funding freeze will remain in place until the ACF completes a review and determines that the affected states are in compliance with federal requirements.
‘It’s cruel.’
Adams and O’Neill also announced on Tuesday that the Trump administration is ending Biden-era practices of providing child-care centers with payments up front without verifying attendance.
Democrats melted down over the funding pause, characterizing the effort to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t siphoned away by fraudsters as an attack on children.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose state has seen its share of day-care fraud, said in response to the funding freeze, “It’s vindictive. It’s cruel. And we’ll fight it with every fiber of our being.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tried downplaying the fraud, claiming that “this has nothing to do with fraud and everything to do with political retribution that punishes poor children in need of assistance.”
“Rather than making life easier and more affordable for our families, Donald Trump is stripping away child care from Illinois families who are just trying to go to work,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D). “Thousands of parents and children depend on these child-care programs to help them make ends meet, and now their livelihoods are being put at risk.”
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat with aspirations of becoming his state’s next governor, tweeted, “Donald Trump has declared war on Colorado. He is now robbing thousands of vulnerable Colorado families of the critical support they need to afford food, housing, and health care.”
Trump raised the matter of fraud in Minnesota during a New Year’s Eve event, then noted that “California is worse, Illinois is worse, and, sadly, New York is worse. A lot of other places. We’re going to get to the bottom of all of it. It’s a giant scam.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
