Tangle - Tim Walz drops out amid fraud scandal.

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

On Monday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced he is ending his reelection campaign for a third term. In his announcement, Walz cited the state’s ongoing fraud scandals as the basis for his decision, saying, “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.” The governor and 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate has come under increasing scrutiny for his handling of the fraud schemes, which were concentrated in the state’s Somali-American community and have drawn national attention in recent weeks. Ad-free podcasts are here!To listen to this podcast ad-free, and to enjoy our subscriber only premium content, go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Take the survey: What do you think of the fraud in Minnesota? Let us know.Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was written by: Ari Weitzman and audio edited and mixed by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of our take. I'm your host for today, Tangles managing editor. R.E. We're today's topic is the Minnesota fraud cases. We cover this topic previously in December, but it's been picking up steam again nationally, so we're covering it again today. Before we get started, and I throw it to John for our quick hits, I wanted to ask you all for a small favor. Over the holiday break, we sent out an end-of-year survey that we do every year to try to learn more about Tangle and what the Tangle community likes about us, what they don't

like from us, just generally get feedback that help us chart a course for 2026. If you could, take a couple minutes to complete it, answer some questions about tango's content, format, coverage choices, all that good stuff. If you do, you'll be entered in a chance to win a $500 gift card and some free tango merchandise. The link to that is in the show notes. Thank you very much. Now, I'm going to pass it over to John for our quick hits and today's main topic, and I'll be back for my take. Thanks, Ari, and welcome everybody. Here are your quick hits for today.

First up, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism, gun, and drug charges at his first court appearance in New York City. Maduro said that he was unlawfully kidnapped by the United States and that he was still the leader of Venezuela. Separately, many members of the United Nations Security Council criticized the U.S. for its operation to capture Maduro, suggesting the operation violated international law. Number two, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced changes to its vaccine recommendations for children, advising that children receive vaccines for 11 diseases instead of the previously recommended 17. Number three, Defense Secretary Pete Higsef said that he will seek to demote Senator Mark Kelly's military rank over Kelly's participation in a video telling U.S. service that they

can refuse illegal orders. Kelly said he will fight the attempt at demotion. Number four, Secret Service agents detained a man who allegedly damaged property at Vice President J.D. Vance's home in Ohio, while Vance and his family were away. The man is charged with vandalism, obstruction of official business, criminal damaging or endangering, and criminal trespass. Number five, the Corporation for Public Broadcast's Board of Directors voted to dissolve the corporation, which provided funding to NPR, PBS, and local radio and TV stations following Congress's vote to cut its federal funding in July.

And some breaking news at number six, Representative Doug Lamont, La Malfa, the Republican from California, passed away at the age of 65. La Malfa had represented California's first congressional district since 2013. What a fall from grace this has been for him. Walls hit Trump in his announcement. He said Donald Trump and his allies in Washington in St. Paul and online want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.

On Monday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls announced he is ending his re-election campaign for a third term. In his announcement, Wall cited these states' ongoing fraud scandals as the basis for his decision, saying, every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences. The governor and 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate has come under increasing scrutiny for his handling of the fraud schemes, which were concentrated in the state's Somali American community and have drawn national attention in recent weeks. The Minnesota fraud investigations began during the Biden administration, and Attorney General Merrick Garland's Justice Department brought the first charges in September 2022. The investigation centered on stolen federal funds for a child nutrition program, an autism services program,

and an affordable housing service for which over 70 defendants have been charged. Several have already pleaded guilty. In November 2025, the conservative magazine City Journal published a report on the fraud, claiming the stolen funds were partially directed to the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab. We previously covered these fraud cases, and you can check out those stories with a link in today's episode description. In late December, conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley released a video amplified by Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance that purported to show a series of publicly funded Minnesota daycares operated by members of the Somali community without any children present at the time he showed up. Shirley claimed that the center shown in the video had defrauded the

government of over $110 million, but several allegations have since been questioned. One daycare said that Shirley visited outside its operating hours, while another appeared to be operational, contrary to Shirley's claim that it was empty. Separately, a federal prosecutor suggested in December that half or more of the $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run program since 2018 may have been stolen. The video renewed national interest in the fraud schemes and state officials' handling of the cases. In particular, the Trump administration has sharply criticized walls and launched federal investigations into the fraud, as well as immigration actions against the Somali community. In a post on truth, Social, President Trump wrote,

much of the Minnesota fraud, up to 90 percent, is caused by people who came into our country illegally from Somalia. Congresswoman Omar, an ungrateful loser who only complains and never contributes, is one of many scammers. On Tuesday, the Trump administration said it will freeze $10 billion in funding for child care and other programs in five states controlled by Democrats, including Minnesota. Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem said that agency officials were conducting a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, and the agency reportedly plans to deploy up to 2,000 agents to the area as part of an immigration crackdown.

