Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., said Friday that California has become the nation’s leading example of government fraud and mismanagement under Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“California is the fraud and corruption capital of the United States,” Kiley told Newsmax TV's "National Report" on Friday, arguing that Newsom’s leadership has coincided with widespread financial abuse across state programs.
He pointed to what he described as a pattern of ignored warnings and lack of oversight during Newsom’s seven years as governor.
Kiley said the state’s population decline reflects growing frustration among residents. California has led the nation in outbound U-Haul rentals for six consecutive years, a trend he attributed to rising costs, public safety concerns, and declining confidence in state governance.
He said the state lost approximately $32 billion after the California state auditor found that Newsom’s administration failed to act on repeated warnings about vulnerabilities in the system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Kiley, organized criminal networks exploited those weaknesses, diverting taxpayer funds and using them to support additional criminal activity.
Kiley also cited fraud in California’s community college system. He said about one-third of community college applications in the state are fraudulent, submitted primarily to obtain financial aid rather than to attend classes.
Those applications, he said, have contributed to billions of dollars in improper payments.
Homelessness spending was another area of concern raised during the interview. Kiley said California has spent roughly $24 billion on homelessness programs, but a state audit found officials could not fully account for how the money was used.
Despite the spending, the state’s homeless population has continued to grow.
“The auditor found they lost track of the money, and homelessness got a lot worse,” Kiley said.
Kiley said these examples demonstrate systemic problems rather than isolated failures. He argued that fraud has become widespread across multiple state agencies and programs, undermining public trust and worsening outcomes for Californians.
He also compared the situation in California to political fallout in other states, saying large-scale fraud has ended political careers elsewhere and should have consequences for Newsom as well.
“The scale of what has occurred in California is unlike anywhere else,” Kiley said.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that his administration had started a fraud investigation in California without providing more details.
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