December 1, 2025 • 38 mins
Jon does a deep dive into the fraud cases in Minnesota. Jon offers his opinion on an editorial calling out the response to the fraud cases.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You know, I've had a lot of people reaching out
regarding all the various issues that we're faced with here
in Minnesota, but specifically the fraud that we've been talking
about and all the recent recent revelations. Even though a
lot of what's been discussed has been known for a
long time and people have been talking about, well, you know,
(00:29):
don't forget. You have Attorney General Keith Ellison, you have
Lieutenant Governor Peggy fan again, and all of this, and
you're absolutely correct, these individuals should not get leeway lack
of a better way to put it, in all the
criticism taking place. But as we're diving into the issue,
(00:50):
I also think it's appropriate to make sure you focus
singularly on the guy at the top, and that's Governor
Tim Walls as he squirms over this particular issue. Let's
get to a few of your talkbacks and then we'll
dive in to what this account associated with Minnesota Department
of Human Resources employees posted heading into the weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Horner John, Happy December, Happy Christmas season. Anyways, I will
say this, and I've been saying this, and I will
stand by this. This is why they picked him for
vice president for Kamala Harris. They saw all this fraud,
they saw all how they did it, they saw all,
they saw it all, and they wanted to implement it
across the country. That's what they've that those the game
(01:36):
plan the entire time. I'm convinced of it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Does it make no mistake. The Democrat Party already knows
what to do to make sure this frock can get committed.
I understand what it is that you're saying, but I
also don't think that they needed to bring Walls on
board in order to learn how to have this FRAU
to end up being committed. Good morning, John.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I've left this talk before and I'll leave it again.
There needs to be a forensic audit of all this money.
Money leaves a trail, and I'll guarantee you that trail
leads back to the DFL campaigns. Positive on this forensic audit,
I have.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
A good day.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I'm John say, I'm calling in.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I don't want to detegrate you for mispronouncing a name,
but I want to give the lawyer Ryan Casiga credit.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Casigas he's a great asset to any assistant programs. All right,
So my apology is there. The way it's written, it
didn't look like that, so I was pronouncing it more
phonetically speaking. So here's what the original post of the
Minnesota Department of Human Services account on X had to say.
We let Tim Walls know of fraud early on, hoping
(02:51):
for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got
the opposite response, and Tim Walls retaliated stomatically against whistleblowers,
using monitoring threats, repression, and did his best to discredit
fraud reports. Instead of partnership, we got the full weight
(03:11):
of retaliation by Tim Walls, certain DFL members, and an
indifferent mainstream media. It's scary, isolating, and left us wondering
who can we turn to. In addition to retaliating against
the whistleblower, Tim Walls disempowered the Office of Legislative Auditor,
(03:31):
allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance. Media
politicians supporting Tim Walls or the DFL agenda attacked the
whistleblowers who were trying to raise red flags on fraudulent
services fraudulent activities. Excuse me, this is a cascade of
systemic failures leading up to Tim Walls. Agency leaders appointed
(03:54):
by Walls, willfully disregarded rules and laws to keep the
fraud reports quiet, to the extent of threatening families of whistleblowers.
According to this account on x that claims to be
made up of Minnesota Department of Human Services employees, these
same leaders are not qualified for their jobs, instead getting
(04:16):
leadership jobs via Tim Walls's friendship. So state governments were
left floundering. DFL lawmakers refused to acknowledge fraud and deflected
any serious conversation to stop fraud. Biased mainstream media such
as WCCO and MPR showed absolutely no interest in covering
(04:36):
fraud happening in our state, says the account on X. Programs,
especially in behavioral and disability services, were built without any
safeguards against fraud, all in an attempt to extract more
funding from the legislature and the federal government. And I've
had many DHS workers anonymously reaching out to me this
(04:59):
year sharing these very details that this account up on
x posted heading into the weekend at Minnesota underscore DHS
that when they've gone and brought they found fraud and
brought it to the attention of their superiors, it's simply
been ignored. As staff, we first hand witness and observed
(05:22):
fraud happening, yet were shut down, reassigned and told to
keep quiet. Sometimes more, leadership did not want to appear
to discriminate against certain communities and were unwilling to take
action such as stopping fraud that would have an adverse
impact on their image. And make no mistake too, before
I get into more of this, the dynamics at play
(05:43):
here that one has to wonder whether or not this
was the mindset all along of government. You know of
Governor Tim Walls, of Peggy Flanagan, of Keith Ellison, when
this fraud story ended up exploding because it couldn't happen
(06:03):
in perpetuity, it actually went on far longer than it
should have. I'm convinced because of the DFL trifecta, when
you have one party rule, they can go and just
ignore all of this. I shared the data many times
last week of how for autism centers you start off
(06:24):
with six million dollars in funding requests coming from autism
centers and then that balloons to some four hundred million
dollars some five or six years later, and only at
that point does it raise any red flags or come
to anybody's attention after a federal investigation investigation, Now, why
wouldn't the DFL want to point out to this and
(06:45):
stop it. Well, because there's a fear since seventy six
percent of the fraud being committed is of from the
Somali community, there's a fear that you're going to be
labeled a racist. And so if the Democrats had begun
to pursue trying to hold people accountable for the fraud,
(07:08):
then the very criticism that you're hearing now pointed towards
Trump Republicans. Anybody that wants to go and report on
the facts on this that get labeled a racist. One
can't help. But wonder if they knew this all along
they're like, hey, we'll wait until the Republicans raise concern
over this, and then they can take the irrational heat
(07:32):
as the excuses pour in and those on the right
and Trump, if he makes moves on this, we can
just say that they're racist for pointing out the facts
regarding who's committing the fraud. You get back to this
post online of the alleged employees for DHS, they said
(07:55):
it was a structure created and maintained by Tim Walls
who has created an environment of interrelated agencies and institutions,
including the media, that help foster fraud through retaliation and
turning a blind eye in exchange her political gain in
the form of higher power agency leadership jobs or other perks. Fundamentally,
they write, Tim Walls is dishonest, lacks ethics and integrity,
(08:21):
has poor leadership abilities, and has never taken any accountability
for his role in the fraud. And you heard that
in the clip that we played a couple times this
morning on Meet the Press. Instead, he deflects by blaming
national politics for his own failures and failings and distracts
the public with his constant lying as such, we can't
(08:46):
fight fraud in Minnesota alone. Hence why we're appealing to
the federal levels of government. We need all the help
that we can get, as Tim Wallas's agency leaders have
up their brazen approach in covering up their knowledge of fraud.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And isn't an.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Interesting too that here you have these alleged employees for
DHS and they're saying the federal government needs to step in,
while also Tim Walls is saying that the federal government
needs to step in on all of this. This can
be handled internally, and yet you have these employees for
(09:23):
DHS saying Walls isn't going to do it, so we
need the Feds. And then you have Wall saying we
need the Feds, probably because he knows if the Feds
go and do it, it's going to take longer. And
so depending on how long investigations further investigations take, perhaps
this will shield him somewhat from any scrutiny while the
(09:48):
investigations are going on, because he doesn't seem to have
any interest in investigating this through his own administration. They
wrap up with this. We are grateful to the numerous
solid politicians, especially the Fraud Committee, and media outlets who
(10:10):
are trying to halt the fraud. We are also grateful
to other whistleblowers who are bravely stepping up. Thank you
to the New York Times for bringing the plight of
Minnesota to the national stage. As I mentioned a piece
that did not get a chance to get into before Thanksgiving.
