作者：伊丽莎白·埃尔金德，福克斯新闻
发布时间：2026年3月4日 美国东部时间凌晨5:00
众议院监督委员会共和党人准备在周三上午一场高风险听证会上，当面质询明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·瓦尔兹和州总检察长基思·埃利森。
“在州长犹豫不决期间，纳税人损失了数十亿美元。总检察长埃利森同样声称其办公室正在严厉追究欺诈者责任，但当他的陈述与事实记录对照时，却不攻自破。”肯塔基州共和党主席詹姆斯·科默将在福克斯新闻数字频道获得的准备好的开场陈述中表示。
“我们已与30多名举报人交谈，其中许多是现任雇员和民主党人，他们表示因提出关切而遭到忽视、报复甚至监视。瓦尔兹政府没有保护举报人，反而保护了纵容欺诈的体系。”
听证会开始前数小时，委员会发布了一份53页的报告，指控瓦尔兹和埃利森早就知晓欺诈指控，时间远比此前披露的更早。
“尽管委员会仍在审查文件并与举报人会面，但很明显，瓦尔兹州长和埃利森总检察长早就知道明尼苏达州管理的（联邦项目欺诈）情况，远早于他们告知美国民众的时间。”报告称。
“对明尼苏达州现任和前任公职人员的转录采访证实，瓦尔兹州长和埃利森总检察长早在2019年春季就应该知晓儿童护理援助项目（CCAP）和卫生与公众服务部管理的高风险医疗补助项目中的欺诈行为，以及明尼苏达州教育部管理的（州食品援助）项目中2020年4月就存在的欺诈问题。”
瓦尔兹和埃利森此前均否认曾故意纵容欺诈，并指责共和党人将此事政治化。
这场备受瞩目的听证会是众议院监督委员会针对明尼苏达州欺诈指控展开数月调查的高潮。
该小组此前采访了该州政府内部的现任和前任官员，包括负责食品援助的人员。
明尼苏达州联邦检察官已指控多人通过明尼苏达州非营利组织“喂养我们的未来”从联邦儿童营养计划中窃取超过2.4亿美元。但调查随后扩大到多个被怀疑存在欺诈行为的州立项目。接受州资金的儿童保育提供者（主要是索马里社区）也在接受审查。
委员会的报告指责该州进步派领导层为讨好明尼阿波利斯的索马里社区，故意忽视欺诈证据。
“委员会发现，明尼苏达州缺乏足够的监督措施来核实纳税人资金是否被合理使用，本可以随时阻止资金流向欺诈者，但出于对政治活跃的索马里社区可能进行政治报复的恐惧而选择不作为。”报告称。
“联邦层面的进一步立法努力对于防止此类大规模浪费、欺诈和滥用联邦资金事件再次发生是必要的。”
科默在开场陈述中称这一丑闻是“本委员会审查过的最严重的监督失败之一”。
“数十亿美元纳税人资金从社会服务项目中被窃取，而警告不断累积，举报人发声，州官员却选择拖延和否认而非采取行动。”他将表示。
“联邦检察官估计，仅明尼苏达州管理的14个医疗补助项目就可能有高达90亿美元被窃取。正如我们的调查所示，这一结果是因为州领导层多次未能进行干预。我们在明尼苏达州发现的问题并非文书错误或少数害群之马漏网，而是持续的领导失败。”
与此同时，委员会中的民主党人指责科默试图转移人们对唐纳德·特朗普总统在明尼阿波利斯实施移民打击行动的后果——包括联邦特工杀害两名美国公民——的注意力。
“我鼓励大家观看这些视频，亲自了解发生了什么。我希望委员会能调查这一事件并追究全部责任。”加利福尼亚州民主党众议员罗伯特·加西亚在之前关于明尼苏达州欺诈的听证会上表示。
伊丽莎白·埃尔金德是福克斯新闻数字频道的政治记者，负责报道众议院。此前曾在《每日邮报》和哥伦比亚广播公司新闻担任数字专栏作家。
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Comer to say Tim Walz ‘enabled fraud,’ failed whistleblowers in bombshell Minnesota hearing
By Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News
Published March 4, 2026 5:00am EST
House Oversight Committee Republicans are readying to confront Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison at a high-stakes hearing on welfare fraud Wednesday morning.
“While Governor Walz hesitated, taxpayers lost billions. Attorney General Ellison has likewise claimed his office was aggressively holding fraudsters accountable, but when his statements were tested against the record, they fell apart,” Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will say, according to prepared opening remarks obtained by Fox News Digital.
“We have spoken with over thirty whistleblowers, many of them current employees and Democrats, who say they were ignored, retaliated against, and even surveilled for raising concerns. Instead of protecting the whistleblowers, the Walz administration protected the system that enabled fraud.”
Hours before the hearing kicked off, the committee released a 53-page report that accused both Walz and Ellison of knowing about the fraud allegations far earlier than previously thought.
“While the Committee continues to review documents and meet with whistleblowers, it is evident that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison knew about the [fraud in federal programs] administered by the State of Minnesota much earlier than they told the American people,” the report said.
“Transcribed interviews with current and former public officials from the State of Minnesota have confirmed that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison would have been aware of fraud in the [Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)] and high-risk Medicaid programs administered by DHS as early as spring 2019 and fraud in [state food aid] programs administered by [the Minnesota Department of Education] as early as April 2020.”
Both Walz and Ellison previously pushed back on any accusations that they knowingly allowed fraud in Minnesota’s social programs and have accused Republicans of politicizing the situation.
The high-profile hearing is the culmination of a monthslong probe by the House Oversight Committee targeting allegations of fraud in Minnesota.
The panel previously interviewed current and former officials within the state’s government, including those focused on food aid.
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple people with stealing more than $240 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future. However, the probe has since widened to multiple state-run programs being investigated for potential fraud. Childcare providers receiving state funding, mainly within the Somali community, are also under scrutiny.
And the committee’s report accused the state’s progressive leadership of ignoring evidence of fraud in a bid to appease the Somali community in Minneapolis.
“The Committee has found that Minnesota lacked adequate oversight efforts to verify that taxpayer dollars were being used appropriately and could have stopped the flow of money to fraudsters at any time but chose not to for fear of political retribution from the politically active Somali community,” the report said.
“Further legislative efforts at the federal level are necessary to prevent this massive waste, fraud, and abuse of federal dollars from ever happening again.”
In his opening statement, Comer will call the scandal “one of the most extensive breakdowns of oversight this Committee has ever examined.”
“Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen from social services programs while warnings piled up, whistleblowers spoke out, and state officials chose delay and denial over action,” he will say.
“Federal prosecutors estimate that as much as [$9 billion may have] been stolen from just fourteen Medicaid programs administered by the State of Minnesota. As our investigation has shown, it happened because state leadership failed, repeatedly, to intervene. What we’ve uncovered in Minnesota is not a paperwork error or a few bad actors slipping through the cracks. It is a sustained failure of leadership.”
Meanwhile, Democrats on the committee have accused Comer of trying to distract from the fallout of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis — including the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
“I encourage folks to watch those videos and see what’s happened for themselves. And I’m hopeful that this committee investigates this incident and that we have full accountability,” Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said during a previous hearing on Minnesota fraud.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
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