JD Vance has formally requested a criminal investigation by the Justice Department into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, accusing them of allowing significant fraud in state social service programs to go unchecked. Vance’s referral follows a House Oversight Committee report that highlights failures in handling federal funds designated for child nutrition and Medicaid.
The report alleges that about $300 million in federal child nutrition funding, along with up to $9 billion in Medicaid-related money, was either lost or exposed to serious risk due to mismanagement. This prompted Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to encourage Vance—whom former President Donald Trump appointed as a fraud task force leader—to push for a more aggressive federal review of Minnesota’s social program oversight.
On social media, Vance stressed that Minnesota officials must be held accountable if they facilitated fraud or misled investigations, emphasizing that no one is above the law. In response, Attorney General Ellison dismissed the referral as a political maneuver aimed at undermining public trust and targeting political adversaries. Meanwhile, the Governor's office declined to comment on the probe.
Governor Walz has previously criticized federal fraud investigations, framing them as politically motivated reprisals. After the federal government froze nearly $260 million in Medicaid funds to the state earlier this year, Walz introduced legislation to increase fraud penalties and extend the statute of limitations for related offenses.