(10:31):
Governor Tim Walls presents himself as a champion for those
who got tough breaks along the way, but Minnesotan's who
live with addiction and disabilities are getting caught up in
the Crossfire of the fraud crisis, a fantastic piece by
Matt Dean from American Experiment. I'll share with you some
points from We'll get you updated on that raid in
Saint Paul by Ice. Is ICE coming to Minnesota for
(10:53):
broader deportation and immigration enforcements efforts. That's what I've been hearing.
We'll get to your talkbacks as well from the IHEL
radio app brought to you by Lyndahl Realty. It's all
coming up on Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty
and one oh three five FM. This one clip that
(11:14):
I've been sharing of walls from Meet the Press over
the weekend has turned out to be even more relevant
relevant that I had imagined. So I'm going to share
with it, share it with you one more time, and
then I want to move over to a couple of
other fraud related items before we talk at immigration after
the bottom of the hour here on Twin Cities News
(11:36):
Talk from the sixty five to one Carpet plus Next
Day Install studios.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Dozens of people of East African descent have been charged, convicted,
and sentenced for stealing more than a billion dollars in
taxpayer money from government programs during COVID. As you know, Governor,
that is more than Minnesota spends each year to run
its Department of Correction. So I want to give you
a chance to respond to this. Do you take responsibility
(12:02):
for failing to stop this fraud in your state?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, certainly I take responsibility for putting people in jail.
Governors don't get to just talk theoretically, we have to
solve problems. And I will note but it's not just Somali's.
Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous days,
a well run state or triple A bond rated, but
that attracts criminals.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Those people are going to jail.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
We're doing everything we can, but to demonize an entire
community on the actions of a few, it's lazy.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
By the way, I had a friend of the of
the show and thank you Angie for for doing this.
But Angie X writes this, well, states Minnesota has a
triple A bond rating. A quick search of states in
Minnesota currently does not hold a triple A bond rating.
(12:54):
So he so Wall's you know, quips about why isn't
Trump playing Yazi with his family, and in said he's
owing me the R word, and which case he didn't
look at the fact that Trump spent Thanksgiving with family
in mar Alago. I don't know if they've played Yazia
or not, but they were down there. And at the
same time, we don't even have a triple A bond rating.
It's been rated as double A by major rating agencies
(13:16):
and indicates a strong credit quality, but it's one tier
below the highest rating of triple A that he was
touting in that piece, so he can't even go and
get that right.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
Hey, good morning guys, John. I want to make sure
that everybody is aware that Keith Ellison is not off
the hook for this. This is literally his job as
the top lawyer in Minnesota is to find these people
to root it out. Get over your hatred for Donald Trump.
There is no reason for you to sue him NonStop.
(13:51):
Fix the individuals that are ruining our state, or get out.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I would prefer that he gets out.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
From New Brighton. I'll see this for Walls. He's definitely
got stones for him to talk about how the governor
put these people in jail. No, he didn't. That would
have been Andrew Lueger and Joe Thompson they're one's putting
these people in jail. His job as governor was to
try to prevent the fraud from happening in the first
place by actually having oversight in place. Come on, timmy
(14:22):
can't lie to us, pal.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Really makes me laugh that the only defense I've seen
about that Minnesota DHS post is that, oh, it's not
their official account. Well no, yeah, exactly. Listen. I put
forward the alleged regarding this account at Minnesota Underscore DHS
(14:47):
that apparently has some four hundred to four hundred and
eighty DHS employees behind it, wherein they posted Tim Walls
as one responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. The story
went also, meaning that the different news outlets that covered
that account did their own due diligence while not exposing
(15:10):
the individuals running it, but did go behind the scenes
to make sure that it was individuals that actually work
for DHS that run that account. But of course they're
going to remain anonymous, especially considering what they put forward
in terms of their allegations regarding Tim Walls, which brings
(15:32):
me to this piece Minnesota Reformer. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? So this is an
editorial written over the weekend regarding the claims made by
the City Journal, and already it hasn't aged well. A
(15:54):
recent story in the conservative publication City Journal that claims
the largest funder of Al Shabab is the Minnesota taxpayer,
has unleashed a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community,
and again, at already aged poorly considering The New York
Times did their own extensive piece regarding this issue and
(16:15):
covered the same thing the City Journal did. As a
matter of fact, everything in this particular op ed demonstrates
why the City Journal reporting was absolutely necessary. When they
talk about a chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community,
all that they're referring to here and I'm going from
(16:35):
official sources, we need to parts this out. I think
most people understand this, but I want to make sure
that we're clear when claims like this get made of
a chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community, or when
you ever hear claims like this. This whole piece lays
out how unhelpful in their mind, the article writer, the
(16:59):
editorial writer, the City Journal was, and how it was
just right wing propaganda perpetuating this. But when we talk
about any vitriol, I'm talking from official sources. I'm talking
about other talk show hosts, commentators, news media outlets, government officials.
(17:23):
It's not vitriol that you're hearing, it's facts. You may
have other individuals posting comments online, just average people that
may be saying egregious, overly egregious, or vitriolic things. I'm
not referring to those individuals. I'm talking about the people
that have a voice publicly, that are speaking about this matter.
(17:45):
And it's been anything but vitriol. It's been simply pointing
to the facts of what we are discussing. So I'll
dive into this piece. We will get into the medicaid
fraud crisis and walls turn our attention towards immigration. Let
me share this with you. We have your talk back
of the day coming up in just a moment, but
this seems appropriate. I have a lot of different Trump
(18:07):
clips this morning to share, and I'll sneak this one
in here. But President Donald Trump, talking about the issue
of pausing immigration coming from concerning countries as Trump describes them,
also pointed to another rather prominent member of Congress that
would be representative of ilhan Omar.
Speaker 8 (18:28):
Frankly, don't need they have people coming into our country
telling us what to do? Are you talking to Diana?
To you and I'm like Samaya, but you have a
congressman who's around telling everybody about our constitution. And yet
she supposedly came into a country by marrying her brother. Well,
if that's true, she should be a congressman and we
should throw the hell out of our country.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
A little hard to hear, but what Trump said was
is that il han Omar supposedly came into our country
by marrying her brother, and if that's true, she shouldn't
be a congresswoman and we should throw her the hell
out of the country. See, along with all these other stories,
that one is also sitting there in the background as well,
because there is a lot of information regarding the background
(19:13):
of Representative ill haan Omar that also might be getting
some national attention. This week your talk Back of the
Day more of your comments as well from the iHeartRadio app.
