Category: Minnesota
MEDIA MOB MALPRACTICE! Press Sec. Blasts Reporters for ‘Smearing’ ICE Agent After New Vid Drops — ‘Media Trust at All-Time Low!’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back Friday against media coverage of the ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis, insisting the ICE agent “properly defended himself.
FOOTAGE RELEASED: Cellphone Video Shows POV of Minneapolis ICE Agent Moments Before Shooting [WATCH]
![FOOTAGE RELEASED: Cellphone Video Shows POV of Minneapolis ICE Agent Moments Before Shooting [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Footage-300x229.png "Footage")
A conservative Minnesota outlet, Alpha News, has released newly surfaced cellphone footage that appears to show the confrontation from an ICE agent’s perspective during the Jan.
‘Financial calamity’: Bessent blasts Minnesota Democrats’ massive fraud fiasco, launching sweeping interventions
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a press conference on Friday to address the rampant fraud in Minnesota that has exploded in headlines over recent weeks.
“I am optimistic that we are going to put an end to this waste, fraud, and abuse, that we are going to have recoveries for the American people, and that we are going to hold people accountable, set an example, and make sure that federal aid gets to the people it was intended for and not to these fraudsters,” Bessent stated.
He hammered the state’s left-wing leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz (DFL), for forcing residents to endure their “egregious negligence” and allowing taxpayer-funded welfare fraud to “spiral out of control.”
“Billions of dollars intended for hungry children, housing for disabled seniors, and services for children with special needs, were diverted to people who cheated the system — some of whom are not even American citizens,” Bessent continued.
Minnesota fraudsters stole at least $300 million in taxpayer funds intended for children in need, the secretary estimated.
He announced that the Treasury Department is actively investigating these issues, confirming that some of the funds could have been transferred out of the country to terrorist organizations, such as Somali-based al-Shabaab.
President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Bessent assured the American people that President Donald Trump and his entire administration are committed to “restoring accountability” and putting Minnesota “back on the right track.”
In response to the pervasive fraud schemes, Bessent announced several new initiatives, including investigations into money service businesses that may have transferred funds overseas, a geographic targeting order for Hennepin and Ramsey Counties that lowers the reporting threshold for overseas transfers to $3,000, and a new IRS task force to investigate COVID-era fraud.
Additionally, he noted that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to financial institutions to help them identify and report fraud tied to federal child nutrition programs. The Treasury Department is also training Minnesota law enforcement officials on how to detect such schemes.
“We will not let the incompetents and recalcitrants of Governor Walz stop law enforcement from holding these perpetrators accountable,” Bessent declared.
The new protocols placed on Minnesota will serve as a “genesis and a launching pad” for a national rollout.
RELATED: Bessent delivers bad news to Somalis on welfare: No more wire transfers to the homeland
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
A reporter pressed Bessent about Walz’s potential role in the state’s failure to identify and stop the fraud.
“We are actively pursuing all leads to see the level of involvement, whether it’s limited to just negligence and incompetence, or is something more than that,” Bessent responded.
When asked whether Somali government officials directed their citizens to relocate to Minnesota to exploit vulnerable systems, or whether the fraudsters were acting on their own, Bessent replied, “We do not know the depth, breadth, and collusion in this financial calamity that Governor Walz has allowed to have happen.”
“Was this directed from overseas? Is it an endogenous flourishing of these fraudsters that Governor Walz allowed to grow right here in the backyard and take advantage of hardworking people of Minnesota? We’ll see. … We will get to the bottom of it,” he continued.
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‘The beginning of a civil war’: Glenn Beck sounds alarm on Walz, Frey challenging federal authority in Minneapolis ICE shooting fallout
On Wednesday, January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation. Based on video footage from the incident, President Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and many other officials have accused Good of deliberately obstructing ICE and weaponizing her vehicle in an attempt to ram and run over the agent who shot her.
The left, meanwhile, is foaming at the mouth, framing Good, whose vehicle struck an officer, requiring him to seek medical attention, as an innocent observer.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) have even gone as far as challenging federal forces. Most conservatives have had little reaction to their statements, as they’re on brand for the two radical leftists, but Glenn Beck says they should terrify everyone.
On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn breaks down the dangerous implications of Frey’s and Walz’s statements.
In a press conference following the incident with Good, Frey said, “I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”
Glenn is flabbergasted by the mayor’s words. “What else is going on in Minneapolis? … The biggest scandal of the state and possibly the biggest heist of taxpayer money in the history of our country is going on in [Minneapolis’] Somali community,” he says, predicting that both Frey and Walz will “go to jail” for their alleged complicity in it.
“So do they have any incentive at all to make the federal government into the bad guy? Absolutely,” Glenn continues, adding that Frey’s disdain for the federal government is akin to that of the “anarchists, communists, [and] people who are trying to actively overthrow our government by causing chaos in our streets.”
Walz’s statement was even more terrifying, however.
“We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. … I have issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary. I remind you, a warning order is a heads-up for folks,” he said.
