(NewsNation) — A new House Oversight Committee report alleges Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of systemic fraud in federally funded social service programs as far back as 2019 and retaliated against whistleblowers who raised concerns.
Released Monday, the report claims state agencies had the authority to suspend or stop payments without waiting for direction from courts, law enforcement or the federal government.
Committee Chairman James Comer said Tuesday the panel worked with nine Minnesota career employees who administered welfare programs, repeatedly identified instances and reported them through the proper channels, including to Walz and Ellison.
The report also alleges the Walz administration retaliated against state employees who exposed weaknesses in the system, while senior officials focused more on managing political and media fallout than addressing the underlying problems.
“Every single time, Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison turned a blind eye, and it got so bad after so many times of the state employees blowing the whistle and screaming to the top of their lungs about the fraud that Governor Walz then started to retaliate against the government whistleblower.”
The report estimates $300 million in federal child nutrition funds were lost to fraud, and as much as $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds were either lost or “placed at serious risk” due to oversight failures.
Multiple investigations are ongoing, though...
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