On December 19, Governor Walls told reporters that he was accountable for the fraud and pledged to fix it. That week, state prosecutors announced new investigations into 14 state programs designed to disperse Medicaid funds and new charges against alleged perpetrators. However, state officials also push back on claims about the scale of the fraud, with Minnesota Department of Human Services Deputy Director John Connolly saying, we don't have evidence in hand to suggest that we have $9 billion in fraud in these benefits over the last seven years. Today, we'll share perspectives on the fraud cases from the left and the right, and then managing editor Ari Weitzman will give his take.

We'll be right back after this quick break. All right. First up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left acknowledges the significance of the fraud schemes, but argues Republicans are using the story for ulterior motives. Some push back on the latest claims about the scale of the fraud. Others say the demonization of Somalis is wrong, but the consequences. community must also take ownership of real issues. In MS Now, Paul Waldman wrote, Minnesota Child Care Fraud is MAGA's new obsession. Why was Trump suddenly interested in allegations of fraud that have been under investigation for years by federal and state authorities,

and, for the record, have nothing to do with Representative Omar, Waldman asked. If you think it's because some Somali Americans have been involved and Trump wants to foment racist and anti-immigrant hatred, then you're absolutely right. That's not subtext. It's text. Trump couldn't be more clear on that score. He's referred to Somali immigrants as garbage, but also a valid illustration of how the right-wing propaganda machine works. It doesn't matter whether a story is new or whether the allegations are made true. Minnesota is just one state where that kind of fraud seemed to accelerate after 2020. Since 2022, the federal government and Minnesota's state government have undertaken sweeping investigations of fraud in nutrition and

child care programs, resulting in dozens of criminal convictions, Waldman wrote. Many of the people convicted have been Somali American. But the most significant of those convictions is probably that of Amy Bach, a white woman who was the ringleader of a scheme that defrauded $250 million from nutrition programs. Does Bach's case prove white women are inherently inclined toward criminality and should be removed from the country so we can finally be safe from the danger they pose? In her weaponized to substack, Caroline Oro Bueno said, Nick Shirley's Somali daycare fraud video is bullshit. Shirley's video has now been pretty thoroughly taken apart by numerous news organizations, and many of his

core claims have been debunked or at least called into serious doubt. In one case, Shirley arrived when the facility was closed. In another instance, security footage from the daycare center shows children being dropped off on the same day Shirley was claiming that no children were anywhere to be seen. In two other cases, Shirley showed up to non-operational child care facilities, Bueno Road. While there have been proven and prosecuted cases of fraud in publicly funded programs of Minnesota, Shirley's video doesn't prove that it's happening at the daycares he went to. Shirley's video also featured one of the defining characteristics of orchestrated disinformation, which is the use of selective editing rather than fabrication.

The video shows footage taken at real daycare centers, Buenos said. The deception emerges from what is left out, things like comparative data, explanations of editorial choices, and context about how common or uncommon, fraud actually is across child care providers of all backgrounds. He also failed to mention things like what time he visited the facilities and what their operating hours are. In the Minnesota Star Tribune, Badidoula explored what Somalis must do in the face of suspicion and insults. Trump's simplistic stereotyping was uncalled for, and it is not right to call any human being garbage. But it is true that Somalis involved in large-scale fraud should face the consequences of their poor choices.

And it is true that we Somalis need to ask ourselves what role we may have played in becoming the target of such hostile criticism, Dula said. Just like everyone else, Somalis need to take responsibility for their behavior. It's time to stop blaming others for our wrong choices. Blaming is self-sabotage. It keeps us stuck in our problems and prevents us from taking steps toward solutions. Many Somalis lived through decades of state collapse with corrupt and violent conditions. We saw how rules were enforced unfairly and were used to harm rather than protect people.

This experience with broken systems and injustice created rule skepticism, Duley said. When we face barriers to adjustments such as poverty, social exclusion, or discrimination, we must take the high road. Many of us have. Research consistently shows that most immigrants are law-abiding and often commit less crime than native-born citizens. Yet a minority of Somalis who have failed to integrate have chosen to engage in fraud or corruption.

