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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stated on Friday that she is suspending funds on all lively and future awards from the USDA to Minnesota amid the long-running fraud scandal during which the White Home has alleged a misuse of federal funds.
In a letter addressed to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Rollins stated the suspended funds, as of Friday night, complete simply over $129 million.
As causes for her suspension, she highlighted the alleged fraud schemes involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future, Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Providers program, and claims of fraud at daycare facilities across the state.
“Regardless of a staggering, wide-reaching fraud scandal, your Administrations refuse to supply primary info or take widespread sense feasures to cease fraud,” Rollins stated within the letter, which she posted on social media.
She requested Walz and Frey to supply her company with justification for all federal spending to the state from Jan. 20 of final 12 months “to the current” inside 30 days, and stated that funds transferring ahead will “require such fee justification.”
In a reply to Rollins’ put up, Minnesota Lawyer Basic Keith Ellison stated on social media, “I can’t assist you to take from Minnesotans in want. I will see you in court docket.”
WCCO has reached out to Walz’s and Frey’s respective places of work for remark.
A sequence of multimillion-dollar alleged fraud schemes within the state has drawn the eye of the Trump administration in current months. President Trump has referred to as Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent cash laundering exercise.”
On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent introduced the creation of a brand new IRS process pressure and different measures to fight fraud, underscoring the administration’s deal with the state amidst an immigration crackdown.
“Minnesota goes to be the protocols, procedures and investigative strategies and collaboration. Minnesota goes to be the genesis for a nationwide rollout,” Bessent stated whereas visiting the state.
U.S. officers informed CBS Information on Wednesday that the Justice Division is sending a staff of federal prosecutors to Minnesota to assist examine allegations of widespread fraud inside the state’s social providers packages.
Walz on Monday introduced he was dropping out of the 2026 gubernatorial race amid intense scrutiny of his dealing with of the scandal, although he has defended his administration’s response, saying “we have spent years cracking down on fraudsters” and accusing Mr. Trump of “politicizing the problem to defund packages that assist Minnesotans.”
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