Robbins Criticizes Walz’s Record on Fraud Prevention, Calling It “Absolute Failure”

Minnesota Republican Lawmaker Targets Walz Over Massive Fraud Scandal

A Republican state lawmaker seeking to unseat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in next year’s election has accused the Democratic governor of failing to prevent billions in taxpayer dollars from being stolen during his administration.

State Representative Kristin Robbins, who chairs the Minnesota House’s Fraud Prevention and Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital that Walz “has been an absolute failure” in combating fraud throughout his two terms as governor.

“We’ve had billions of our tax dollars stolen by people who are criminals, and Minnesotans don’t have the services they need,” Robbins stated. “Minnesotans work hard for their money and to see all this money being shipped overseas.”

The controversy centers around what federal prosecutors have described as the “largest pandemic fraud in the United States,” involving a nonprofit called Feeding our Future. The organization partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to prosecutors, Feeding our Future and affiliated food distribution sites fraudulently obtained millions of dollars by submitting fabricated meal counts and invoices to deceive state and federal officials. The scheme has led to charges against approximately 75 defendants over the past three years in what authorities estimate to be a $250 million fraud case.

The scandal has intensified political pressure on Walz, who is currently seeking a third term as governor while also serving as the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee. The Republican-controlled U.S. House Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into Walz’s handling of the relief program.

Robbins, who has made fraud prevention a cornerstone of her gubernatorial campaign, claims that misappropriated funds have been used to purchase properties abroad. “Minnesotans now own a resort in Kenya. They own an apartment in Nairobi. They own a culinary school in Ohio,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, the things our money has been wasted on.”

The U.S. Treasury is investigating whether Minnesota public assistance funds reached Al-Shabab, a Somali-based affiliate of al Qaeda that the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

When addressing reporters on Thursday, Governor Walz pledged to tackle the fraud issue, noting that the programs in question have been paused and an independent auditor brought in. “The people who did it will go to prison,” Walz stated. “My goal is to make sure that those going forward have much better tools, much more safeguards around programs.”

Robbins countered that the Walz administration’s response has been insufficient and delayed. “They are very late to this. They have stepped up recently, but the things that they’ve done, they already had the authority to stop payment when there were credible allegations of fraud,” she said. “They haven’t been doing it until we really have been holding their feet to the fire and exposing all the fraud.”

The case has taken on additional political dimensions with President Donald Trump repeatedly criticizing Minnesota’s Somali population in connection with the fraud. On Tuesday, Trump referred to immigrants from Somalia as “garbage” who “destroyed Minnesota.” Last month, he announced the end of temporary deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota, claiming “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State.”

Walz condemned Trump’s comments as “vile racial racist lies” and “slander towards our fellow Minnesotans.”

When asked about Trump’s remarks, Robbins acknowledged that “the bulk of the fraud that we’ve uncovered so far is in the Somali community,” but also emphasized that “most of the best whistleblowers are also in the Somali community. Both things are true… there’s a lot of people in the Somali community who want to clean it up.”

Minnesota has the largest Somali population of any state in the country.

Robbins, first elected to the Minnesota House in 2018, represents what she describes as a purple district in the Minneapolis suburbs. She has positioned herself in the crowded GOP gubernatorial field as the “only conservative Republican who’s a proven winner in the suburbs.”

As chair of the fraud committee, Robbins believes her experience positions her uniquely to challenge Walz on this issue. “I certainly know where all the problems are and how this massive fraud scandal has been allowed to flourish under Tim Walz,” she said. “I’m also most qualified to solve it when I’m governor.”