Rapport: Tjänstemän i Minnesota kände till bedrägerierna men underlät att agera | NTD NYHETER

A new House Oversight Committee report accuses Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of knowingly allowing rampant fraud to continue for years in state social service programs. The report says whistleblowers were ignored, even retaliated against, and then told to stand down despite repeated warnings. NDD correspondent Jason Blair brings us more. A new report from the House Oversight Committee says that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud going on in their state but didn't act despite having the authority to do so. The report says Minnesota State Governor, including Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison, were aware of widespread fraud in federally funded social services programs for years, possessed the legal and procedural authority to stop payments and ban fraudulent providers from participating in these programs, but repeatedly failed to act. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer commented in March while the investigation was still going on. We did transcribed interviews with nine state employees. They testified under oath that they had been warning Governor Walz and Attorney Ellison for years about the fraud and they were told to stand down. Walz and Ellison responded to allegations during a March Oversight Committee hearing. We're not going to stop payments that feed children until we have the proof that things happen. My office doesn't have the authority to do a stop payment. We prosecute criminals when they're presented to us by the agency. So the answer is no, unfortunately. No one's ever, from your office, said to stop payments until we can get the fraud under control. The new report highlights the Feeding Our Future scandal in which a non-profit allegedly stole almost $300 million in child nutrition funds by claiming meals that were never served. The alleged scheme primarily involved individuals from Minnesota's Somali community. The findings say payments continued from the state due to fear of accusations of racism rather than legal barriers and that whistleblowers faced retaliation. The committee recommends a thorough review by the Department of Justice and the Trump administration's Anti-Fraud Task Force. NTD has contacted Walz and Ellison for comment. And the Department of Justice has filed civil denaturalization actions against 17 naturalized U.S. citizens. These individuals are accused of serious crimes, including sexual abuse of minors and health care fraud. Many of them allegedly concealed these crimes or lied under oath. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News.