Minnesota AG Keith Ellison defends fraud prosecution, says office has done 'enough'

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office had done enough to prosecute the fraud in the state, insisting the backlash was political.

CNN's Laura Coates asked Ellison if they had done enough to prosecute the fraud in Minnesota, citing Republicans arguing that state officials were complicit.

"Of course, we've done enough — and we're doing more every single day. This is a political matter. This is not a serious thing. And I tell you one reason why you know, because I introduced a bill last session to increase our Medicaid fraud unit and to increase certain procedural mechanisms to be more effective in prosecuting fraud. I couldn't get any Republican support for that. What they want is an issue. They don't want to solve fraud," Ellison said.

"Now, fraud is something that I'm serious about — which is why I prosecuted and convicted over 300 people for Medicaid fraud since I've been the attorney general," he continued. "We're serious about convicting people for stealing money that is going or supposed to go to poor people. It's a serious issue. But we're not getting serious partnership — what we're getting is political theater like you just saw with the homeland security director."

INSIDE MINNESOTA’S $1B FRAUD: FAKE OFFICES, PHONY FIRMS AND A SCANDAL HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

More than 90 people — many from Minnesota's large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation's largest COVID-era scheme. It is still being tabulated how much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services. 

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in December the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

Ellison compared the Republican backlash over the scandal to criticism of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the 2012 Benghazi attacks, arguing the outrage is political.

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"I'll just remind you of Benghazi. You all would remember listening to Senate and House Republicans go on about how big the Benghazi scandal — it was so terrible, and they grilled at the time, Secretary Clinton, over this issue. And then when a reporter like yourself said, what came out of that? You spent a lot of money, what came out of it? And their answer was, we reduced Hillary Clinton's popularity in public opinion polls. That was their answer," he said. 

Ellison added, "But I'm telling you, this is similar to that. Fraud is not a problem. Of course, it is a problem. And, of course, we have to prosecute it. And, of course, we have been prosecuting it." 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he would suspend his campaign amid fallout from the fraud scandal.

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Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.