Walz bears 'full responsibility' for $1B fraud scandal, GOP challenger Demuth declares
As the House Oversight Committee opens an investigation into Gov. Tim Walz's role in what federal prosecutors have described as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country, Minnesota House...
By Fox News · Fox News
As the House Oversight Committee opens an investigation into Gov. Tim Walz's role in what federal prosecutors have described as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth told Fox News Digital it's just the "tip of the iceberg." In a crowded Republican primary of candidates hoping to unseat Walz, one of Demuth's core campaign promises is to eliminate the fraud she said has "exploded" under Walz's administration. The governor bears "full responsibility" for the roughly $1 billion in fraud uncovered so far, Demuth said in an exclusive interview. "This is probably the tip of the iceberg," Demuth said, adding: "This falls squarely on his shoulders. He’s the governor of the state and needs to take full responsibility." The scandal rocking the North Star State stems from allegations that a Minnesota nonprofit and its associates defrauded federal child-nutrition programs for hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 aid — a failure Walz’s Republican challengers have described as a breakdown in systemic oversight. COMER TARGETS WALZ IN NEW HOUSE INVESTIGATION, CITING NEARLY $1B IN ALLEGED MINNESOTA FRAUD "There has been that lack of accountability and lack of oversight that's been needed," Demuth said. "The governor has chosen the commissioners, put them into place, and there needed to be an accountability where he or his office were overseeing the work done by the commissioners in every agency." "That is not what we're finding to the best of my knowledge. Now, if that oversight was going on and this continued under his watch, knowing that it was going on, that's even more concerning," she added. MINNESOTA GOVERNMENT WORKERS BLAME WALZ FOR 'MASSIVE FRAUD' AMID ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SOMALI COMMUNITY Federal prosecutors said about $300 million in taxpayer funds that were allocated to feed low-income children through COVID-era nutrition programs was diverted through the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future. As of late November, at…