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Tim Walz Gets Testy With a Reporter Who Asked About Jailing Fraudsters

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  December 09, 2025 7:30 AM

Tim Walz is getting testy. A week ago, we learned he was deeply involved in the massive fraud that occurred under his watch and, according to a group of state employees, was allegedly punishing the whistleblowers who tried to report the fraud to state officials. 

He tried using the fraud to take a crack at President Trump, saying there would "be no pardons" for fraudsters in Minnesota. Of course, Walz can't issue pardons if the fraudsters are nailed with federal charges, so it was an empty gesture.

But at some point, Walz also claimed he put fraudsters in jail, and — like his service record — that was a lie, too.

And Walz didn't like it one bit when a reporter called him out on this "erroneous" claim. 

Here's more:

Gov. Tim Walz bristled when a reporter challenged his claim that his administration has been busy "putting people in jail" for the massive fraud that has shaken Minnesota to the tune of a billion-plus dollars.

Walz — whose agencies failed to stop the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which allowed mostly Somali defendants to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from a federally funded child-nutrition program administered by the Minnesota Department of Education until federal agents intervened — insisted the state deserves credit for the prosecutions.

During a Tuesday press conference, a reporter asked Walz why he would claim state leaders were “putting people in jail” when all the Feeding Our Future prosecutions so far have come from federal authorities.

Here's video of this exchange.

It's hard to hear the reporter's question, but watch Walz's body language and facial expression as she asks the question — and it's a perfectly reasonable question, too.

"I didn't erroneously say that," Walz says. "We're the ones that our agencies are bringing it up. We're referring them over. This is how this works...these are Minnesota folks who work in state government who are the ones that are helping build the case, turn it over to the federal authorities." 

"So that is totally false," Walz continues, "totally wrong. It is Minnesotans, it is Minnesota's investigators, it is these IGs that are over there...that are doing the things that are putting people in jail."

"Then why aren't there state prosecutions?" the reporter asks.

"They're federal laws. They're choosing to do federal prosecutions," Walz replies. "We will prosecute on every single thing we can. In many cases, we get longer ones. Is your assertion is that we don't have anything to do with the investigations?" Walz asks. "That is totally false. We're the ones who brought it to them. We're the ones who alerted the FBI. We turn these cases over every day. Drug cases, human trafficking cases. We would prosecute them."

And then Walz pivoted to blaming President Trump and implied the President would pardon these fraudsters.

"What I can tell you is, I am deeply concerned now that they are being federally prosecuted," Walz says, "because just yesterday the President commuted and pardoned the sentence of a fraudster who took billions and billions of dollars, who served 12 days and was sentenced by an American jury to 45 years. So I am concerned that he releases the fraudsters because they're on federal. If they don't want to prosecute it, we will certainly take them...so my statement is: We are prosecuting and helping put people in jail who are committing fraud in Minnesota, and nothing will change on that."

Walz is, of course, lying here, too. Abdifatah Yusuf was charged in state court in a $7.2 million Medicaid fraud case. The charges were brought by the Minnesota Attorney General's office, specifically its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), in Hennepin County, Minnesota. And right before Thanksgiving, a Hennepin County Judge threw out the American jury's verdict that found Yusuf and his wife guilty. Has anyone asked Walz about that?

If they do, prepare for him to get angry.