“There is no other way to read this other than: ‘I am training our National Guard to stand up against our federal government,’” Glenn translates.
As outlined in the Constitution, a governor, Glenn explains, “cannot block the Department of Justice in any criminal investigation,” “the Department of Homeland Security enforcement action,” or “Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations carried out under federal statute.”
“Federal authority in these areas come directly from what’s called the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It means the federal law is supreme over what the governor says and what the state law is,” he explains.
“State consent for federal law enforcement is not required, so when a governor says, ‘We don’t need any further help from the federal government’ … there’s nothing legal in that — nothing.”
It is legal, however, for a governor to “refuse cooperation,” “withdraw all state resources,” and even “instruct state agencies, ‘you’re not to participate.”’ But “the moment the governor crosses this line from non-cooperation to interference, they’ve just violated the Constitution and put us on the edge of a constitutional crisis or civil war,” says Glenn.
Walz threatening to deploy the military against federal operations in the state is “the brightest red line,” he says.
“Once the governor said that, everything has to change.”
One option, although it’s Glenn’s least favorite, is Trump federalizes the Minnesota National Guard.
The other option is for Walz to face “obstruction consequences,” says Glenn. “Federal injunctions, contempt of court, criminal exposure for obstruction — this all has precedent, and it should be considered.”
Glenn is certain that Walz is not actually threatening to deploy the National Guard against federal officers — as that would land him in jail, which he’s already trying to avoid in light of the state’s egregious Somali fraud schemes.
“He is calling up the Democratic national guard. … He is calling on people like Renee Nicole Good. He is trying to get people who are so zombie-like on the Democratic side to go up and put their bodies in and to obstruct. He’s using them as soldiers,” Glenn lays bare.
What Walz said is “not just unconstitutional on the National Guard side. That is just morally reprehensible.”
To hear more, watch the video above.
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Somali terror group cashing in on your tax dollars? Minnesota’s childcare fraud whistleblowers warned about a decade ago.
Minnesota has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks due to revelations of a widespread childcare fraud scheme, largely among local Somalis, that has allegedly drained millions of taxpayer dollars. However, the problem is far from new, as whistleblowers have been warning about this alleged rampant abuse for nearly a decade.
Yet, there has been little progress or accountability.
In May 2018, KMSP-TV released a scathing report alleging “massive daycare fraud” based on whistleblower claims. Scott Stillman, a former employee of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, told the news outlet that he warned his supervisors about these issues in a series of emails in March 2017.
Stillman, an upper management employee who spent eight years overseeing the state’s digital forensics lab, explained that he reported alleged fraud to the state’s DHS because he was concerned there was a “strong possibility” that defrauded taxpayer funds were being used against innocent civilians and the U.S. military.
‘Everyone who did this must be arrested.’
The alleged fraud pertained to the Child Care Assistance Program, which the federal government created in 1990 to help low-income parents afford childcare so they could work or participate in job training.
Stillman told KMSP he wanted the federal government to launch an independent investigation into the handling of day care and Medicaid programs, claiming the fraud reached $100 million or more annually. He also alleged that individuals in the state sent the fraudulent money to Somalia, where it was used to fund a terrorist organization known as al-Shabaab.
The local news interview prompted lawmakers to hold a hearing that same month.
“This is not a Minnesota problem,” Stillman testified. “It started in Minnesota, but we found an individual in our investigation who was teaching and training other states to do this, and it’s spreading out.”
“A federal investigation would reveal that there are other entities involved in this who may be receiving benefits from this fraud,” he said.
RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud
Photo by Matt Roth for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Stillman’s testimony prompted the Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor in 2019 to issue a report in which auditors stated they could not verify the alleged $100 million in annual fraud and concluded they could not provide a reliable estimate.
However, they believed the fraud was greater than the $5 million to $6 million prosecutors were able to prove in several criminal cases where defendants were charged with felonies and ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution for their participation in a childcare fraud scheme.
Auditors also said they could not substantiate Stillman’s claims that any of the alleged funds were making their way into the pockets of terrorist groups.
“On the other hand, we found that federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies are concerned that terrorist organizations in certain countries, including Somalia, obtain and use money sent from the United States by immigrants and refugees to family and friends in those countries,” the auditors wrote. “In addition, federal prosecutions have convicted several individuals in Minnesota of providing material support to terrorist organizations in foreign [countries].”
Federal and state officials have been concerned about Child Care Assistance Program fraud since at least 2013, the report added.
The auditor’s report referenced an August 2018 email from Jay Swanson, the then-manager of the CCAP Investigations Unit, in which he substantiated Stillman’s allegations.
“Investigators, as well as the Supervisor and Manager of this unit believe that the overall fraud rate in this program is at least 50% of the $217M paid to child care centers in CY2017,” he wrote in an email to then-Inspector General Carolyn Ham.
Swanson claimed that much of the “pervasive” fraud could be attributed to “large scale overbilling” by “many child care centers,” eligible mothers recruited by providers to receive cash kickbacks, fraudulent centers opening in the same location as a previous center that was ineligible for the program, and shell care centers that exist only to scam the program, among numerous other schemes and oversight gaps.
