EJ Haust, a self-described political refugee from Minnesota, argued that fraud in federal benefit programs is not just widespread but “systemic,” claiming that government structures themselves have enabled billions in abuse while officials failed to act for years.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced the creation of a federal Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, aimed at addressing waste and abuse across programs such as Medicaid, food assistance, and childcare funding. The administration cited high-profile cases, including alleged large-scale fraud in Minnesota, as justification for stronger oversight.
During Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Haust argued that states with known fraud issues have continued receiving elevated federal funding.
“And because they kept raising their budgets, they were getting more money than other states that didn’t have the fraud. It’s a web and it’s disgusting,” Haust said.
She specifically criticized Minnesota officials, placing blame on state leadership for failing to act.
“There’s people responsible, the Attorney General, Keith Ellison, completely useless. He’s more interested in fighting the federal government than protecting the citizens of Minnesota. It’s just, it’s absolutely astonishing,” Haust said.
She said the problems have been publicly discussed for years without meaningful intervention.
“I’m telling you, I lived in Minnesota for 12 years… we were talking about this stuff… and it did make the news… and then nothing happened,” she stressed.
According to Haust, earlier action could have reduced the scale of the alleged fraud.
“Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if 10 years ago… somebody had listened and stopped a program,” she said.
Haust also noted how she had personally reported on alleged links between fraud and overseas activity more than a decade ago, detailing, “I wrote about Al Shabab getting money and children from Minnesota… years ago… probably 2012-ish… so it’s been known and nobody’s acted on it.”
Haust described the fraud as a structural problem that is deeply embedded in the system.
“Fraud is systemic… the system is designed to create these fraudulent scenarios,” she said.
In conclusion, Haust called for legal accountability:
“I think people need to go to jail… I think they need to be perp walked and they need to go to jail,” she said.
The newly formed task force under the Trump administration, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, is expected to coordinate a national strategy to combat fraud and report regularly to the president as federal enforcement efforts expand.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “Quality Learing Center” by Nick Shirley.
