Articles of impeachment were officially filed against Governor Tim Walz on Monday, the beginning of a difficult process to remove Walz from office in disgrace.
Republican lawmakers say Walz hid the widespread fraud in state welfare programs and retaliated against whistleblowers who tried to expose the theft of billions in taxpayer dollars and must be removed from the governor’s mansion immediately.
State Rep. Mike Wiener drafted the articles alongside Reps. Pam Altendorf, Ben Davis, Krista Knudsen, and Drew Roach. The impeachment effort comes as federal prosecutors investigate the spiraling scandal located within the Somali refugee community in Minneapolis. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said there was potentially more than $10 billion in fraud across 14 “high-risk” Medicaid programs since 2018.
“Today, I call for the Minnesota Legislature to join me in impeachment proceedings against Gov. Tim Walz, based on concerns involving alleged corrupt conduct, failures of oversight, and the erosion of public trust in state government,” Wiener said in a statement.
The four articles of impeachment charge Walz with violating his oath of office through concealment of fraud, interfering with lawful oversight and investigations, placing political considerations above lawful administration, and failing to properly care for public funds.
According to Article VIII of the Minnesota Constitution, a state governor can be impeached “for corrupt conduct in office or for crimes and misdemeanors.”
The Minnesota House would need a majority vote to impeach Walz, followed by a trial in the Minnesota Senate requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction and removal from office.
The impeachment push follows years of incredible amounts of fraud inside Minnesota’s social services programs. The case began with the program Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit that claimed to provide meals to schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal prosecutors say the organization fraudulently obtained more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, but hardly fed any children.
More than 78 people have been charged in the Feeding Our Future case, with over 50 pleading guilty and seven convicted at trial, including the organization’s founder Aimee Bock. Federal prosecutors say only about 3% of funding granted to Feeding Our Future meal sites was spent on food; the rest was stolen, much of it shipped to Somali in briefcases filled with cash.
The fraud extended beyond meal programs. Federal prosecutors have uncovered fraud schemes involving housing stabilization services, autism therapy for children, adult and children day care, and multiple Medicaid programs. In September, federal prosecutors charged five people with defrauding Minnesota’s housing stabilization program, including two Pennsylvania residents who allegedly traveled to the state in what prosecutors described as “fraud tourism.”
Almost all of the defendants charged in the fraud cases are of Somali descent, drawing national attention to Minnesota’s Somali community. The U.S. Department of Justice says approximately 89% of those charged in the Feeding Our Future case are Somali Americans.
The fraud allegations gained renewed national attention in late December when conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video visiting Somali-run day care centers in Minneapolis. The video, which Vice President JD Vance shared, showed numerous day care centers that receive millions in taxpayer cash annually were completely empty. The footage prompted the Trump administration to freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota and dispatch federal immigration agents to the state.
President Trump called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and claimed Somali immigrants have “ripped off that state for billions of dollars.” The president ended temporary deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
Three Republican Minnesota state representatives testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on January 7, alleging Walz and his administration knew about the fraud for years but failed to act.
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chairs Minnesota’s fraud prevention committee, told the committee that credible reports of child care fraud started surfacing in 2011.
“The Tim Walz administration has utterly failed to protect Minnesota taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, ignoring years of credible reports,” Robbins said in her opening statement. “Tim Walz and his Administration have willfully turned a blind eye to crime, in the face of countless whistleblower and Auditor reports, as well as stories by local investigative journalists and Bill Glahn a fellow at Center of the American Experiment. These are actual crimes that must be punished. They are crimes against our moral values that erode trust in government. Governor Walz has known about fraud for years and failed to act.”
State Rep. Marion Rarick testified about whistleblowers who face “constant fear of retaliation” from the Walz administration.
“In our face-to-face meetings with a group of whistleblowers, they reveal that retaliation now includes threats of being fired with cause, which means you do not get unemployment insurance in the state of Minnesota, being blacklisted from all state agencies,” Rarick said. “They have explained that they live in a constant state of fear of retaliation.”
State Rep. Walter Hudson testified he had no doubt “whatsoever” that Walz knew about the fraud as it occurred. When House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer asked why Walz would allow almost $10 billion in fraud to occur, Hudson responded: “In my opinion, because it was politically beneficial to Democrats. Again, the Somali community is a huge constituency group, and we’ve had some tight races in Minnesota, and it makes a difference for them.”
Walz dropped his bid for a third term as governor on January 5 amid the intensifying scandal. At a news conference, he defended his administration’s response to the fraud allegations.
“Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences,” Walz said.
“So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work.”