Media ‘complicity’ blamed as feds say Minnesota fraud crisis could reach $9B: 'Shown their true colors'
Minnesota’s sprawling fraud crisis has garnered national headlines in recent weeks, but several critics say the problem festered for years, aided by local media that appeared uninterested in holding people...
By Fox News · Fox News
Minnesota’s sprawling fraud crisis has garnered national headlines in recent weeks, but several critics say the problem festered for years, aided by local media that appeared uninterested in holding people in power accountable. "In newsrooms, they’re told, ‘We can’t run that because we’re going to be accused of being racist,’" Townhall columnist Dustin Grage recently told Fox News Digital about news outlets in Minnesota essentially enabling the fraud by not calling out shocking taxpayer waste occurring primarily within the local Somali community. The outlet that is considered by many the top news source in the region, the Minnesota Star Tribune, has faced criticism on social media in recent days over some of its headlines, including "Minnesota Somali community grapples with fraud cases while pushing back against stereotypes" on Nov. 26 and "Trump claims Minnesota lost billions to fraud. The evidence to date isn’t close" on Dec. 11. On Thursday, federal prosecutors held a press conference where they revealed that the true scope of the fraud scandal could end up costing taxpayers around $9 billion, prompting some conservatives on social media to point out the Dec. 11 headline. MINNESOTA’S FRAUD SCANDAL WAS ‘SHOCKINGLY EASY’ TO PULL OFF, IS LIKELY WORSE THAN REPORTED: EX PROSECUTOR "The Minnesota Star Tribune masquerades as a newspaper," New York Post columnist Miranda Devine posted on X . "It's actually a Democrat front, hiding news, twisting facts, lying outright. One of the worst in the country." Additionally, the paper’s CEO is a man named Steve Grove who served as Gov. Tim Walz’s former commissioner of employment and economic development, which has sparked criticism from some who say that the paper is hesitant to pin Walz to the fraud crisis. Fox News Digital spoke to several locals who argued that media outlets either didn’t cover the scandal thoroughly enough or, in cases where it was covered, Walz’s oversight role was downplayed. "The Minnesota Star Tribune ha…