President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration launched an investigation into fraud in California.
His announcement comes after a national controversy over the revelation that criminals in Minnesota defrauded federal welfare programs to the tune of $9 billion.
“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible???” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
If the White House is investigating California, we should prepare for a much bigger scandal than what we saw in Minnesota.
The fraud issue became a national topic of discussion when it was revealed that several organizations blatantly abused federal welfare programs. They pretended as if they were serving needy children and families to receive federal funding. In reality, they were pocketing the money and using it for personal luxury expenses.
But there have been several reports over the years showing that California might make Minnesota look like the paragon of austerity.
If you think Tim Walz is bad, just wait until you see what Gavin Newsom has done to California.
— Digital Gal (@DigitalGalX) January 6, 2026
$76.5B in alleged fraudulent spending.
A record of failure and deception brought to you by Newscum.
👇 👇 pic.twitter.com/mcsiZM5vjh
California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) admitted in 2024 that it had lost $55 billion in fraudulent “overpayments” during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the California Globe.
The California State Auditor explained that the state received 21 percent of all federal unemployment money, even though it has only 12 percent of the U.S. population. The EDD sent out nine million benefit cards when only 3 million Californians were unemployed.
But wait! There’s more!
Prisoners raked in $810 million in unemployment benefits. Even convicted murderers such as Scott Peterson filed false claims while languishing in prison. A woman in Northern California filed a whopping 100 fake claims, including one in the name of late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
There was also the community college system fraud, in which bad actors made off with millions of dollars due to California’s incompetence. Indeed, scammers filed over 1.2 million fake applications using bots and artificial intelligence.
After the community colleges enrolled these nonexistent students, the scammers collected financial aid refunds and then disappeared. In fact, in 2024, fraudsters swiped $8.5 million in federal aid and $2.7 million in state aid.
Between January and April 2025, another $4 million in federal aid and over $760,000 in state aid were written off as fraud, The Los Angeles Times reported.
One of the most embarrassing examples of fraud came from Gov. Newsom’s own chief of staff, Dana Williams. The Western Journal reported that the FBI arrested Williamson in November on a 23-count federal indictment. She faces charges including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, submitting false tax returns, and making false statements.
Williamson, who served under Newsom between 2022 and 2024, allegedly claimed over $1 million in improper tax deductions. She is accused of pilfering about $225,000 from a dormant poltiical campaign linked to former federal Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
And what did she use this money for? Private jet travel, luxury hotel stays, designer handbags, and no-show jobs for friends and family.
If the allegations are accurate, then what does it say about Gov. Newsom’s judgment? Nothing good, apparently.
These three examples are but a smattering of instances in which California has allowed fraud to run rampant, unbeknownst to residents.
If there is any state that needs to be investigated, it’s the Golden State. It will be quite interesting — if not infuriating — to see what comes of the upcoming investigation.
