Tim Walz defends fraud oversight in Minnesota after viral video alleges 'billion-dollar' scheme
Story by Corbin Bolies • 20h
Nick Shirley
© TheWrap
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's office defended his record in response to a viral video purporting to have uncovered massive fraud involving government-funded day care centers, saying the Democratic governor has "worked for years to crack down on fraud" and has asked "the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action."
The 42-minute video by Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old self-described "independent" journalist, featured him visiting multiple Somali-run day care centers that appeared to be largely inactive despite allegedly receiving millions in state funds. He's joined in the video by another man, identified as "David," who claims to have long been investigating such facilities.
Conservative media figures and Republican lawmakers have seized on Shirley's report as evidence of Democratic corruption, with the video generating more than 100 million views on X and more than 1.3 million on YouTube, where it was titled, "I Investigated Minnesota's Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal."
Elon Musk has heavily promoted the video on X, claiming it's reached "more than any the daily readership of all newspapers in America combined," while House Speaker Mike Johnson called it "jaw-dropping reporting" and Vice President JD Vance suggested the 23-year-old deserved a Pulitzer Prize.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/minnesota-gov-tim-walz-defends-fraud-oversight-after-viral-video-alleges-billion-dollar-scheme/ar-AA1TeoC1?ocid=BingNewsSerp