Vice President JD Vance unveiled the creation of a new Assistant Attorney General position within the Department of Justice to lead a national effort against fraud affecting federal programs, starting in Minnesota and extending to other states where similar fraud is suspected.
During a White House press briefing, Vice President JD Vance announced:
We are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud. That person’s efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort, because, unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.
According to a White House fact sheet, the DOJ’s new division for national fraud enforcement will enforce federal criminal and civil laws against fraud targeting federal government programs, federally funded benefits, businesses, nonprofits, and private citizens. The new Assistant Attorney General will lead investigations and prosecutions, oversee interagency fraud initiatives, and advise top DOJ officials on policy reforms to address systemic abuse.
The administration has already mobilized extensive federal resources in response to widespread fraud, particularly in Minnesota. The DOJ has charged 98 defendants in fraud-related cases in the state, 85 of whom are of Somali descent, and secured 64 convictions. More than 1,750 subpoenas have been issued, over 130 search warrants executed, and 1,000 witness interviews conducted.
In explaining the broader impact of fraud and who it harms, Vance stated:
If you’re a young parent struggling to afford childcare in the United States of America, there are programs that we have to make it easier for your kids to get in daycare, for your kids to get in preschool.
Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants and others, [who] make it hard for you to get the access to the resources you need.
But number two, making it easier for people who shouldn’t even be in this country to fleece the United States and our taxpayers to begin with, we have actually activated a major interagency task force to make it possible to get to the heart of this fraud.
Vance added: “We know that the fraud isn’t just happening in Minneapolis. It’s also happening in states like Ohio. It’s happening in states like California.”
Federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) are contributing to the coordinated effort. DHS has deployed roughly 2,000 agents to Minnesota and arrested over 1,000 criminal illegal aliens in recent weeks. As part of Operation Twin Shield, DHS identified over 1,300 instances of fraud in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. HHS has frozen payments to 14 Medicaid programs in the state and launched investigations into Head Start and childcare services. The SBA has suspended 6,900 borrowers in Minnesota and halted all grant payments to the state.
The DOJ is investigating several fraud schemes, including those exposed in citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s viral video documenting abandoned childcare and health facilities that reportedly received millions in federal funding. Vance has praised Shirley’s work, calling it “far more useful journalism” than that of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners. Shirley claimed he and his team “uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day.”
Vice President Vance directly addressed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during the press briefing in response to a reporter’s question:
Tim Walz is a joke. His entire administration has been a joke. He’s a guy who has enabled fraud, and maybe, in fact, has participated in fraud. That’s what this new assistant attorney general position is going to find out. I don’t care what Tim Walz says, I care about getting to the bottom of this fraud for the American people, and I care about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, that’s what we’re going to stay focused on.
The fraud investigations in Minnesota were a key factor in the Trump administration’s decision to freeze $10 billion in childcare and family assistance funding to five Democrat-led states: Minnesota, California, Illinois, Colorado, and New York. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said the move was intended to ensure funds are used lawfully and not exploited. “Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose,” he remarked.
The administration’s activation of its “Defend the Spend” initiative now requires detailed justification and receipts for all childcare-related expenditures. HHS is also enforcing a federal law requiring immigration sponsors to repay Medicaid benefits used by sponsored immigrants.
President Trump recently declared on Truth Social that “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun,” accusing Governor Gavin Newsom of presiding over systemic corruption. According to the Department of Government Efficiency, California was responsible for $305 million of a reported $382 million in fraudulent unemployment payments made nationwide since 2020. DOJ prosecutors have also indicted former Newsom chief of staff Dana Williamson on 23 federal counts, including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements.
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