CNN’s Abby Phillip questions Nick Shirley’s investigation into Minnesota daycare centers

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: CNN host Abby Phillip questioned journalist Nick Shirley’s investigation into Minnesota daycare centers on Monday, December 29, and argued that the "Somali community is under attack" and is "being threatened" over charges of widespread fraud.

Shirley visited several Minneapolis daycare centers and found most of them to be vacant or inactive, with some staff members shooing him away for asking if they were enrolling kids.

Abby Phillip dismisses Nick Shirley for his reporting

During Monday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Abby Phillip said she understood this was all "about politics", but rejected the independent journalist for how he went about his reporting.

She asked, "Honestly, you knock on the door of a daycare center, and you’re like, ‘Let me in, let me in.’ What do you expect people to do?"

"You know, in some of those cases, there were children in there. What do you want people to do in that situation? Open the door and say, ‘come on in.’ When they know that the Somali community is under attack, is being threatened every single day. What is going on here?" Phillip added.

Panelist Christine Quinn, the vice chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, agreed with Phillip and said that at homeless shelters she is involved in, they would not allow "unauthorized" people to show up and try to enroll their kids in their daycare centers.

Quinn added that a "big part of this" is that there is "no need" for President Donald Trump to "say the horrible things he said about the Somali community", before going on to imply that the president’s recent comments on Somalis could lead to violence.

Moreover, Quinn also mentioned that the POTUS had attacked "the entire community at a time when we’ve learned what happens when we keep turning up the rhetoric, as opposed to turning it down."

She referred to Trump’s comments in early December when he said he did not want more Somalis like Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) coming to the US and "ripping off" taxpayers.

JD Vance hails Nick Shirley for ‘far more useful journalism’

Vice President JD Vance praised Nick Shirley for his recent video reporting the alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota. The 42-minute video, which went viral, shows Shirley and his team visiting multiple Minnesota child-care centers on a weekday, only to find them non-operational.

The VP took to Twitter to praise Shirley for sharing his investigation into alleged fraud in Minnesota. He wrote, "This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes."

The incident has fueled a wider discussion about alleged fraud within Minnesota’s childcare and social services systems. Some claims suggest that around $1 billion may have been lost to social services fraud in the state, with a significant portion reportedly linked to the Twin Cities’ Somali community.

Responding to another X post highlighting allegations of Somali Medicaid fraud and voter fraud in the state, JD Vance described the situation as "a microcosm of the immigration fraud in our system."

"Politicians like it because they get power. Welfare cheats like it because they get rich," he wrote.