Be sure you update the app if you haven't done
so recently, to take advantage of all of the latest
features being added to enhance your listening enjoyment and make
sure you make Twin Cities News Talk number one on
(19:33):
your presets. So for those that have not heard, former
producer to this show, Sam san Severe, had her baby
last week on Tuesday. We have time permitting, I'll sneak
(19:57):
it sneaking on the air, but I had and Sam
grab the audio from the announcement over on our sister
station K one O two this morning, So time permitting.
By the end of the show, I'll share with you
what Sam had to say on her own radio show,
She is at home with the baby, Twin Cities News
(20:18):
Talk Am eleven thirty one oh three five FM. All
right from the six five to one carpet Next Day
install Studios. I got a lot of ground to cover
in the final segment of the show. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? According to an editorial
written in the Minnesota Reformer. We will dive into the
details of that in just a moment. First off, though,
(20:38):
we need to get to the talkback of the day,
which is brought to you by minileafan minileaf dot com.
Speaker 9 (20:44):
Good morning, John. I realize Thanksgiving is over, but I
still want to thank you for a radio program that
not only offers your knowledge, but that allows and encourage
is the many many people that call in with their
wisdom and perspectives. They all give me so much hope
(21:09):
for Minnesota. Thanks again, and thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
You are the talkback of the day, first one for December.
Here on December first again, brought to you by Many
Leaf MINILEAF dot com. Head on over m I N
N E l e A f dot com. All right,
let's get to a few more of your talkbacks, and
then I want to dive into this editorial from the
Minnesota Reformer. Let's go here, Hi, John, Tim Waltz is
(21:35):
one hundred percent correct that Minnesota is a generous state.
You're not the only one saying that either. Hey, good morning, John.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Wall's got one thing right.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Minnesota is definitely a generous state.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Party John, somewhere Cigarfield Wardroom board members.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Are trying to figure out how to disinvolve in your
relationship with him.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
All yeah, listen, I keep saying it. I'm gonna keep
saying it. I just don't see. Well, I'd say sixty
forty right now. I may even go seventy thirty. That
Walls is not the nominee for governor next year. He's
not doing a good job responding to any of what
we've been talking about on the show. His first appearance
on Meet the Press talking about these issues. Since the
(22:21):
revelations not only from the New York Times, but specifically
from the City Journal piece and Christopher Ruffo, He's not
doing a good job. Neither did this piece Minnesota reformer
right wing reporting on Somali money going to al Shabab
is not new, still misses the mark. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? This piece is written
(22:45):
to written by Case macon I previously worked as an
investigator in the Medicaid fraud division of the Office of
Minnesota Attorney General, so it's a little bit of background
on this individual. Here's what Casa had to say. A
recent story in the conservative publication City Journal has unleashed
(23:05):
a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community. Ryanthorpe
and Christopher Ruffo's articles assert that Al Shabab, a terrorist
organization based in Somalia, is being funded through remittances is
sent by Somali Minnesotans who have defrauded taxpayer funded programs.
I say this as an American of Somali ancestry who
(23:28):
has investigated frosters and as someone who has written about
it for The Reformer. Okay, I can't prove a negative,
but the story, especially in all its sensationalism, appears to
be little more than an effort by the right wing
propaganda machine to whip up hatred against Somali Americans. So,
(23:51):
first off, are the claims true or not true? And
essentially what he's saying is we shouldn't bring it up
because it might impact people's feelings over the past three years.
He goes on to right, federal prosecutors in Minnesota have
charged seventy eight people in what they have called the
(24:14):
largest pandemic relief fraud in the country. Well, they have
called it that because it is in what they have
called yeah, or they just have called it, or they
have stated because it's fact, because it was The overwhelming
(24:34):
majority of defendants involved in this fraud, named after a
nonprofit the center of the scandal, Feeding Our Future, are
from the Somali community, but are American citizens? Okay, And
nobody is saying otherwise. If federal prosecutors had any inkling
that the ill gotten gains were going to a terrorist
Organization's a terrorist organization. Don't you think they'd have brought charges?
(24:59):
The US in Minnesota is no stranger to charging Somali's
for ties to al Shabab, and isis why on earth
would they hold off in this instance? Well, perhaps because
this would be an intelligence issue, a global issue, and
Biden's DOJ would not be at all interested. And even
(25:22):
the US attorney, the former US attorney here in Minnesota,
tried to go in downplay the involvement of those individuals
within the Somaldi community in the fraud taking place. Peter
isn't may he goes on the right. Those of us
who have actually followed the Minnesota fraud cases closely know
(25:42):
that time and again prosecutors have stated the fraudsters were
motivated by greed, not ideology. Wow, is he not insulting
the fraudsters now by saying that? I mean he started
off his peace saying that the claim of taxpayer dollars
through autism fraud going to terrorist organization Al Shabab was
(26:06):
unleashing a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Smaldi community.
And yet right here he says that motivations are by
greed not ideology. Is that not also insulting and potential
vitriol towards particular individuals in one particular community. Thorpe and
Rufo cited retired Seattle Police detective Glenn Kerns, who ominously
(26:30):
states that Somali's were routing significant amounts of cash on
commercial flights to Somalia. I just love all the colorful
language here, or he was just stating, but for the
article writer, it's oh, it's ominously thunderous chorus of vitriol.
(26:50):
Thorpe and Rufo cite two anonymous sources to imply that
money collected by the Juala networks is being sent to
al Shabab and Somalia. After the story was published, Rufo
took to extra write Somalis in Minneapolis are stealing billions
from American taxpayers, loading bags of cash onto commercial flights,
and funding terrorism back in Mogadishu. These statements are meant
(27:14):
to alarm, but the actual situation is that Somalia does
not have a formal banking system and Somalis rely upon
Jala networks. Yeah, and that's what Christopher Rufo just said.
And the whole statements are meant to harm. That's your opinion,
Maybe they're just meant to inform. Maybe they're meant to
go and let individuals know that the fraud taking place
(27:35):
was funding terrorism, something that the article writer doesn't even
bother to refute because he knows it's true, but he's
not going to admit it because in his mind, in
my opinion, it undermines the point that he's trying to make,
which doesn't even land either. The Jala couriers are required
(27:58):
by law to report them they are carrying to its destination.
So apparently there's no way that these Howala couriers would
be in on this as well. They're all on the
up and up. Apparently these Halala networks are just supposed
to be completely believed. Come on, Al Shabab is a
(28:23):
sanctioned entity by the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign
Asss Control. In short, gathering large amounts of cash and
delivering it to Al Shabab would require avoiding the FEDS
at several steps. Yeah, and I mean, you're talking about
billions of dollars in fraud here in Minnesota that went
(28:46):
largely ignored for years, and yet we're supposed to suddenly
assume that terrorist organizations are going to be one up
on the up and up, or two not going out
of their way to hide their criminal activity. Give me.
