Vice President JD Vance criticized Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday for shamelessly taking credit for the Trump administration’s sweeping fraud crackdown in the North Star State.
“This is like the arsonist trying to claim credit for the work of the fire department,” Vance, during an appearance on “The Will Cain Show,” said of Walz’s comments about Tuesday’s FBI raids on day care centers in Minnesota
Walz, who previously denounced fraud investigations as a form of “white supremacy,” stunningly claimed in an X post after the FBI raids that he was putting criminals on notice.
“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today,” the suddenly tough-talking governor wrote.
“We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,” he added.
Vance downplayed the amount of assistance Walz provided federal authorities.
“We really did not get much help at all from the governor’s office,” the vice president told Fox News host Will Cain.
“Where we did actually get some help is from some state local law enforcement officers who we assigned to the federal task force, because the state government wasn’t doing anything,” he continued. “So all credit goes to people on the ground, the federal officers, the state officers, who are working to uncover this fraud.”
The FBI on Tuesday raided the infamous “Quality Learing Center” and more than 20 other businesses across Minnesota as part of a massive investigation into an alleged multi-billion dollar social services fraud scheme.
Sources told The Post that the raids primarily focused on businesses tied to the Somali-American community.
Some estimates peg the amount of federal funds stolen in the sprawling fraud scheme as high as $19 billion.
Walz has been accused by Republicans of ignoring the festering fraud in Minnesota and Vance warned he could face legal action, depending on what the task force uncovers.
“The fact that they turned a blind eye towards it for so long is a scandal, [but] we’re also going to find out whether it was criminal,” he vowed.
Vance also noted that the Trump administration would “absolutely” seek to denaturalize people who committed immigration fraud to gain legal status. In a statement, a spokesperson for Vance said the federal fraud task force “has had unprecedented success in eliminating fraud across the United States.”
“The President’s War on Fraud is working, as the task force and the entire Trump Administration continue to work tirelessly to expose Fraudsters who have scammed the American people out of billions of dollars,” the spokesperson added.
