Comer on Fox News: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison Ignored Fraud and Retaliated Against Whistleblowers

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) joined “Hannity” on Fox News to discuss how Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison failed to protect taxpayer-funded programs, allowing fraudsters to steal an estimated $9 billion in taxpayer funds intended to feed children, support autistic children, house low-income and disabled Americans, and provide healthcare to vulnerable Medicaid recipients. Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing with Minnesota state officials who sounded the alarm on and investigated fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs. During the hearing, witnesses revealed that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison retaliated against dozens of Minnesota whistleblowers when they raised concerns to safeguard taxpayer dollars. 

“These state legislators are well respected. They took an oath. They went under oath […] In Minnesota, they said that whistleblowers have been coming forward for years—not weeks, not months, but years—trying to warn Tim Walz and the Attorney General Keith Ellison that this fraud was happening, and Walz would then, in turn, retaliate against the whistleblowers, who are all state employees. There are checks and balances all along the way where government agencies and independent auditors and Inspectors General are supposed to catch this fraud. Apparently, they were catching the fraud in Minnesota, but every time they would report it, Tim Walz would threaten their job, threaten their tenure, and it would just go away until [the Nick Shirley] video went viral, and here we are,” said Chairman Comer.

“I think that you what you saw [at yesterday’s hearing] showed that Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison both have liability in this because they knew about this fraud. Yet, not only did they turn a blind eye, they retaliated against any brave state employees in the state of Minnesota who would come forward and tell them what was going on […] Since we launched this investigation, we’ve had whistleblowers from other states come forward, and it looks like this is a pattern with many Somali groups in several blue states in America. And we’re going to expand this off to this investigation,” continued Chairman Comer.

Watch the full interview here.

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Hearing Wrap Up: Minnesota Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison Ignored Rampant Taxpayer Fraud and Silenced State Whistleblowers