Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., called the Minnesota fraud scandal a historic failure of leadership under Gov. Tim Walz, telling Newsmax on Wednesday that more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds were siphoned off while the governor ignored years of warnings.
Meuser said on "National Report" that while Walz might not have personally engineered the massive fraud, there is no credible way the governor could have been unaware.
Meuser argued that political considerations — including reluctance to "offend a voting bloc within Minnesota" — kept Walz from acting.
"Ignorance is not an allowance of misuse of the laws or of your authority," Meuser said, adding that the scandal represents a level of mismanagement that should alarm every taxpayer.
The fraud — involving state-run and federally funded programs, including those connected to pandemic relief — triggered more than 500 whistleblower complaints over several years.
Despite those warnings, Meuser said Walz's administration failed to intervene as the scheme expanded. Roughly 78 people have been arrested, and investigators believe portions of the stolen money were sent overseas, possibly reaching terrorist-linked groups in Somalia.
"This is unbelievable," Meuser said. "Over $1 billion from a relatively small state with a huge budget."
Meuser pushed back on Walz's public defense that Minnesota is "well run" but attracts criminal elements, calling the statement an evasion of accountability. Meuser said the problem was not outside actors but a lack of oversight and leadership at the top.
"Minnesota has been so mismanaged under Walz," he said. "It's not possible for the governor not to be aware of this. This is an outrageous, historic scandal."
Meuser also noted that Walz — chosen as Democrats' 2024 vice-presidential nominee alongside Kamala Harris — was just one election away from bringing what he called this level of mismanagement to Washington.
"Thank you, American people, for not allowing that to happen," Meuser said. Echoing President Donald Trump, he added, "There's something wrong with him."
Meuser said the scandal underscores a broader pattern of mismanagement in Democrat-led states and insisted Congress must safeguard taxpayer funds.
"Many blue states do these same things," he said. "They're just allowing the American taxpayer money to be completely wasted. And it's our job here in Washington to straighten this out."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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