INCITE AND DIVERT: Corrupt Tim Walz and Wifebeater Keith Ellison Face Criminal Referrals Over Massive Billion Dollar MN Fraud

It now appears that Gov. Tim Walz and other senior Minnesota Democrats may be inciting unrest to distract from the massive, multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal in which they are allegedly embroiled and culpable. U.S. Rep. Paulina Luna announced she will bring criminal referrals against Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, citing federal statutes governing conspiracy to defraud the United States and liability for willful blindness or deliberate inaction where a duty to act exists. “I would like to make criminal referrals regarding Governor Walz as well as A.G. Ellison,” Luna said, referencing U.S. Code 371 and related provisions. According to reporting by Daily Signal, Congress questioned what Walz knew about an estimated $9 billion fraud scheme during a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Minnesota lawmakers testified that the governor was aware of the fraud as it occurred, that whistleblowers were intimidated, and that investigators raised concerns about potential funding of foreign terrorism.

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Four Takeaways as Congress Investigates Walz, Minnesota Fraud

By: Fred Lucas, Daily Signal, January 07, 2026

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: (L-R) Republican Minnesota State Representatives Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick and former U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Brendan Ballou testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about fraud in Minnesota at the U.S. Capitol on January 07, 2026 in Washington, DC. Federal prosecutors filed charges against dozens of people in Minnesota, many from the area’s Somali community, with stealing upwards of billions of taxpayer dollars through fraudulent social services schemes. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(L-R) Republican Minnesota State Representatives Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick, and former U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Brendan Ballou testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about fraud in Minnesota. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Congress probed the matter of what Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz knew about the $9 billion fraud scandal in his state at a hearing on Wednesday.

Several Minnesota state lawmakers, who have investigated fraud in the state for the past year, testified at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about what they learned from whistleblowers.

They testified two days after Walz dropped his reelection bid for a third term as governor amid years-long welfare fraud scandals in the state. Federal prosecutors have charged almost 100 in Minnesota so far with welfare fraud.

The witnesses claimed that Gov. Walz knew about fraud scandals as they were occurring, alleged that the state intimidated whistleblowers, and broached the possibility of funding of foreign terrorism.

Here are four key takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing.

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1. ‘Any Doubt That Tim Walz Knew?’
The scandal hit home for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who blamed Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for not preventing it.

He asked the members of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee if they believed Gov. Walz knew about the fraud as it occurred.

The three state committee members were Chairwoman Kristin Robbins, and state Reps. Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick. Each said they had no doubt, or “none whatsoever,” that Walz knew.

Later, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., asked Robins, “Do you have any examples of how the Walz administration blocked investigators from moving forward?”

Robins said that an inspector general investigation of the state’s human services department–at the center of the state’s fraud scandals–was shut down.

“They were told they could no longer do criminal investigations,” Robins said.

For his part, Walz has said he is trying to root out fraud, and did not benefit from it.

2. ‘Constant State of Fear of Retaliation’
Minnesota state Rep. Marion Rarick, a Republican member of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, gave several examples of state bureaucrats intimidating whistleblowers.

“They have explained that they live in a constant state of fear of retaliation,” Rarick said.

She gave the example of a state employee who notified supervisors at the Department of Human Services about “sloppy contracting practices,” and who was subsequently escorted from the building.

“In our face-to-face meetings with a group of whistleblowers, they reveal that retaliation now includes threats of being fired with cause, which means you do not get unemployment insurance in the state of Minnesota, being blacklisted from all state agencies,” Rarick continued.

Rarick noted that In April 2024, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan publicly called state employees who raised concerns about potential fraud “weirdos and losers sitting in their mother’s basement.”

3. Evidence of Terrorism Funding
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., asked about financial ties of fraudulent welfare recipients to international terrorist networks. Robins said that an informal network of money exchangers transmits money to Somalia.

“So, United States dollars that have been remitted into Somalia, in part, have been utilized, or have fallen into the hands of Al Shabbab?” Donalds asked Robins.

Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based terrorist network linked to Al Qaeda.

Robins answered, “We have plenty of evidence of that from money directly going to Al-Shabbab, but then also indirectly because they take a cut of whatever gets sent to Somalia.”