Vance takes aim at Minnesota in first federal anti-fraud task force hearing
The fraud crisis in Minnesota has been a big focus for the Trump administration, and Vice President JD Vance hosted the first meeting of a new fraud task force Friday at the White House.
Vance, who briefly spoke to the press before the group held a closed-door meeting, was joined about half of President Trump's cabinet secretaries and senior administration officials assigned to the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
The vice president said that the federal government for decades had not taken the issue of fraud seriously and that it needed to be tackled with "a whole-government approach."
"This is not just the theft of the American people's money," Vance said. "It is also the theft of critical services that the American people rely on."
This is an initiative President Trump announced last month during his State of the Union address. He signed an executive order to create the task force just weeks ago. He's made a crackdown on fraud part of his chief domestic focus as voters have said they're concerned about affordability ahead of November's midterm elections.
That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown, resulting in widespread protests.
Vance cited some of the Minnesota allegations on Friday. Last month, he held a news conference to announce a temporary halt of some Medicaid funding until the state took actions that federal officials said would address their concerns.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who faced Vance as a vice presidential candidate in 2024, has called it a "campaign of retribution" and said the Trump administration was "weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota."
The task force is also the most visible assignment to date that Trump has given to Vance, who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, vice chair of the task force, cast the issue of fraud as a dire crisis facing the country and said it "shreds the social trust on which these programs and our entire nation depend."
"This fraud crisis is thus existential," Ferguson said. "If we fail to address it, the fabric of our nation will swiftly unravel."
Joining the task force was Colin McDonald, a top aide to the Justice Department's second in command. He was recently confirmed as the assistant attorney general overseeing the new division at the department focused on prosecuting fraud.
The Justice Department has long prosecuted fraud nationally through its Criminal Division, but the Trump administration says the new division is needed to crack down on rampant fraud.
WCCO has been following a funding freeze that has now turned into a court battle after the federal government announced it would withhold hundreds of millions in Medicaid payments in Minnesota.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in February that the funds stemmed from provider payments made in 14 services that the Minnesota Department of Human Services identified as "high-risk" for fraud.
But a federal judge heard a motion earlier this month where the Minnesota Attorney General's Office said they're stuck and don't know what proof or action the federal government wants in order to get the Medicaid funding back.