WATCH: Journalist Nick Shirley tells Donald Trump Jr. what action he wants on Somali fraud scandal
YouTuber Nick Shirley told “Triggered With Don Jr.” host Donald Trump Jr. on Monday that he wanted President Donald Trump’s administration to criminally prosecute Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others if they were responsible for Somali fraud.
Shirley posted an extremely viral video on Friday, finding that multiple supposed Minnesota Somali-run day care centers, including one that reportedly received $4 million in taxpayer funds, had no children present. Shirley told Trump on the podcast that the fraud scandal should be taken seriously immediately, calling it “a pivotal moment” for his father’s administration.
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“I think the accountability we want to see happen with this is we do want to see people actually be held criminally for what they’ve committed. If you stole $10 million, you’d be in jail,” Shirley told the president’s son. “If I stole $10 million, I’d be in jail. So therefore, if Tim Walz is accountable for, let’s just say, even a million dollars of this fraud, whether he has to spend 10 days in a prison cell or however many years a judge finds him guilty for, that’s what he should have to do.”
“And same with all the other fraudsters and all the other corrupt politicians who allowed this to happen. Like, it’s time to take it serious,” he added. “And this is such a pivotal moment for the current administration to really show, like, ‘Okay, we’re holding people accountable for what they’ve done.’”
Shirley asserted that Walz has been aware of the alleged fraud for a while and that pursuing the governor and others would cause “massive change.”
Several state employees accused Walz on X on Nov. 29 of “systematically retaliat[ing] against whistleblowers” who flagged the schemes as federal prosecutors pursued multiple cases.
“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota,” they wrote. “We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response.”
Walz subsequently said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Nov. 30 that his state “attracts criminals.”
“I will note, it’s not just Somalis. Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state,” Walz said. “We’re AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals.”
However, Walz’s office defended the governor’s record on fraud in a statement to Fox News after Shirley’s video.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,” Walz’s office told Fox News. “He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
Moreover, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown on Monday responded to Shirley’s video, saying, “There have been ongoing investigations with several of those centers” and “None of those investigations uncovered findings of fraud,” according to KARE 11.
Furthermore, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel wrote in a Sunday X post that his agency had “surged personnel and investigative resources” in response to Minnesota fraud.
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID … The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg,” Patel wrote. “We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said on Dec. 18 that suspected fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid program may total over $9 billion. Shirley claimed in his viral X post that his team had “uncovered over $110,000,000” of fraud in just a single day.
A resurfaced 2018 surveillance video from Fox 9 shows how Somali scammers allegedly bilked Minnesota out of funds for services that they never provided. The footage was taken in 2015 and showed parents taking kids into a daycare center before departing with them just minutes after, according to Fox News.
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