JD Vance wants criminal investigation for Walz, Ellison amid Minnesota fraud probe

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Jun 9, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Vice President JD Vance is asking the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into Minnesota leaders accused of failing to stop fraud in the state’s social services programs.

A report from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee this week alleged that senior officials in Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison’s offices knew about fraud concerns as early as 2019 in at least two state agencies but did nothing to halt payments to suspicious providers.

“Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew or harassed and intimated whistleblowers, they must face justice,” Vance said in a Monday evening X post.

Vance said in a letter to the assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division that the committee’s allegations raise issues that the division should “immediately investigate.”

“Who within the offices of Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison was aware of the systemic fraud concerns? Did they share these concerns with Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison?” Vance, who leads President Donald Trump’s fraud task force, wrote. “Do the actions and failures to act alleged in the committee’s report constitute violations of federal criminal or civil law?”

It’s not clear what laws would apply in this case, which comes amid a flurry of political pressure on Minnesota.

In a statement, Ellison called Vance’s move a “political stunt” carried out by an “administration that uses the machinery of government to target its perceived opponents while extending leniency to those aligned with its interests.”

Ellison also said the Oversight Committee’s report was “unfounded.”

“It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries,” Ellison said. “That is not what government is for, and it diminishes public trust in our institutions.”

Walz’s office pointed to the governor’s March testimony to the committee in which he laid out what his administration has done to fight fraud.

“This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke,” said Walz spokesperson Teddy Tschann. “They continue to rehash COVID-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ICE and the president’s insider trading.”

Vance claimed that since the creation of Trump’s fraud task force in March, the group has uncovered “billions of dollars in fraud against the taxpayers.”

Vance leads the fraud task force that reports directly to Trump, while the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division he’s referred the allegations to for criminal investigation supports the vice president’s task force, according to the Justice Department.

It’s unclear whether Vance has referred officials from other states accused of not properly handling allegations of fraud for criminal investigation. His office could not immediately be reached for comment to clarify.

But in a recent interview on Fox News, the vice president said that in addition to Minnesota, the administration was “aggressively investigating” California and other states.

“I guarantee there’s going to be some criminal wrongdoing that we’re going to find because there’s so much wrongdoing, somebody’s had to know what they were doing,” Vance said.

In California, the Trump administration has deferred $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding to the state over fraud concerns. And in Hawaii, Reuters reports, the administration plans to cut off millions to the state for not bringing enough Medicaid fraud criminal cases forward.

Vance said in his letter to the DOJ that if officials in Minnesota or other states “facilitated fraud” or “looked the other way” they need to be “held accountable” with a new investigation.

The Trump administration’s latest move comes after it halted $259 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns.

Top-ranking Minnesota Republicans cheered on both the oversight committee’s report and Vance’s response.

“While Democrats facilitate fraud, Republicans tackle it head on, and we’ll be doing even more of that this week,” Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House said Tuesday during a Republican House leadership news conference.

This week, House Republicans are trying to pass a number of fraud prevention bills.

“Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about the widespread fraud in Minnesota and did NOTHING to stop it,” Rep. Pete Stauber said on X. “I’m glad Vice President Vance referred these allegations to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation. No one is above the law.”

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Eva Herscowitz of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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