EJ Haust, official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show and self-described political refugee from Minnesota, argues that Governor Tim Walz has presided over “widespread” and years-long fraud involving multiple state and federally funded programs.
Haust, who lived in Minnesota for 12 years before relocating to Tennessee, pointed first to the Feeding Our Future scandal, detailing how Somali-led groups created fake food distribution sites during COVID lockdowns, reported inflated meal counts, and collected more than $250 million in federal relief funds without actually feeding children.
“The Somali Leaders, the people who wanted in on the scam, would get their paperwork together and set up a food distribution center of some kind. Now, this was supposed to be when the schools were closed and the big thing was ‘we’re feeding every child in Minnesota.’ Remember, Tim Walz made a big deal out of that during the campaign saying, ‘We’re feeding kids’,” Haust explained.
“What they would do is these individual centers and the people running them would take the money, claim that they were feeding, say, 3,000 from this center, 1,500 from that center…They would inflate the numbers but never feed anybody. So they were taking all the money, but they weren’t actually executing on the Feeding our Future mission,” Haust added.
She noted that upwards of 80 defendants – most of whom are Somalian – are now entangled in prosecutions connected to the scheme.
Haust also highlighted a dramatic growth in Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded autism services, explaining how spending jumped from $3 million in 2018 to nearly $399 million by 2023.
“In 2018, there was a $3 million budget in the state of Minnesota, Medicaid, essentially, $3 million in 2018 was spent on autism centers, helping families with children with autism…The claims rose from $3 million to $399 million by 2023,” she explained.
Haust said this surge was fueled by newly formed “culturally appropriate” autism centers – many tied to the same networks implicated in COVID-relief fraud – which she said billed the state for services that were never provided.
“What happened was primarily the Somali population got together and created ‘autism centers,’ and said that they needed ‘culturally appropriate’ centers for the Somali autism community,” she said.
Aside from wasteful spending, Haust went on to raise public safety and national security concerns, detailing how some individuals tied to the fraudulent operations have funneled money abroad, including to the terrorist organization Al-Shabab.
“These scams are happening, millions and millions of dollars are going to people who in some cases…who are sending money to Al Shabab, which is a terrorist organization,” she stressed.
“This is a problem on multiple levels. It’s not just that they’re taking in money, it’s what they’re doing with the money. It’s truly horrible, but it’s a cultural thing. They come from a place that is corrupt and so it’s almost ingrained in them that they are takers, and this is just what you do. This is how you get ahead,” she added.
Haust went on to point out how hundreds of Minnesota Department of Human Services employees attempted to blow the whistle on suspicious activity for years, sending documents and warnings to Governor Walz’s office.
However, Haust said these warnings were ignored, and Walz even publicly honored at least one individual later implicated in the Feeding Our Future case.
“There are 480 Department of Human Services workers in Minnesota who tried to be whistleblowers and they have documentation that they’ve been sending this information to Governor Tim Walz for years,” Haust said.
“There’s no doubt that he had to have known that something was going on,” she added. “There’s no chance he doesn’t know what’s happening under his watch.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Gov. Tim Walz” by Tim Walz.