He thinks you're stupid, so he gets into the number
(29:06):
of Somalis here in Minnesota, eighty seven thousand, approximately a
fraction of the millions of Somalis who live in the diaspora,
many of whom send money back home. The remittances we
send keeps the float the local economy and is a
lifeline to millions in Somalia. Nobody is saying otherwise. The
point is that some of those dollars which you just
(29:28):
admit are going back over to Somalia are ending up
in the hands of terrorists. And I just want to
reiterate again what I said at the beginning of the show.
The US census has the Somali population at about sixty
one three hundred that's reported. The estimates are more closely
aligned with eighty to eighty seven thousand, which raises the
(29:50):
question of how many of those individuals are actually here
in the country legally. He goes on to right, if
you lived to minnesot in twenty eighteen. This may all
sound familiar. It's because a similar claim was made about
millions of dollars in cash flying out of ms P
to Somalia. The Office of Legislative Auditor conducted an assessment
(30:12):
in twenty eighteen stating that despite the serious nature of
the allegations, neither of the former Department of Human Services
employee Scott Stillman nor Fox nine presented specific evidence to
substantiate the allegation. But it also wasn't denied either. Unfortunately,
(30:33):
that reporting by Fox nine in twenty eighteen gave fraudsters cover.
It allowed for the dismissal of allegations of fraud as
just bad faith, racism and Islamophobia. Feckless democrat farmer labor
politicians were given a license to ignore warnings about fraud
in public programs. The rest is history. He's not wrong,
(31:01):
but this would appear to run counter to his claim
of this being right wing propaganda if it doesn't end
up helping the right wing. Rufo's actual intentions became all
too clear, he says, in the hours after the piece ran,
when he unleashed a torrent of anti Somali posts on
(31:24):
x all he did was point to what we've been
talking about on the show and what they reported in
their story, saying that it's time for Trump to revoke
the Temporary protected status for all Samali nationals in the US.
That's all that he wrote. Hours later, Trump announced he
(31:46):
was ending temporary Protective status for Samali's in Minnesota, citing
the fraudulent money laundering RUFOS celebrated he really just doesn't
like RUFO. We broke the Somali fraud story the laughable
as to dozens of investigators and journalists working on it
over the years, and called on President Donald Trump to
(32:06):
revoke the TPS for all Somali's. The President has now delivered.
This is how we win. To be clear, TPS effects
about seven hundred people nationwide, he writes. The defendants in
Feeding our Future and Medicaid fraud nearly all Americans. And
it was intended to be an attention grabber. That's why
Trump did it. And he's even said that the reality
(32:29):
of the reality of the Somali American Experiment experience is
that we came to the US in search of a
better life. The vast majority of US are on IS
law abiding citizens and have been a plant appalled by
those in our community who have preyed upon programs created
to help low income Minnesotans, including Somali Minnesotans. Listen. I'm
glad that somebody finally from the Somali community spoke out
(32:51):
about this, because this is the first that I've seen
of anybody coming out of that community that's willing to
actually go and say that there are people within that
community appalled by what is taking place. And I don't
the search for a better life thing. Yeah, as I
said before, when it comes to individuals coming into the
(33:13):
country illegally or coming here legally, everybody's coming here to
better their life. It's how they want to better their
life that makes a difference. What did they become accustomed
to in their country of origin, what is commonplace? Can
(33:34):
more be done to root out fraud in Minnesota? Of course,
DFL like that officials should address the issue of fraud
more forcefully. I would also like to see fewer instances
of some all the business owners reflectively organizing against measures
designed to protect the integrity of our social programs. So
good on him. Regrettably, he then wraps up saying Thorpe
(33:56):
and Rufo's vulture journalism. It's an opening to those who
seek to dismiss the problem of fraud in Minnesota as
right wing demagoguery, undermining the hard work done to shed
light on and prosecute the rampant fraud that has beset
Minnesota's public programs. So really, he just doesn't like the
reporting that was done by Rufo and Thorpe, and everything
(34:21):
in this bed demonstrates why that City Journal reporting was necessary,
because he's right, there was reporting on this already, but
it wasn't gaining national attention, and now it is and
that probably would not have happened without that Sinny Journal report.
And if this individual that wrote in the Minnesota Reformer
(34:41):
really wants to go and help with the situation, stop
disparaging the individuals that are pointing out what is actually
taking place, and support the efforts being made to expose
what's happening. Be factual in your commentary, be fearless in
your commentary, because it's the only way we're going to
(35:03):
be able to go and deal with this problem. Governor
Tim wallas Is, he's a total disaster. He's presented himself
as a champion for those who got tough breaks along
the way. Minnesotan's though who live with addiction and disabilities
are getting caught in the crossfire of the fraud crisis.
Matt Dean had this piece last week in American Experiment.
(35:25):
In twenty twenty five, adults with profound disabilities, many nonverbal,
and under guardianship, received eviction notices from the places the
administration helped fund through the Integregated Community Sports Supports Program,
the ICs program, which was also turned out to be fraudulent. Traditionally,
(35:47):
these individuals will live in group homes, but ICs allowed
them to get their own place and receive services to
foster more independent living through Alternative Service Agreements. ICs bills
Medicaid for housing and supportive services that are traditionally provided
to a group home. DHS cut payments to providers in
September of twenty twenty five after ICs allegedly approved Medicaid
(36:10):
payments for vendors who did not work on the tenant's behalf.
When this happened, many providers cut off the leases, and
many people with disabilities facing eviction and homelessness are relying
on families who are assured the ICs program was going
to go and help a loved one, which is completely destroys.
Anytime you hear Governor Tim Walls trying to go and
(36:31):
criticize the Trump administration and the One Big Beautiful Bill
for wanting to provide further oversight to medicaid programs so
that fraud can occur. And yet you have individuals here
subject to losing Medicaid funding because of fraud that was
enabled under Governor Tim Walls's watch, and yet he won't
mention any of that. But essentially that amounts to Governor
(36:52):
Tim Walls going and taking away Medicaid funding from minnesotan's
And one more, just for good measure, the state agency
in charge of administering SNAP still has not used a
new state law that allows agencies to withhold public assistance
payments amid allegations of fraud. The Channel five story says,
(37:17):
according to the data provided, the state completed seventy nine
hundred investigations into potential fraud in July of twenty four
through June of this year. In that same period, the
department identified five hundred and fifty five instances of intentional
program violations. The story says that the fraud in SNAP
(37:38):
is rare. I don't know, I mean seven percent sure,
but seven percent is still seven percent. Still five hundred
and fifty five instances of intentional program violations. You expect
this to be a further story in the very near
future regarding fraud as we continue to talk about it.
All right, if you missed any portion of today's show,
(38:00):
be sure to check out the podcast that'll be available
up on the iHeartRadio app. Thank you so much for
tuning in this morning. We of course are back at
it tomorrow. If you want to email me Justice at
iHeartRadio dot com or leave those talkbacks in overnight. We
didn't get to a lot of those today, but stay
warm out there. It is incredibly cold, and I'll talk
to you guys tomorrow morning just after six o'clock. Have
(38:20):
a great Monday. Bye.
