Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has been subpoenaed regarding a $250 million fraud scheme.
On Wednesday, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued subpoenas to Gov. Walz and the Biden Administration’s USDA and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) to obtain previously-denied information regarding their respective responses to the fraud case.
“In 2022, a U.S. attorney charged 70 individuals associated with Minnesota-based Feeding Our Future (FOF) for their alleged roles in defrauding the USDA of over $250 million in taxpayer funds—money intended to feed hungry children,” Foxx’s office explains in a press release providing background on the case:
“To date, five individuals have been convicted of fraud that the assistant U.S. attorney on the case called ‘not just criminal, [but] depraved and brazen.’
“Charges include federal programs bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.”
“[Q]uestions remain regarding the role of the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) administration of the Federal Child Nutrition Programs (FCNPs) and its oversight of FOF,” the release notes.
The unanswered questions pertain to the failure of Gov. Walz and the USDA to prevent the fraud:
“After MDE, under Governor Walz, failed to respond to previous attempts by the Committee to garner information necessary to uncover how the Governor and the USDA allowed such fraud to occur, the Committee today is proceeding with a subpoena to compel responses.”
“As the chief executive and the highest ranking official in the state of Minnesota, you are responsible for the MDE and its administration of FCNPs,” the subpoena’s cover letter tells Walz.
“The documents we have received to date indicate the actions taken by you and other executive officers were insufficient to address the massive fraud,” the letter tells Walz. Accordingly, the Committee is demanding that Walz produce information revealing “the extent of your responsibilities and actions addressing the massive fraud that resulted in the abuse of taxpayer dollars intended for hungry children.”
Indeed, evidence exists that Gov. Walz was either “involved” in, or knew of, his administration’s oversight, the letter says:
“Statements in the press by you and your representatives indicate that you and other executive officers were involved, or had knowledge of, MDE’s administration of the FCNP and responsibilities and actions regarding the massive fraud.”
“[T]he documents and information provided to the Committee do not explain how your agency and the USDA failed to identify what has been described as the largest pandemic fraud in the nation,” the subpoena cover letter to the Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett says, noting the necessity of the subpoena:
“The MDE’s production of information has been neither timely nor fully responsive. Accordingly, the Committee is invoking compulsory process.”
The subpoena sets a deadline of 12:00 p.m. on September 18, 2024 to provide the required documents and communications.