Several federal entities are looking at Minnesota, putting the state and Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive.

As President Trump held his last cabinet meeting of the year on Tuesday, Minnesota was clearly on his mind.

"When I watch what is happening in Minnesota, the land of however many lakes they have, they have a lot of lakes, this beautiful place, and I see these people ripping it off," he said.

Members of Mr. Trump's cabinet then followed his lead. First, the U.S. Treasury Secretary announced an investigation into what he called Minnesota's "feckless mismanagement" of taxpayer funds and whether some of that money wound up in the hands of al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization in Somalia.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is also getting involved, alleging PPP loans from the pandemic, among other federal grants, were stolen in a grand scheme.

A third federal investigation is being launched by the Department of Transportation, which on Tuesday threatened to withhold more than $30 million in highway funding because of how the state issues commercial driver's licenses to non-U.S. citizens.

Walz on Tuesday said he welcomes federal help to fight crime, but he doesn't trust the reasons behind the action.

"Well, we welcome any help on this, but I think everyone in this room is smart enough to understand when the POTUS gets up and tweets 150 times after midnight and targets certain people, it's not a coincidence he's targeting Minnesota," Walz said.

Several cases of fraud have already been investigated by federal authorities, including the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme. More than 50 people have been convicted.

Ten years ago, a federal jury also convicted a half dozen suspects of conspiring to help ISIS.

Andy Luger, the former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, led the prosecution in both cases.

"Both were serious crimes. I was not aware of any connection between the two," Luger said in a statement to WCCO.

Also at the cabinet meeting, the Trump administration announced plans to cut funds for SNAP and food stamp programs in several states, including Minnesota.