You know, I've had a lot of people reaching out
regarding all the various issues that we're faced with here
in Minnesota, but specifically the fraud that we've been talking
about and all the recent recent revelations. Even though a
lot of what's been discussed has been known for a
long time and people have been talking about, well, you know,
(00:29):
don't forget. You have Attorney General Keith Ellison, you have
Lieutenant Governor Peggy fan again, and all of this, and
you're absolutely correct, these individuals should not get leeway lack
of a better way to put it, in all the
criticism taking place. But as we're diving into the issue,
(00:50):
I also think it's appropriate to make sure you focus
singularly on the guy at the top, and that's Governor
Tim Walls as he squirms over this particular issue. Let's
get to a few of your talkbacks and then we'll
dive in to what this account associated with Minnesota Department
of Human Resources employees posted heading into the weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Horner John, Happy December, Happy Christmas season. Anyways, I will
say this, and I've been saying this, and I will
stand by this. This is why they picked him for
vice president for Kamala Harris. They saw all this fraud,
they saw all how they did it, they saw all,
they saw it all, and they wanted to implement it
across the country. That's what they've that those the game
(01:36):
plan the entire time. I'm convinced of it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Does it make no mistake. The Democrat Party already knows
what to do to make sure this frock can get committed.
I understand what it is that you're saying, but I
also don't think that they needed to bring Walls on
board in order to learn how to have this FRAU
to end up being committed. Good morning, John.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I've left this talk before and I'll leave it again.
There needs to be a forensic audit of all this money.
Money leaves a trail, and I'll guarantee you that trail
leads back to the DFL campaigns. Positive on this forensic audit,
I have.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
A good day.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I'm John say, I'm calling in.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I don't want to detegrate you for mispronouncing a name,
but I want to give the lawyer Ryan Casiga credit.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Casigas he's a great asset to any assistant programs. All right,
So my apology is there. The way it's written, it
didn't look like that, so I was pronouncing it more
phonetically speaking. So here's what the original post of the
Minnesota Department of Human Services account on X had to say.
We let Tim Walls know of fraud early on, hoping
(02:51):
for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got
the opposite response, and Tim Walls retaliated stomatically against whistleblowers,
using monitoring threats, repression, and did his best to discredit
fraud reports. Instead of partnership, we got the full weight
(03:11):
of retaliation by Tim Walls, certain DFL members, and an
indifferent mainstream media. It's scary, isolating, and left us wondering
who can we turn to. In addition to retaliating against
the whistleblower, Tim Walls disempowered the Office of Legislative Auditor,
(03:31):
allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance. Media
politicians supporting Tim Walls or the DFL agenda attacked the
whistleblowers who were trying to raise red flags on fraudulent
services fraudulent activities. Excuse me, this is a cascade of
systemic failures leading up to Tim Walls. Agency leaders appointed
(03:54):
by Walls, willfully disregarded rules and laws to keep the
fraud reports quiet, to the extent of threatening families of whistleblowers.
According to this account on x that claims to be
made up of Minnesota Department of Human Services employees, these
same leaders are not qualified for their jobs, instead getting
(04:16):
leadership jobs via Tim Walls's friendship. So state governments were
left floundering. DFL lawmakers refused to acknowledge fraud and deflected
any serious conversation to stop fraud. Biased mainstream media such
as WCCO and MPR showed absolutely no interest in covering
(04:36):
fraud happening in our state, says the account on X. Programs,
especially in behavioral and disability services, were built without any
safeguards against fraud, all in an attempt to extract more
funding from the legislature and the federal government. And I've
had many DHS workers anonymously reaching out to me this
(04:59):
year sharing these very details that this account up on
x posted heading into the weekend at Minnesota underscore DHS
that when they've gone and brought they found fraud and
brought it to the attention of their superiors, it's simply
been ignored. As staff, we first hand witness and observed
(05:22):
fraud happening, yet were shut down, reassigned and told to
keep quiet. Sometimes more, leadership did not want to appear
to discriminate against certain communities and were unwilling to take
action such as stopping fraud that would have an adverse
impact on their image. And make no mistake too, before
I get into more of this, the dynamics at play
(05:43):
here that one has to wonder whether or not this
was the mindset all along of government. You know of
Governor Tim Walls, of Peggy Flanagan, of Keith Ellison, when
this fraud story ended up exploding because it couldn't happen
(06:03):
in perpetuity, it actually went on far longer than it
should have. I'm convinced because of the DFL trifecta, when
you have one party rule, they can go and just
ignore all of this. I shared the data many times
last week of how for autism centers you start off
(06:24):
with six million dollars in funding requests coming from autism
centers and then that balloons to some four hundred million
dollars some five or six years later, and only at
that point does it raise any red flags or come
to anybody's attention after a federal investigation investigation, Now, why
wouldn't the DFL want to point out to this and
(06:45):
stop it. Well, because there's a fear since seventy six
percent of the fraud being committed is of from the
Somali community, there's a fear that you're going to be
labeled a racist. And so if the Democrats had begun
to pursue trying to hold people accountable for the fraud,
(07:08):
then the very criticism that you're hearing now pointed towards
Trump Republicans. Anybody that wants to go and report on
the facts on this that get labeled a racist. One
can't help. But wonder if they knew this all along
they're like, hey, we'll wait until the Republicans raise concern
over this, and then they can take the irrational heat
(07:32):
as the excuses pour in and those on the right
and Trump, if he makes moves on this, we can
just say that they're racist for pointing out the facts
regarding who's committing the fraud. You get back to this
post online of the alleged employees for DHS, they said
(07:55):
it was a structure created and maintained by Tim Walls
who has created an environment of interrelated agencies and institutions,
including the media, that help foster fraud through retaliation and
turning a blind eye in exchange her political gain in
the form of higher power agency leadership jobs or other perks. Fundamentally,
they write, Tim Walls is dishonest, lacks ethics and integrity,
(08:21):
has poor leadership abilities, and has never taken any accountability
for his role in the fraud. And you heard that
in the clip that we played a couple times this
morning on Meet the Press. Instead, he deflects by blaming
national politics for his own failures and failings and distracts
the public with his constant lying as such, we can't
(08:46):
fight fraud in Minnesota alone. Hence why we're appealing to
the federal levels of government. We need all the help
that we can get, as Tim Wallas's agency leaders have
up their brazen approach in covering up their knowledge of fraud.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And isn't an.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Interesting too that here you have these alleged employees for
DHS and they're saying the federal government needs to step in,
while also Tim Walls is saying that the federal government
needs to step in on all of this. This can
be handled internally, and yet you have these employees for
(09:23):
DHS saying Walls isn't going to do it, so we
need the Feds. And then you have Wall saying we
need the Feds, probably because he knows if the Feds
go and do it, it's going to take longer. And
so depending on how long investigations further investigations take, perhaps
this will shield him somewhat from any scrutiny while the
(09:48):
investigations are going on, because he doesn't seem to have
any interest in investigating this through his own administration. They
wrap up with this. We are grateful to the numerous
solid politicians, especially the Fraud Committee, and media outlets who
(10:10):
are trying to halt the fraud. We are also grateful
to other whistleblowers who are bravely stepping up. Thank you
to the New York Times for bringing the plight of
Minnesota to the national stage. As I mentioned a piece
that did not get a chance to get into before Thanksgiving.