They have given us all a bad name. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right welcomes Walsh's announcement, saying he failed as a leader due to subservience in identity politics. Some suggest the fraud cases underscore the risks of unchecked immigration. Others say vast welfare systems are to blame, not immigrants. In Fox News, David Marcus wrote, Tim Walz's white guilt finally ends his career. Governor Tim Wals will not seek a third term leading the ghost. Soper State. In the end, the massive scale of Somali fraud that went unchecked under his nose

was just too much to recover from. Bad news on the Somali front snowballed fast for Walls, with reports that as much as $9 billion with a B, dollars was pilfered by members of the migrant community, while the governor appeared to do little but protect the thieves, Marcus said. Walls might have survived this imbroglio had he taken it more seriously as the scandal broke, but the intrepid work of independent journalist Nick Shirley, who shocking videos of empty daycare centers receiving millions from taxpayers were likely the final straw. Ultimately, Walls decided to blow up his political career rather than be accused of racism by accurately addressing the broad, systemic fraud, rampant in Minnesota-Somali community. Watching Wall's struggle to wish

away one of the biggest fraud scandals in American history was more awkward than watching him trying to load a shotgun. In both cases, he seemed to be trying to sell something to voters that even he didn't really believe, Marcus wrote. This is also a tragic day for the members of the liberal media, who spent weeks defending Walls' shambolic handling of the Somali scandal, telling us it was no big deal and that it happens everywhere. In his substack, Eric Woods Erickson explored what Nick Shirley uncovered. Shirley showed up at Somali child care centers in Minnesota and discovered, despite those entities getting millions in federal dollars,

they actually had no children present. Even if some of the claims Shirley made were not quite as he claimed, which some say, he still exposed a rampant system of corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse, Erickson said. What is most notable is how progressives are simply screaming racism because they do not want to acknowledge a conservative argument is true. In fact, so much of what is happening with immigration is progressives simply willing the stories not to be true so they do not have to confront their own policy failures. I am encouraged in this case, the Department of Justice and FBI are rounding up people for fraud in Minnesota. But we need more and more indictments. We need deportations. We need

massive exposure in such a way that the Democrats cannot hide from it. We need a public campaign in Congress to change the laws, if necessary, and highlight Democrat opposition to those legal changes if they oppose them, Erickson wrote. Frankly, we need Donald Trump to hop Air Force One over to Minnesota and do a press conference so the national news networks can't ignore the story. The Wall Street Journal editorial board said Minnesota's fraud problem isn't immigrants. While Governor Tim Walls and Somali migrants may be easy political targets. The GOP will let this scandal go to waste if it fails to explain how vast government welfare payments have become an invitation for fraud and abuse, the board wrote. Minnesota's varieties of government fraud are prompting welcome scrutiny of its

welfare system. Visitors to the state government website can mistake it for an internet scam because it advertises so many handouts, cash, housing support, childcare, food, emergency assistance, and more. These are on top of federal transfer payments. With so much money and so many programs, this vast system is an open vault for scammers, especially when politicians are loathe to police fraud because doing so might be called racist or anti-poor. But it's also corrupting for beneficiaries who have an incentive to remain on the dole rather than build an independent life, the board said. Republicans complain about fraud, but too few want to tackle the perverse incentives that allow it to flourish. Annual government transfer payments have increased by some $1.7 trillion to $4.9 trillion since the start of the pandemic.

roughly double the rate of inflation. Minnesota's problem isn't immigrants. It's the welfare state that corrupts them. All right, let's head over to Ari for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. One of the most consistent aspects of President Trump's governing style is how his solution to a problem always seems to completely devour any attention to the root problem itself. It's Trump's big game.

It invigorates as supporters. It frustrates his opponents and it confuses everyone else in between. It starts with a real issue that has been publicly reported on but doesn't gain purchase across the political spectrum in the same way that something like the Epstein files managed to grab public attention. Then, a right-leaning outlet makes the issue a cause cele, adding in a healthy, editorialized dash of urgency. That story makes its way to President Trump, who takes the most divisive aspects of the narrative and dials them up to 11.