“In my opinion anyone who claims that Mr. Stillman was making false statements on this topic either has no knowledge of this situation, or is attempting to shift the focus of the conversation away from a very serious issue,” Swanson concluded in his letter to the inspector general.
During a December 2018 hearing before the state lawmakers, IG Ham disputed Swanson’s claim.
“I do not trust the allegation that 50% of CCAP money is being paid fraudulently,” Ham remarked.
The CCAP Investigations Unit also warned about rampant fraud, according to the 2019 auditor report. The unit’s manager stated that investigators “do not believe, despite the number of cases investigated thus far, that any real progress has been made regarding CCAP fraud.”
“Investigators regularly see fraudulent child care centers open faster than they can close the existing ones down,” the manager explained.
While Minnesota DHS officials did not dispute the existence of a CCAP fraud problem, they argued that $100 million in fraud, as Stillman had claimed, was “not a credible number.”
“We’re concerned about fraud and are aggressively pursuing it, but it’s not at that level. Funding for the Child Care Assistance Program for 2017 was $248.2 million,” the MDHS said in a statement in May 2018, responding to Stillman’s allegations.
RELATED: Anna Paulina Luna refers Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison for criminal charges: ‘May justice be swift’
Photographer: Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Then-acting MDHS Commissioner Chuck Johnson reiterated that Stillman’s fraud estimate was not credible. However, he admitted he could not put a reliable number on the total fraud.
By the time the 2019 report was published, dozens of Minnesota residents and childcare centers had been charged with CCAP fraud.
Since these issues were initially brought to the MDHS’ attention, Minnesota has transitioned CCAP oversight and administration to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. When reached for comment concerning childcare fraud, MDHS directed Blaze News to contact DCYF. That department did not respond.
Minnesota’s long-standing childcare fraud issues recently gained national attention, thanks to journalist Nick Shirley’s on-the-ground reporting in December. This explosive coverage has ignited fierce criticism of the state’s Democratic leadership while shining a harsh light on broader oversight failures that extend beyond the CCAP.
This week, the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor released a performance audit highlighting grant issuance lapses in the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration, the department responsible for overseeing mental health programs and alcohol and drug abuse services.
Auditors aimed to assess whether the BHA had “adequate internal controls and complied with significant finance-related requirements related to oversight of grants.” Instead, they found that the administration had failed to comply with “most” of the tested requirements, concluding that it lacked sufficient internal controls over grant funds.
Some of the report’s shocking findings included nearly $300,000 in unsupported grant reimbursements, $915,000 in grant payments for work performed before fully executed agreements were established, $2.5 million in grants awarded without using a competitive bid process, and the improper use of single-source grants.
Additionally, auditors noted that, while MDHS and BHA staff were cooperative with the audit, they provided “a number of documents” that were “either backdated or created after our audit began.”
When reached for comment about the OLA report, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services provided an excerpt from temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi’s testimony at a Tuesday Legislative Audit Commission hearing.
During her opening remarks, Gandhi stated that she was “shocked” to learn that staff have provided auditors “anything other than an accurate representation of the work done.”
“With respect to the audit report, while it’s upsetting that DHS has findings in an area that we have placed concerted effort, the OLA’s report highlights the importance of the compliance work that is under way at the department. And the findings provide us with a road map for our focus going forward to continue strengthening oversight and integrity of behavioral health grants,” Gandhi said. “I take the report seriously, I accept responsibility for the findings, and I will ensure that DHS closes the findings.”
Eric Daugherty of Florida’s Voice reacted to the new “BOMBSHELL” report, stating that it confirms the MDHS “FABRICATED RECORDS and did not verify grant recipients, tried COVERING THEIR TRACKS, enabling massive fraud.”
He called on Gov. Tim Walz to immediately resign. Walz has already dropped out of his re-election campaign amid the state’s ongoing fraud controversy.
“Everyone who did this must be arrested,” Daugherty wrote.
It is not yet clear whether any of these reports will result in criminal investigations.
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VEEP VAPORIZES CNN: Vance Torches Media Mob for Framing of ICE Shooting — ‘Tell the Truth!’ [WATCH]
![VEEP VAPORIZES CNN: Vance Torches Media Mob for Framing of ICE Shooting — ‘Tell the Truth!’ [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2254664428-300x200.jpg "US-POLITICS-BRIEFING-VANCE")
Vice President JD Vance unleashed holy hell on CNN Thursday, torching their “disgraceful” coverage of a deadly ICE shootout in Minneapolis that left a radical activist dead – and accusing the fake news giant of endangering America’s heroes in blue.
WATCH NOW: ICE Agent Involved in Shooting Previously Dragged 300FT, Hospitalized by Illegal Migrant Driver Last Year
According to a New York Post report, the ICE agent who opened fire in Minneapolis on Wednesday has a grim recent history:
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…
Minnesota Police Who Refused To Work With ICE Now Mad Feds Won’t Work With Them
Evans said federal prosecutors reversed an earlier plan
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.
