Tim Walz handed $250 million in child nutrition money to fraudsters – and did nothing.
Now he wants to save small-town America.
His new political committee launched this week, and it may be the most brazen reinvention in modern political history.
The PAC That Ignores the Bodies
Walz announced "Small Town PAC" Monday, telling Politico he plans to show up in rural communities Democrats have "given up on" – teachers, nurses, laborers, veterans.
JD Vance's office had a one-line response: "The problem facing many small towns in Minnesota is that Tim Walz gives their money to fraudulent daycares."
That's not a political attack.
That's a matter of federal record.
In September 2022, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced charges against 47 defendants in what federal prosecutors called the largest pandemic-era fraud scheme in the country.
Defendants diverted money from federal child nutrition programs into luxury vehicles, Maldives resort villas, and overseas real estate in Turkey and Kenya.
https://twitter.com/Tim_Walz/status/2046424539047793022?s=20
One defendant boasted in a text message: "You are gonna be the richest 25 year old."
Walz was governor the entire time.
What the House Oversight Committee Found
This isn't conservative media reporting.
In March, the House Oversight Committee released its findings after a full investigation.
Chairman James Comer was direct: "Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud in social service programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against employees who dared to raise concerns."
The committee obtained testimony confirming Walz and Ellison knew for years.
They lied about it.
Then they went after the whistleblowers.
Citizen journalist Nick Shirley released video footage showing "Quality Learning Center" – a daycare collecting government funds – with no children inside.
No children. Just a building collecting checks.
The scheme didn't stop at one program either.
Federal prosecutors have now brought charges across fraudulent child nutrition sites, housing stabilization services, and autism programs for children – a web of schemes that First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson called "not isolated."
The total exposure across 14 Minnesota programs may reach billions in stolen funds.
JD Vance called for Walz to resign in January, saying he either "knew about the fraud in Minneapolis" or "looked the other way."
https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2045586279987818518?s=20
The House Oversight Committee answered that question.
He knew.
The Detail That Changes the Entire Story
In December, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ordered a federal investigation into whether Minnesota taxpayer dollars found their way to Al-Shabaab – the al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia and one of the most dangerous terror organizations on earth.
Al-Shabaab has killed more U.S. citizens than any other al-Qaeda affiliate since 2014.
Bessent said the Treasury was investigating whether funds were diverted to a designated foreign terrorist organization under what he called the "feckless mismanagement" of both the Biden administration and Governor Tim Walz.
Federal counterterrorism sources cited in a City Journal investigation described millions in stolen funds wired back to Somalia – with one source telling investigators that the Minnesota taxpayer had become the largest funder of Al-Shabaab.
That is not a charge made by a political opponent.
That is an allegation the United States Treasury Department took seriously enough to open a formal investigation.
The Somali Community Statement Completes the Picture
On March 28 – weeks after the House Oversight report dropped – Walz stood at a "No Kings" protest in Minneapolis and told the crowd his administration would "never leave the side" of Somali Minnesotans.
The same community whose members federal prosecutors charged in the fraud schemes.
https://twitter.com/Tim_Walz/status/2046212584366284858?s=20
Walz isn't distancing himself from the scandal.
He's doubling down – on camera, at a rally – while the U.S. Treasury is still tracking wire transfers from Minneapolis to Somalia.
Now he wants to knock on doors in small towns across America and tell working-class voters he's their champion.
Those small towns sent their tax dollars to Washington to feed children.
Some of those dollars ended up in resort villas in the Maldives and wire transfers to one of the most violent terror organizations on the planet.
Tim Walz knows where the money went.
And he's asking for yours.
Sources:
- Jasmyn Jordan, "Tim Walz PAC Launch: 'Republicans Like JD Vance' Are 'Problem Facing Small Towns,'" Breitbart, April 20, 2026.
- House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, "Oversight Committee Releases Report on Widespread Fraud in Minnesota Welfare Programs," March 2026.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Dozens Charged in $250 Million COVID Fraud Scheme," September 2022.
- Scott Bessent, "How to Stop Fraud in Minnesota – and Across the Country," Fox News Opinion, January 15, 2026.
- Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo, "Minnesota Welfare Fraud: Some Funds Went to Al-Shabaab," City Journal, November 19, 2025.