Louisiana senator says internal state document suggests investigators hesitated to pursue fraud cases over fear of political backlash, as polling shows widespread voter concern in Minnesota.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said an internal memorandum from the Minnesota Attorney General’s office helps explain why a large-scale welfare fraud scheme in the state went unaddressed for years, citing language he said pointed to political considerations influencing enforcement decisions.
Kennedy’s remarks, delivered publicly and later circulated online, referenced an internal memo authored by a fraud investigator within the Minnesota Attorney General’s office. In a video clip shared by Wall Street Apes, Kennedy read from the document and said it indicated investigators believed aggressive action could carry political consequences.
“Here’s what a fraud investigator in the Attorney General’s office said,” Kennedy stated in the clip. “She said, there is a perception that forcefully tackling this issue would cause political backlash from the Somali community, which is a core voting block for Democrats,” according to the memo excerpt he read. The video of Kennedy’s remarks was posted on X by Wall Street Apes and has circulated widely.
The comments come amid continuing fallout from the Feeding Our Future case, a federal child nutrition fraud scheme centered in Minnesota that investigators say involved hundreds of millions of dollars. Federal authorities have said the case has resulted in 78 indictments tied to fraudulent claims submitted through a nonprofit organization that operated under the guise of providing meals to children.
The video clip featuring Kennedy reading the memo was published by Wall Street Apes on social media, where it included footage of the senator citing the internal document and describing it as evidence of why enforcement action was delayed for so long.
Public frustration over the scandal appears to be reflected in recent polling. According to a report by The Washington Free Beacon, a KSTP–SurveyUSA poll found that 79 percent of registered Minnesota voters believe fraud in state programs is either the biggest or a major problem. Only 14 percent of respondents said Gov. Tim Walz did enough to stop the fraud.
The poll showed that 92 percent of respondents viewed fraud as at least a minor problem, with 25 percent calling it the biggest problem in the state and 54 percent calling it a major problem. Sixty-nine percent said Walz needs to do more to stop fraud in Minnesota, according to the survey results cited in the report.
The polling comes as Minnesota officials continue to confront the scope of the Feeding Our Future case and related investigations, which federal authorities say exposed vulnerabilities in oversight of public assistance programs. The allegations raised by Kennedy regarding the internal memo have added a new political dimension to the ongoing scrutiny of how the fraud was allowed to persist for years before federal intervention.
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