Rep. Comer to Newsmax: Walz, Ellison 'Turned Blind Eye' to Alleged Minn. Fraud

Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison "turned a blind eye" to alleged fraud and "retaliated" against whistleblowers, House Oversight & Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Newsmax on Wednesday.

Comer made the remarks ahead of a House Oversight hearing examining claims that state officials ignored repeated warnings about large-scale fraud involving federal programs in Minnesota.

"This hearing comes after hours and hours and hours of interviews that oversight staff has conducted with dozens of Minnesota whistleblowers," Comer said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."

According to Comer, investigators have reviewed email correspondence and testimony suggesting whistleblowers tried for years to alert Walz and Ellison to the alleged schemes but were ignored.

"There's no doubt from our research ... that not only did Gov. Walz and Attorney General Ellison know about the fraud, they discouraged and even retaliated against whistleblowers for trying to stop the fraud," he told co-hosts Sharla McBride and Marc Lotter.

The House Oversight probe is focused in part on allegations that fraudulent businesses — including purported Somali-run daycare centers — exploited federal and state programs meant to provide meals and other services for children.

Minnesota lawmakers previously testified that state officials allegedly ignored repeated warnings from employees and others raising concerns about the programs.

Comer said the committee's goal is to determine whether top state leaders were aware of the misconduct and failed to act.

"Our purpose of our investigation on the oversight committee was to determine whether or not Tim Walz and Keith Ellison knew about the fraud," Comer said.

He also suggested the Justice Department, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, is already conducting a parallel investigation.

"We've been told for weeks now that Pam Bondi's Department of Justice is on the ground interviewing specific fraudsters — people that created the fake Somali daycares and other businesses that abused the feeding programs for children," Comer said.

The Kentucky Republican predicted the investigation could lead to broader consequences for Minnesota if wrongdoing is confirmed.

"For the first time in the nine and a half years that I've been in Congress, we're actually seeing an administration cut off some types of federal funding to Minnesota," he said, crediting the Trump administration for suspending some payments tied to the programs under scrutiny.

Comer said he expects further funding suspensions could follow if the hearing reveals additional evidence of mismanagement or corruption.

"I think after today you're going to see more payments suspended and more programs cut off until Minnesota can right their ship," he said.

The hearing comes as congressional Republicans intensify oversight of federal spending and fraud in social service programs, arguing that stronger safeguards are needed to prevent taxpayer dollars from being abused.

Comer said he hopes the investigation will ultimately lead to accountability.

"What we're going to present to the American people today — combined with what the Justice Department is doing — hopefully we're going to see a lot of accountability," he said.

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