(10:31):
Governor Tim Walls presents himself as a champion for those
who got tough breaks along the way, but Minnesotan's who
live with addiction and disabilities are getting caught up in
the Crossfire of the fraud crisis, a fantastic piece by
Matt Dean from American Experiment. I'll share with you some
points from We'll get you updated on that raid in
Saint Paul by Ice. Is ICE coming to Minnesota for
(10:53):
broader deportation and immigration enforcements efforts. That's what I've been hearing.
We'll get to your talkbacks as well from the IHEL
radio app brought to you by Lyndahl Realty. It's all
coming up on Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty
and one oh three five FM. This one clip that
(11:14):
I've been sharing of walls from Meet the Press over
the weekend has turned out to be even more relevant
relevant that I had imagined. So I'm going to share
with it, share it with you one more time, and
then I want to move over to a couple of
other fraud related items before we talk at immigration after
the bottom of the hour here on Twin Cities News
(11:36):
Talk from the sixty five to one Carpet plus Next
Day Install studios.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Dozens of people of East African descent have been charged, convicted,
and sentenced for stealing more than a billion dollars in
taxpayer money from government programs during COVID. As you know, Governor,
that is more than Minnesota spends each year to run
its Department of Correction. So I want to give you
a chance to respond to this. Do you take responsibility
(12:02):
for failing to stop this fraud in your state?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, certainly I take responsibility for putting people in jail.
Governors don't get to just talk theoretically, we have to
solve problems. And I will note but it's not just Somali's.
Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous days,
a well run state or triple A bond rated, but
that attracts criminals.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Those people are going to jail.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
We're doing everything we can, but to demonize an entire
community on the actions of a few, it's lazy.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
By the way, I had a friend of the of
the show and thank you Angie for for doing this.
But Angie X writes this, well, states Minnesota has a
triple A bond rating. A quick search of states in
Minnesota currently does not hold a triple A bond rating.
(12:54):
So he so Wall's you know, quips about why isn't
Trump playing Yazi with his family, and in said he's
owing me the R word, and which case he didn't
look at the fact that Trump spent Thanksgiving with family
in mar Alago. I don't know if they've played Yazia
or not, but they were down there. And at the
same time, we don't even have a triple A bond rating.
It's been rated as double A by major rating agencies
(13:16):
and indicates a strong credit quality, but it's one tier
below the highest rating of triple A that he was
touting in that piece, so he can't even go and
get that right.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
Hey, good morning guys, John. I want to make sure
that everybody is aware that Keith Ellison is not off
the hook for this. This is literally his job as
the top lawyer in Minnesota is to find these people
to root it out. Get over your hatred for Donald Trump.
There is no reason for you to sue him NonStop.
(13:51):
Fix the individuals that are ruining our state, or get out.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I would prefer that he gets out.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
From New Brighton. I'll see this for Walls. He's definitely
got stones for him to talk about how the governor
put these people in jail. No, he didn't. That would
have been Andrew Lueger and Joe Thompson they're one's putting
these people in jail. His job as governor was to
try to prevent the fraud from happening in the first
place by actually having oversight in place. Come on, timmy
(14:22):
can't lie to us, pal.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Really makes me laugh that the only defense I've seen
about that Minnesota DHS post is that, oh, it's not
their official account. Well no, yeah, exactly. Listen. I put
forward the alleged regarding this account at Minnesota Underscore DHS
(14:47):
that apparently has some four hundred to four hundred and
eighty DHS employees behind it, wherein they posted Tim Walls
as one responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. The story
went also, meaning that the different news outlets that covered
that account did their own due diligence while not exposing
(15:10):
the individuals running it, but did go behind the scenes
to make sure that it was individuals that actually work
for DHS that run that account. But of course they're
going to remain anonymous, especially considering what they put forward
in terms of their allegations regarding Tim Walls, which brings
(15:32):
me to this piece Minnesota Reformer. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? So this is an
editorial written over the weekend regarding the claims made by
the City Journal, and already it hasn't aged well. A
(15:54):
recent story in the conservative publication City Journal that claims
the largest funder of Al Shabab is the Minnesota taxpayer,
has unleashed a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community,
and again, at already aged poorly considering The New York
Times did their own extensive piece regarding this issue and
(16:15):
covered the same thing the City Journal did. As a
matter of fact, everything in this particular op ed demonstrates
why the City Journal reporting was absolutely necessary. When they
talk about a chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community,
all that they're referring to here and I'm going from
(16:35):
official sources, we need to parts this out. I think
most people understand this, but I want to make sure
that we're clear when claims like this get made of
a chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community, or when
you ever hear claims like this. This whole piece lays
out how unhelpful in their mind, the article writer, the
(16:59):
editorial writer, the City Journal was, and how it was
just right wing propaganda perpetuating this. But when we talk
about any vitriol, I'm talking from official sources. I'm talking
about other talk show hosts, commentators, news media outlets, government officials.
(17:23):
It's not vitriol that you're hearing, it's facts. You may
have other individuals posting comments online, just average people that
may be saying egregious, overly egregious, or vitriolic things. I'm
not referring to those individuals. I'm talking about the people
that have a voice publicly, that are speaking about this matter.
(17:45):
And it's been anything but vitriol. It's been simply pointing
to the facts of what we are discussing. So I'll
dive into this piece. We will get into the medicaid
fraud crisis and walls turn our attention towards immigration. Let
me share this with you. We have your talk back
of the day coming up in just a moment, but
this seems appropriate. I have a lot of different Trump
(18:07):
clips this morning to share, and I'll sneak this one
in here. But President Donald Trump, talking about the issue
of pausing immigration coming from concerning countries as Trump describes them,
also pointed to another rather prominent member of Congress that
would be representative of ilhan Omar.
Speaker 8 (18:28):
Frankly, don't need they have people coming into our country
telling us what to do? Are you talking to Diana?
To you and I'm like Samaya, but you have a
congressman who's around telling everybody about our constitution. And yet
she supposedly came into a country by marrying her brother. Well,
if that's true, she should be a congressman and we
should throw the hell out of our country.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
A little hard to hear, but what Trump said was
is that il han Omar supposedly came into our country
by marrying her brother, and if that's true, she shouldn't
be a congresswoman and we should throw her the hell
out of the country. See, along with all these other stories,
that one is also sitting there in the background as well,
because there is a lot of information regarding the background
(19:13):
of Representative ill haan Omar that also might be getting
some national attention. This week your talk Back of the
Day more of your comments as well from the iHeartRadio app.
