JD Vance blasts Tim Walz for claiming credit for fraud crackdown, says he ‘didn’t help at all’

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance tore into Tim Walz during an interview with Fox News' Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday, May 16, accusing the Minnesota governor of trying to politically cash in on a federal fraud crackdown he allegedly had no role in building.

Vance, clearly irritated when asked whether Walz had reached out, said the governor didn’t just stay absent, he later tried to publicly claim ownership of an operation his office “didn’t help at all.”

JD Vance unloads on Tim Walz

The sharp rebuke came when Vance was asked a straightforward question: had Walz contacted him about the administration’s anti-fraud investigations in Minnesota?

Vance’s answer was immediate and brutal. “No, Tim Walz has not contacted me,” he said. But he didn’t stop there.

Instead, Vance accused the Democratic governor of stepping into the spotlight only after federal investigators had already begun executing major legal action, including 22 subpoenas linked to suspected fraud operations in Minneapolis.

“I did see that he took credit when we did those 22 subpoenas, the investigations that we're doing for the anti-fraud stuff in Minneapolis,” Vance said.

“Tim Walz did take credit for it, even though Tim Walz has not helped us at all.”

Vance said investigators had managed to get assistance from some local authorities, but when it came to the governor’s office, he suggested the cooperation simply wasn’t there.

“We've gotten some cooperation from local authorities, but from the governor’s office, we really haven’t gotten that cooperation,” he said.

The vice president added that working with governors, whether Republican or Democrat, usually speeds things up dramatically, but warned that his task force is prepared to move ahead even if state leaders refuse to participate.

Vance warns blue states, slams 'crooked judges'

The Walz criticism is part of a much bigger political offensive Vance has launched against Democratic-led states, which he claims are slowing or obstructing federal fraud investigations.

In another pointed remark, Vance said the administration fully expects legal roadblocks in blue jurisdictions but claimed it already has a plan.

“For every person that slips through the cracks because of a crooked judge, we're going to get 10 people who actually go to prison,” he said.

He also revealed the administration is actively building new prosecution strategies designed to move cases into jurisdictions where, in his view, “they’re actually going to face justice.”

“We’re coming up with a number of legal theories that will allow us to prosecute people for fraud in jurisdictions where they're actually going to face justice,” Vance said.

The vice president has increasingly made fraud enforcement a centerpiece of the administration’s political messaging, often arguing that federal abuse went unchecked for years.

During the same interview, Vance said, “We don’t really know how bad the fraud problem is because until Donald Trump became president, nobody actually took a serious look at it.”