Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wanted to go to the White House in 2024 with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Instead, in 2026, Walz could be heading to jail.
Reports have surfaced that Walz and his office ignored repeated warnings about massive fraud in the state’s daycare system and Republican lawmakers are calling for him to be prosecuted if these whistleblower claims are confirmed.
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, chairwoman of the Minnesota Fraud Committee and a Republican candidate for governor, told The New York Post she warned the Walz administration about the obvious fraud after running a hearing on massive levels of daycare fraud in February 2024.
The warnings were intentionally ignored by the Democratic administration.
“I gave the Department of Human Services a list of day care providers getting over $1 million in the previous year from the state who had numerous violations, and this day care was one of them on the list,” Robbins said outside the “Quality Learing Center” facility featured in independent journalist Nick Shirley’s recent viral video.
“He has turned a blind eye for so long that he cannot deny there were so many whistleblower reports, so many media reports,” Robbins said. “For them to say we did not know is just not true.”
Rep. Tom Emmer, the House Majority Whip from Minnesota, also told Newsmax Monday that Walz should be prosecuted if there’s evidence he allowed billions in taxpayer funds to be stolen.
“If Tim Walz knew — if these whistleblowers are confirmed that they’re real and that what they’re saying can be documented — he should be prosecuted,” Emmer said on “Rob Schmitt Tonight.” “[Attorney General] Keith Ellison should be prosecuted. Others within the administration should be prosecuted.”
As much as $9 billion in federal and state taxpayer money is believe to have been stolen by fraud schemes based in the Somali refugee community in Minnesota. He said millions of dollars were funneled overseas.
“You’re talking about $9 billion in U.S. taxpayer and Minnesota taxpayer money — by the way, millions of it going back to Somalia to a known terrorist group, al-Shabaab,” Emmer said. “It’s criminal.”
Emmer praised Shirley for uncovering fraud tied to Somali-run daycare centers in one day.
“Hats off to Nick Shirley and his colleague,” Emmer said. “He found more in one day than Tim Walz has found in seven years. And the reason? He was looking for it. Tim Walz has been looking the other way, and his administration has been looking the other way while these people have been bilking billions out of Minnesota,” he said.
Besides prosecution, Robbins called on Walz to immediately resign from office over his mismanagement of the fraud scandals.
“He absolutely shouldn’t be re-elected,” Robbins said. “If he resigned now, it would help, but Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has been part of this all along, so I don’t know if getting him to step down and getting Flanagan in office actually solves the problem. What we need is a new governor who is going to clean house and have a no fraud, no excuses culture.”
Walz’s office defended his record. A spokesperson said that Walz “has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action.” The spokesperson said Walz has “strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer launched a Congressional investigation into widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs in November.
“The Committee has serious concerns about how you as the Governor, and the Democrat-controlled administration, allowed millions of dollars to be stolen. The Committee also has concerns that you and your administration were fully aware of this fraud and chose not to act for fear of political retaliation,” Comer wrote to Walz.
Comer said whistleblowers within the Department of Human Services claim the agency deleted data and withheld records to cover up the fraud.
The House Oversight Committee has recently expanded its investigation and requested data from Walz, Ellison, the Treasury Department, and the Justice Department.