Overview
- A House Oversight Committee report released ahead of the hearing alleges Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew of widespread fraud in state-run social-service programs and retaliated against whistleblowers.
- Walz and Ellison defended their actions, saying the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge pulled resources from fraud prosecutions and disrupted law enforcement work across Minnesota.
- Republicans highlighted loss estimates as high as $9 billion, a figure Walz challenged as unsupported; federal prosecutions to date have detailed losses in the hundreds of millions, including the $250 million Feeding Our Future case.
- Lawmakers pressed Walz over his past claim that a judge required the state to resume Feeding Our Future payments, pointing to a Ramsey County court statement saying no such order was issued; Walz said attorneys misinterpreted the ruling.
- The confrontation unfolded as the federal government pauses about $243–259 million in Minnesota Medicaid payments over oversight concerns, a decision the state has taken to court to block.