Be sure you update the app if you haven't done
so recently, to take advantage of all of the latest
features being added to enhance your listening enjoyment and make
sure you make Twin Cities News Talk number one on
(19:33):
your presets. So for those that have not heard, former
producer to this show, Sam san Severe, had her baby
last week on Tuesday. We have time permitting, I'll sneak
(19:57):
it sneaking on the air, but I had and Sam
grab the audio from the announcement over on our sister
station K one O two this morning, So time permitting.
By the end of the show, I'll share with you
what Sam had to say on her own radio show,
She is at home with the baby, Twin Cities News
(20:18):
Talk Am eleven thirty one oh three five FM. All
right from the six five to one carpet Next Day
install Studios. I got a lot of ground to cover
in the final segment of the show. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? According to an editorial
written in the Minnesota Reformer. We will dive into the
details of that in just a moment. First off, though,
(20:38):
we need to get to the talkback of the day,
which is brought to you by minileafan minileaf dot com.
Speaker 9 (20:44):
Good morning, John. I realize Thanksgiving is over, but I
still want to thank you for a radio program that
not only offers your knowledge, but that allows and encourage
is the many many people that call in with their
wisdom and perspectives. They all give me so much hope
(21:09):
for Minnesota. Thanks again, and thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
You are the talkback of the day, first one for December.
Here on December first again, brought to you by Many
Leaf MINILEAF dot com. Head on over m I N
N E l e A f dot com. All right,
let's get to a few more of your talkbacks, and
then I want to dive into this editorial from the
Minnesota Reformer. Let's go here, Hi, John, Tim Waltz is
(21:35):
one hundred percent correct that Minnesota is a generous state.
You're not the only one saying that either. Hey, good morning, John.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Wall's got one thing right.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Minnesota is definitely a generous state.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Party John, somewhere Cigarfield Wardroom board members.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Are trying to figure out how to disinvolve in your
relationship with him.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
All yeah, listen, I keep saying it. I'm gonna keep
saying it. I just don't see. Well, I'd say sixty
forty right now. I may even go seventy thirty. That
Walls is not the nominee for governor next year. He's
not doing a good job responding to any of what
we've been talking about on the show. His first appearance
on Meet the Press talking about these issues. Since the
(22:21):
revelations not only from the New York Times, but specifically
from the City Journal piece and Christopher Ruffo, He's not
doing a good job. Neither did this piece Minnesota reformer
right wing reporting on Somali money going to al Shabab
is not new, still misses the mark. If it's so prevalent,
where are the terror financing charges? This piece is written
(22:45):
to written by Case macon I previously worked as an
investigator in the Medicaid fraud division of the Office of
Minnesota Attorney General, so it's a little bit of background
on this individual. Here's what Casa had to say. A
recent story in the conservative publication City Journal has unleashed
(23:05):
a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Somali community. Ryanthorpe
and Christopher Ruffo's articles assert that Al Shabab, a terrorist
organization based in Somalia, is being funded through remittances is
sent by Somali Minnesotans who have defrauded taxpayer funded programs.
I say this as an American of Somali ancestry who
(23:28):
has investigated frosters and as someone who has written about
it for The Reformer. Okay, I can't prove a negative,
but the story, especially in all its sensationalism, appears to
be little more than an effort by the right wing
propaganda machine to whip up hatred against Somali Americans. So,
(23:51):
first off, are the claims true or not true? And
essentially what he's saying is we shouldn't bring it up
because it might impact people's feelings over the past three years.
He goes on to right, federal prosecutors in Minnesota have
charged seventy eight people in what they have called the
(24:14):
largest pandemic relief fraud in the country. Well, they have
called it that because it is in what they have
called yeah, or they just have called it, or they
have stated because it's fact, because it was The overwhelming
(24:34):
majority of defendants involved in this fraud, named after a
nonprofit the center of the scandal, Feeding Our Future, are
from the Somali community, but are American citizens? Okay, And
nobody is saying otherwise. If federal prosecutors had any inkling
that the ill gotten gains were going to a terrorist
Organization's a terrorist organization. Don't you think they'd have brought charges?
(24:59):
The US in Minnesota is no stranger to charging Somali's
for ties to al Shabab, and isis why on earth
would they hold off in this instance? Well, perhaps because
this would be an intelligence issue, a global issue, and
Biden's DOJ would not be at all interested. And even
(25:22):
the US attorney, the former US attorney here in Minnesota,
tried to go in downplay the involvement of those individuals
within the Somaldi community in the fraud taking place. Peter
isn't may he goes on the right. Those of us
who have actually followed the Minnesota fraud cases closely know
(25:42):
that time and again prosecutors have stated the fraudsters were
motivated by greed, not ideology. Wow, is he not insulting
the fraudsters now by saying that? I mean he started
off his peace saying that the claim of taxpayer dollars
through autism fraud going to terrorist organization Al Shabab was
(26:06):
unleashing a thunderous chorus of vitriol upon the Smaldi community.
And yet right here he says that motivations are by
greed not ideology. Is that not also insulting and potential
vitriol towards particular individuals in one particular community. Thorpe and
Rufo cited retired Seattle Police detective Glenn Kerns, who ominously
(26:30):
states that Somali's were routing significant amounts of cash on
commercial flights to Somalia. I just love all the colorful
language here, or he was just stating, but for the
article writer, it's oh, it's ominously thunderous chorus of vitriol.
(26:50):
Thorpe and Rufo cite two anonymous sources to imply that
money collected by the Juala networks is being sent to
al Shabab and Somalia. After the story was published, Rufo
took to extra write Somalis in Minneapolis are stealing billions
from American taxpayers, loading bags of cash onto commercial flights,
and funding terrorism back in Mogadishu. These statements are meant
(27:14):
to alarm, but the actual situation is that Somalia does
not have a formal banking system and Somalis rely upon
Jala networks. Yeah, and that's what Christopher Rufo just said.
And the whole statements are meant to harm. That's your opinion,
Maybe they're just meant to inform. Maybe they're meant to
go and let individuals know that the fraud taking place
(27:35):
was funding terrorism, something that the article writer doesn't even
bother to refute because he knows it's true, but he's
not going to admit it because in his mind, in
my opinion, it undermines the point that he's trying to make,
which doesn't even land either. The Jala couriers are required
(27:58):
by law to report them they are carrying to its destination.
So apparently there's no way that these Howala couriers would
be in on this as well. They're all on the
up and up. Apparently these Halala networks are just supposed
to be completely believed. Come on, Al Shabab is a
(28:23):
sanctioned entity by the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign
Asss Control. In short, gathering large amounts of cash and
delivering it to Al Shabab would require avoiding the FEDS
at several steps. Yeah, and I mean, you're talking about
billions of dollars in fraud here in Minnesota that went
(28:46):
largely ignored for years, and yet we're supposed to suddenly
assume that terrorist organizations are going to be one up
on the up and up, or two not going out
of their way to hide their criminal activity. Give me.
