Tim Walz says White men should be held ‘accountable’ in response to Somali fraud scandal

WASHINGTON, DC: Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz criticized white men on Friday, December 12, while addressing questions about whether members of the Somali community would face accountability in a major fraud scandal.

The case involves dozens of Somali residents accused of stealing over $1 billion from state and federal social services programs, including funds meant to feed low-income children.

Tim Walz says some people were signed up for fraudulent programs without knowing

When asked whether members of the Somali community should hold themselves accountable for the fraud scandal, Governor Tim Walz pointed out that many crimes are also committed by white people. 

A reporter asked, “What do you want to hear more from instead of just saying don’t blame us? Do you want to see more ownership and oversight from within the Somali community?”

Walz responded, “Look, it’s not law-abiding citizens. If that were the case, there’s a lot of white men should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the crimes that they have committed.” 

He added that the community could do more to educate its members, noting that some people were unknowingly enrolled in fraudulent programs. 

“There are secondary victims in this, that there’s providers inside the community that are then victimizing the community themselves by signing them up, because when we’re going to some of these people, they’re like, I had no idea I was in this program,” Walz said.

He continued, “So I think it’s asking us then, you know, for every crime, which of course the majority being committed by white men, asking us to do more about that. I think it’s crime in general.”

Tim Walz faces criticism for keeping fraud reports quiet

Tim Walz is facing criticism from state officials who accuse him of ignoring rules and laws to keep fraud reports quiet.

Former prosecutor Joe Teirab, who worked on one of the central cases, said, “I think you generally have a sense that your government is gonna be fighting for you and spending your money just generally OK, and that was absolutely not the case.”

He added, “The amount of fraud was rampant, it was staggering, and happened really, really quickly. Just over the course of a couple years, the amount of fraud that happened in Minnesota is maybe in excess or probably in excess of a billion dollars.” 

Prosecutor shared, "On the Democrat side, they're trying to deflect and say it's not a big deal, or we were actually working with you the whole time, and we're taking this very, very seriously. And it's absolute hogwash."

He continued, "Tim Walz didn't do enough, Keith Ellison didn't do enough, and Ilhan Omar didn't do enough either, because she for sure knew what was going on. She was actually in one of the government’s exhibits, I believe, in one of the trials."

Meanwhile, Walz’s office told Fox News Digital this week that the governor “views addressing fraud as a top priority” and highlighted his efforts over the past three years to reform state government and prevent fraud.

Walz’s office said "The Governor has brought in an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs at the Department of Human Services (DHS) and created a specialized fraud fighting law enforcement unit at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension."

“He has installed new leadership at DHS with a single-minded focus on stopping fraudulent payments,” the statement said. “Many of the changes have not been flashy or headline-grabbing, but rather just the hard work of building stronger safeguards throughout state government.”

The controversy has drawn national attention in recent weeks as Minneapolis grapples with a massive fraud scandal that experts say could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.