Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Defends Fraud Oversight After Viral Video Alleges ‘Billion-Dollar’ Scheme

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office is defending his record in response to a viral video purporting to have uncovered massive fraud involving government-funded day care centers, saying the Democratic governor has “worked for years to crack down on fraud” and has asked “the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action.”

The 42-minute video by Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old self-described “independent“ journalist, featured him visiting multiple Somali-run day care centers that appeared to be largely inactive despite allegedly receiving millions in state funds. He’s joined in the video by another man, identified as “David,” who claims to have long been investigating such facilities.

Conservative media figures and Republican lawmakers have seized on Shirley’s report as evidence of Democratic corruption, with the video generating more than 100 million views on X and more than 1.3 million on YouTube, where it was titled, “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.”

Elon Musk has heavily promoted the video on X, claiming it’s reached “more than any the daily readership of all newspapers in America combined,” while House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “jaw-dropping reporting” and Vice President JD Vance suggested the 23-year-old deserved a Pulitzer Prize. 

In a statement to Fox News, a spokesperson said Walz has hired an outside firm to audit “high-risk programs,” ended a state program that used Medicaid funds to help disabled people find housing after credible allegations of fraud, appointed a state program integrity director to prevent further cases of fraud and supported criminal prosecutions.

“He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” a spokesperson told the outlet.

The governor’s office did not respond to TheWrap’s immediate request for comment. Shirley also did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

While Shirley’s video has dominated the political conversation on the right in recent days, and the young journalist appeared Sunday on Fox News, the report has received considerably less attention from national news outlets. Speaker Johnson wrote on X that Shirley‘s video was “an indictment of both the national news media and feckless, dangerous office holders in Minnesota.”

He said the House Oversight Committee has requested data from Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the Treasury Department and the Justice Department on the alleged fraud schemes, along with interviews with state officials. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the committee’s chairman, also reiterated the investigatory effort in a Fox News interview on Monday.

“The walls are caving in on Tim Walz,” he said.

News organizations have covered fraud allegations in Minnesota, with the New York Times, for one, reporting last month on federal prosecutions of people within the Somali community. The Times reported, according to law enforcement officials, that “scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided.”

Still, Shirley’s video, conducted in a compelling first-person style and featuring some stunning images — one child center misspells the word “learning” — has brought fraud allegations in the state to a far wider audience.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X his agency was aware of “recent social media reports in Minnesota” and had already deployed resources in the state to dismantle alleged fraud schemes. He said some of the 78 indictments in the state have included cases of wire fraud and money laundering, and he alluded to issues of “immigration” to blame.

“The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg,” Patel wrote on Sunday. “We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing. Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigrations officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.”

The video is a major coup for Shirley, who identifies as an independent journalist, though his focus tends to align with the right. Reuters described Shirley as a “pro-Trump influencer” last year in describing how he recruited Hispanic day laborers at a Home Depot and paid them $20 to hold up signs in support of then-President Joe Biden and immigration.

Shirley joined other content creators at White House roundtable on antifa in October, and Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe named him the “Citizen Journalist of the Year” at O’Keefe’s “Citizen Journalist Gala” at Mar-a-Lago in November.

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