He thinks you're stupid, so he gets into the number
(29:06):
of Somalis here in Minnesota, eighty seven thousand, approximately a
fraction of the millions of Somalis who live in the diaspora,
many of whom send money back home. The remittances we
send keeps the float the local economy and is a
lifeline to millions in Somalia. Nobody is saying otherwise. The
point is that some of those dollars which you just
(29:28):
admit are going back over to Somalia are ending up
in the hands of terrorists. And I just want to
reiterate again what I said at the beginning of the show.
The US census has the Somali population at about sixty
one three hundred that's reported. The estimates are more closely
aligned with eighty to eighty seven thousand, which raises the
(29:50):
question of how many of those individuals are actually here
in the country legally. He goes on to right, if
you lived to minnesot in twenty eighteen. This may all
sound familiar. It's because a similar claim was made about
millions of dollars in cash flying out of ms P
to Somalia. The Office of Legislative Auditor conducted an assessment
(30:12):
in twenty eighteen stating that despite the serious nature of
the allegations, neither of the former Department of Human Services
employee Scott Stillman nor Fox nine presented specific evidence to
substantiate the allegation. But it also wasn't denied either. Unfortunately,
(30:33):
that reporting by Fox nine in twenty eighteen gave fraudsters cover.
It allowed for the dismissal of allegations of fraud as
just bad faith, racism and Islamophobia. Feckless democrat farmer labor
politicians were given a license to ignore warnings about fraud
in public programs. The rest is history. He's not wrong,
(31:01):
but this would appear to run counter to his claim
of this being right wing propaganda if it doesn't end
up helping the right wing. Rufo's actual intentions became all
too clear, he says, in the hours after the piece ran,
when he unleashed a torrent of anti Somali posts on
(31:24):
x all he did was point to what we've been
talking about on the show and what they reported in
their story, saying that it's time for Trump to revoke
the Temporary protected status for all Samali nationals in the US.
That's all that he wrote. Hours later, Trump announced he
(31:46):
was ending temporary Protective status for Samali's in Minnesota, citing
the fraudulent money laundering RUFOS celebrated he really just doesn't
like RUFO. We broke the Somali fraud story the laughable
as to dozens of investigators and journalists working on it
over the years, and called on President Donald Trump to
(32:06):
revoke the TPS for all Somali's. The President has now delivered.
This is how we win. To be clear, TPS effects
about seven hundred people nationwide, he writes. The defendants in
Feeding our Future and Medicaid fraud nearly all Americans. And
it was intended to be an attention grabber. That's why
Trump did it. And he's even said that the reality
(32:29):
of the reality of the Somali American Experiment experience is
that we came to the US in search of a
better life. The vast majority of US are on IS
law abiding citizens and have been a plant appalled by
those in our community who have preyed upon programs created
to help low income Minnesotans, including Somali Minnesotans. Listen. I'm
glad that somebody finally from the Somali community spoke out
(32:51):
about this, because this is the first that I've seen
of anybody coming out of that community that's willing to
actually go and say that there are people within that
community appalled by what is taking place. And I don't
the search for a better life thing. Yeah, as I
said before, when it comes to individuals coming into the
(33:13):
country illegally or coming here legally, everybody's coming here to
better their life. It's how they want to better their
life that makes a difference. What did they become accustomed
to in their country of origin, what is commonplace? Can
(33:34):
more be done to root out fraud in Minnesota? Of course,
DFL like that officials should address the issue of fraud
more forcefully. I would also like to see fewer instances
of some all the business owners reflectively organizing against measures
designed to protect the integrity of our social programs. So
good on him. Regrettably, he then wraps up saying Thorpe
(33:56):
and Rufo's vulture journalism. It's an opening to those who
seek to dismiss the problem of fraud in Minnesota as
right wing demagoguery, undermining the hard work done to shed
light on and prosecute the rampant fraud that has beset
Minnesota's public programs. So really, he just doesn't like the
reporting that was done by Rufo and Thorpe, and everything
(34:21):
in this bed demonstrates why that City Journal reporting was necessary,
because he's right, there was reporting on this already, but
it wasn't gaining national attention, and now it is and
that probably would not have happened without that Sinny Journal report.
And if this individual that wrote in the Minnesota Reformer
(34:41):
really wants to go and help with the situation, stop
disparaging the individuals that are pointing out what is actually
taking place, and support the efforts being made to expose
what's happening. Be factual in your commentary, be fearless in
your commentary, because it's the only way we're going to
(35:03):
be able to go and deal with this problem. Governor
Tim wallas Is, he's a total disaster. He's presented himself
as a champion for those who got tough breaks along
the way. Minnesotan's though who live with addiction and disabilities
are getting caught in the crossfire of the fraud crisis.
Matt Dean had this piece last week in American Experiment.
(35:25):
In twenty twenty five, adults with profound disabilities, many nonverbal,
and under guardianship, received eviction notices from the places the
administration helped fund through the Integregated Community Sports Supports Program,
the ICs program, which was also turned out to be fraudulent. Traditionally,
(35:47):
these individuals will live in group homes, but ICs allowed
them to get their own place and receive services to
foster more independent living through Alternative Service Agreements. ICs bills
Medicaid for housing and supportive services that are traditionally provided
to a group home. DHS cut payments to providers in
September of twenty twenty five after ICs allegedly approved Medicaid
(36:10):
payments for vendors who did not work on the tenant's behalf.
When this happened, many providers cut off the leases, and
many people with disabilities facing eviction and homelessness are relying
on families who are assured the ICs program was going
to go and help a loved one, which is completely destroys.
Anytime you hear Governor Tim Walls trying to go and
(36:31):
criticize the Trump administration and the One Big Beautiful Bill
for wanting to provide further oversight to medicaid programs so
that fraud can occur. And yet you have individuals here
subject to losing Medicaid funding because of fraud that was
enabled under Governor Tim Walls's watch, and yet he won't
mention any of that. But essentially that amounts to Governor
(36:52):
Tim Walls going and taking away Medicaid funding from minnesotan's
And one more, just for good measure, the state agency
in charge of administering SNAP still has not used a
new state law that allows agencies to withhold public assistance
payments amid allegations of fraud. The Channel five story says,
(37:17):
according to the data provided, the state completed seventy nine
hundred investigations into potential fraud in July of twenty four
through June of this year. In that same period, the
department identified five hundred and fifty five instances of intentional
program violations. The story says that the fraud in SNAP
(37:38):
is rare. I don't know, I mean seven percent sure,
but seven percent is still seven percent. Still five hundred
and fifty five instances of intentional program violations. You expect
this to be a further story in the very near
future regarding fraud as we continue to talk about it.
All right, if you missed any portion of today's show,
(38:00):
be sure to check out the podcast that'll be available
up on the iHeartRadio app. Thank you so much for
tuning in this morning. We of course are back at
it tomorrow. If you want to email me Justice at
iHeartRadio dot com or leave those talkbacks in overnight. We
didn't get to a lot of those today, but stay
warm out there. It is incredibly cold, and I'll talk
to you guys tomorrow morning just after six o'clock. Have
(38:20):
a great Monday. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.