WASHINGTON – The first attempt by a congressional panel to investigate fraud allegations in Minnesota turned up few new revelations and was marked by partisanship and xenophobic remarks about the state’s Somali community.
While Republicans blasted the Walz administration for ignoring and even fostering fraud in Minnesota’s social service programs, Democrats said any talk of fraud should be focused on President Donald Trump and his administration.
The hearing, which featured three state lawmakers that sit on a new fraud investigation in the state Legislature, was the House Oversight and Government Reform’s first effort to delve into what Republicans say is massive corruption in Minnesota.
“The breadth and depth of this fraud is breathtaking,” said committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., “and I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
State Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick detailed their work to uncover fraud in the Minnesota’s federally funded, state-run social welfare programs, which included meetings with whistleblowers from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) who said they faced retaliation when they tried to report wrongdoing.
Robbins, who is running for governor, said those whistleblowers were “demoted or reassigned, or they are told that they could lose their job.”
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Rarick said whistleblowers were intimidated, with photos of their homes and cars placed in their files and asked to provide information about their kids’ schools and school bus stops.
The GOP witnesses also agree with GOP lawmakers on the panel who blamed Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for the fraud in the state. They also agreed with GOP lawmakers that Democrats failed to crack down on fraud perpetrated by members of the Somali community because they wanted to keep a key constituency in their corner.
“They did not want to take action that was against their political benefit,” Hudson said.
Robbins also agreed with claims propagated by Republicans, including Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, and President Donald Trump that funds stolen from Minnesota’s Medicaid program have made it into the coffers of the al-Shabaab terrorist group.
“We have plenty of evidence of that from money directly going to al-Shabaab, but then also indirectly because they take a cut of whatever gets sent to Somalia,” Robbins said.
However, a state auditor did not find that any of the Medicaid funds made their way to any terrorist group.
The trio of state lawmakers were unaware that a woman had been shot and killed in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent until the end of the more than 5-hour-long hearing, when Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., demanded that the committee issue a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security for all information related to the shooting.
That’s not likely as a majority vote in the GOP-dominated panel would be required.
But the panel could issue subpoenas to Walz and Ellison, who have been asked to appear before the committee on Feb. 10 and have not responded, according to a committee source.
‘Selective interest in fraud’
Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor and native Minnesotan was the only witness Democrats on the committee were allowed to call.
Ballou said he feared “the selective interest in fraud in Minnesota,” which has focused on Minnesota and its Somali community.
He said the Trump administration had “largely dismantled” the federal infrastructure for prosecuting fraud and white-collar crime. That dismantling, Ballou said, included an end of the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribery, and the forcing out of the lawyers in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section that prosecutes crimes by government officials.
Several Democrats on the panel also pointed to the administration’s elimination of federal agency inspector generals and other watchdogs.
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And they said any investigation into fraud should begin with Trump.
“Let’s remember that the worst fraud and corruption is occurring at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee.
Garcia cited Trump’s pardoning of several individuals convicted of big money fraud.
He asked the Minnesota GOP members if they agree with these pardons. Robbins said she hasn’t read about them. The others also demurred.
“These are pardons to criminals and fraudsters that our witnesses clearly have no interest in,” Garcia said. “Now, in Trump’s America, rich people can rip innocent people off whenever they want and get a pardon.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said “we are living during the most corrupt administration in history.”
“This hearing is not an effort by Republicans to improve social service programs. It’s an excuse to end them and to punish Democratic-led states,” Lee said.
In a shouting exchange with Lee, Comer said the inspectors general hired to identify fraud had failed.
“You all have failed. You all continue to fail,” Lee replied.
“No, you all have failed,” said Comer.
And when Pressley asked the Minnesota legislators whether they agreed with Trump’s pardoning of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was accused of fraud, Hudson replied, “I’m not playing this game,” and Pressley accused him of “cowardice.”
“This is accountability and you are hypocrites,” Pressley told the Republicans.
A witch doctor
Comer invited Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress, who are not on the committee, to join the panel for the hearing.
Emmer accused Walz and Ellison of “protecting fraudsters instead of investigating them.”
“It was purposeful and it’s no coincidence that this is occurring largely in the Somali community,” Emmer said.
The participation of Somalis in some of the fraud scandals overshadowed the proceedings.
Rep. Brandon Gill repeatedly asked the witnesses if “large-scale Somali immigration makes Minnesota stronger or weaker” and cited statistics of high Somali participation in food stamps and other government services.
Maryland Democrat Kweisi Mfume took issue with Gill’s questioning the witnesses about their opinion of Somalis. “We might as well say what is your opinion of Jews?” Mfume said. “What is your opinion of Black people? What is your opinion of Latinos?”
Meanwhile, Rep. David Min, D-Calif., said “it’s hard for me to see this other than a partisan and racist hearing.”
Rep. Pete Stauber, R-8th District, asked the witnesses about Minnesota’s new family leave policy, which allows anyone who can demonstrate they are caring for another time off the job with pay.
“So I could take care of someone who is a friend of mine?” Stauber asked.
“Absolutely,” Rarick replied.
Stauber said he was concerned that “any doctor,” including foreign physicians, could certify the need for care, even a doctor in Somalia.
“You literally could have a witch doctor approve it,” Hudson responded.
Meanwhile, Robbins said the leave policy “is the next fraud front in Minnesota.”
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