瓦尔兹和埃利森多次被问及首次意识到欺诈问题的具体时间，且遭到包括弗吉尼亚·福克斯议员在内的共和党议员的严厉指责。
“你没有履职，你没有履职，”福克斯对瓦尔兹说，“你没有保护纳税人的钱。你允许大规模欺诈。你和埃利森先生允许明尼苏达州发生大规模欺诈。不幸的是，正如有人所说，在目前这个阶段你无法被追究个人责任。”
共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹与瓦尔兹的一段对话立即在社交媒体上引发保守派的强烈反对。
“你为什么不说实话，解释你为何重启付款？”乔丹在周三关于明尼苏达州欺诈问题的众议院监督委员会听证会上问道。
这段对话围绕瓦尔兹过去的公开声明展开，即一名法官在2021年4月下令明尼苏达州教育部在因欺诈担忧暂停付款后继续报销。
乔丹指出，2022年法院授权的一份新闻稿中，当时的拉姆齐县地区法院法官约翰·H·古特曼对州长对事件的描述提出了异议。
“所以要么你在撒谎，要么法院在撒谎。我只是问你，是哪一个？”乔丹说。
争议最大的对话之一发生在共和党众议员南希·梅斯的质问中，她追问瓦尔兹该州有多少儿童，自闭症护理支出大幅增加的具体数字，以及为何在瓦尔兹没有给出具体数字的情况下仍发生这种情况。
“好吧，你之前的借口是——你不知道2017年的自闭症数字——因为你当时不是州长，而今天作为州长你无法回答2024年的数字，你还说你为今天的听证会做了准备。这简直难以置信。”
瓦尔兹反驳说，他不会成为梅斯的“道具”，她最终说：“我希望你了解这些信息。谢天谢地，你不是美国副总统。”
共和党众议员克莱·希金斯在另一个激烈时刻质问埃利森，要求他声称自己正在领导打击腐败的斗争，但埃利森没有给出他想要的具体答案，希金斯随后要求埃利森辞职。
“我不是在谈论医疗补助欺诈，别躲在这后面，”希金斯打断埃利森说，“你有权对州长要求你做的任何事情进行刑事起诉，这件事规模很大。先生，我给你一个机会，你是否在全面领导针对这一重大欺诈的刑事调查工作……还是没有？”希金斯追问。
“我们是在依法行事，”埃利森说，希金斯再次打断了他。
“你没有在领导，主席先生，我要说，明尼苏达州的总检察长应该辞职，”希金斯说。
听证会结束时，气氛再次紧张，共和党众议员尼克·朗沃西建议，尽管瓦尔兹因欺诈丑闻退出竞选连任，但仍在任内的他应因“渎职”被弹劾，并援引明尼苏达州自己的州宪法。
福克斯新闻数字频道的阿什利·卡纳汉对本报道有贡献。
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison faced a barrage of tough questions from Republicans during a Wednesday House hearing on the massive fraud scandal in the state, with most of the questions focused on one key theme: What did they know, and when did they know it?
Walz and Ellison were asked multiple times for specifics regarding when they were first made aware of the fraud problems and faced sharp rebukes from Republican members, including Rep. Virginia Foxx.
“You did not do your job, you did not do your job,” Foxx told Walz. “You did not protect taxpayer dollars. You allowed massive fraud. You and Mr. Ellison allowed massive fraud to go on in the state of Minnesota. It is unfortunate, as somebody said, that you can’t be held personally responsible at this stage in the game.”
An exchange between GOP Rep. Jim Jordan and Walz sparked immediate pushback from conservatives on social media.
“Why didn’t you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?” Jordan asked during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Minnesota fraud on Wednesday.
The exchange centered on Walz’s past public statements that a judge ordered the Minnesota Department of Education to continue reimbursements in April 2021 after the agency had halted payments over fraud concerns.
Jordan pointed to a 2022 court-authorized news release from then-Ramsey County District Court Judge John H. Guthmann that disputed the governor’s characterization of the events.
“So either you’re lying or the court’s lying. And I’m just asking you which one is it?” Jordan said.
One of the most contentious exchanges came during questioning from GOP Rep. Nancy Mace when she pressed Walz for specific numbers on how many children are in his state, the massive increase in autism care spending and why that occurred without getting specific numbers back from Walz.
“Ok, so your excuse before — that you didn’t know what the 2017 autism numbers were — because you were not governor, and today you can’t answer the numbers about 2024 as governor, and you still said you prepared for this hearing today. It’s unbelievable.”
Walz shot back that he wouldn’t be a “prop” for Mace, and she eventually said, “I expect you to know this information. Thank God you’re not vice president of the United States.”
GOP Rep. Clay Higgins confronted Ellison in another heated moment asking him to say he was “leading” the fight against rooting out corruption without getting the specific answer he was looking for, prompting him to call for Ellison’s resignation.
“I’m not talking about Medicaid fraud, don’t hide behind that,” Higgins said, interrupting Ellison. “You have the authority to prosecute anything criminally that the governor asks you to, and this thing is big. I’m giving you an opportunity sir, are you leading the criminal investigative effort into this massive fraud across the board…or not?” Higgins pressed.
“We are following the law,” Ellison said before Higgins cut him off again.
“You are not leading, I’m going to say, Mr. Chairman, that the attorney general of the state of Minnesota should resign,” Higgins said.
At the close of the hearing, things became tense again when GOP Rep. Nick Langworthy suggested that Walz, who is still serving as governor despite dropping out of his re-election bid due to the fraud scandal, should be impeached for “malfeasance,” citing Minnesota’s own state Constitution.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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