Democrats get caught in a trap, decrying Trump's response without acknowledging the problem, allowing Republicans to hammer them for not caring about the root issue. But is Trump's solution addressing the root issue? Soon, that question becomes the main discussion. Trump's solution trumps the problem and now the thing we're all talking about again seemingly without end is Trump Trump always wins Trump's big game

he dominates the new cycle and owns the narrative regardless of whether he's solving the problem at the center of the media firestorm the pattern fits the Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria it fits the administration's capture of Maduro it fits the National Guard deployments and Doge and the war on universities and can even be drawn back to the singular issue

that boosted him to the top of the Republican primaries in 2015, the border wall. You're listening to Tangle, so I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm tired of playing Trump's big game. So today, let's see what happens when we decide not to play it. My colleague, senior editor Will Kayback and Minnesota Native, already discussed both the problem and Trump solution with accurate 2020 vision when we first cover the story in early December. So you should definitely listen to that piece for the whole 360-degree view. But let's leave aside. Trump's treatment of this issue today and entirely talk about the problem itself, starting by

agreeing on some basic facts. First, fraud in Minnesota is real. It's absolutely massive and it isn't new. Reporting on it also isn't new. Mainstream news outlets like the AP were covering the $250 million feeding our future fraud schemes in 2022. Former Minnesota fraud investigator and Somali American case of McGahn admirably and aptly discussed how frauds against the state's Medicaid programs were focused in the Somali community back in July 24. Now, perpetrators of these fraud schemes are starting to be brought to justice, as they should be.

Second, the Minnesota services fraud was disproportionately committed by members of the state's Somali community. That doesn't mean all of it was. In fact, the person at the center of the feeding or future scheme is a white woman. It doesn't mean every Somali in Minnesota is complicit. They were often unwitting victims.

or that we have to blanket the whole community in blame in order to identify the problem. But it does mean that it is a problem centered in that community. Along with Will's take from last month, McGahn's 2024 piece should be required reading for anyone hoping to fully understand this issue. To quote McGahn, The conduit for fraud in publicly funded programs are the recipients who require services. Somali recipients face language and cultural barriers. In an unfamiliar country, they lean head.

heavily on other Somalis. Somali providers are in a position of trust, and some have taken advantage. McGahn went on to describe how opportunists within the Somali community pressured state Democrats and other immigrants, even attempting to bribe the only juror of color and the feeding our future fraud trial before pleading with members of his community to cease the leveraging of race and religion to avoid accountability and urging Minnesota politicians to must have the courage to address the systemic fraud in our publicly funded programs. Third, Governor Tim Walls and Minnesota Democrats failed to address this issue. They folded to a combination of social pressures, as the New York Times reported in another

foundational piece in November. A former prosecutor told the Times the government officials avoided confronting the issue in the wake of the George Floyd protests, saying that the appearance of racism at the time would be, quote, a career killer. Fourth, and finally, fraud is not exclusive to Minnesota. Instead, this story is probably just the first wave, as we can. come to understand how fraudsters siphoned off the firehose of COVID-Rilly funding during and just after the pandemic. A government accountability office report from 2023 estimated that

the total amount of fraud across all unemployment insurance programs, including new emergency programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, was likely between $100 billion and $135 billion or 11% to 15% of the total UI benefits paid out during the pandemic. As a reminder, the highest number anyone's turnout for the scale of fraud in Minnesota is $9 billion, and even that number is specious. And it doesn't stop there. NBC News reported in 2022 that $80 billion of the $800 billion handed out through the COVID-relief paycheck protection program was likely defrauded. If you think Governor Walts would be the only politician to answer for defrauded government funds over the last five years, I've got a bridge to sell you. So what can we learn from all this?

For me, I'm drawing two big lessons. Number one, government programs that aren't accompanied by careful enforcement and auditing mechanisms are invitations for theft. This is a universal flaw with any government program that's trying to solve a problem by throwing money at it. Just this week in France, fraudsters lied about having a fleet of electric buses to loot $12 million euros from a subsidy program. It's going to happen anywhere. Offering real government assistance requires presence, attention, and a lot of support for investigation and enforcement.

That's exactly what makes government problem solving so expensive and so difficult. Number two, if you're an elected official, you can't ignore a problem just because people on the other side of the political aisle are the ones who are most concerned about. it. For Walls, failing to act decisively to audit, reform, and correct the issues in his state's programs has ended his career as Minnesota governor. Can we take a moment to appreciate just how significant that is? He went from the Democrats' nominee for vice president to a lame duck governor in the span of roughly a year. It turns out, Republicans aren't the only ones who care about their state's coffers getting plundered. Do I think our representatives will learn those lessons?

honestly no. Not why we're all playing Trump's big game, but there could be hope if we focus on the facts, delivering justice, and learning the right lessons. We'll be right back after this quick break. All right, that is my take for today, which brings us to your. questions answered. This one comes from Aaron in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my hometown, who asks, you published the piece on December 2nd posing the question, did the U.S. just commit a war crime? My question might seem incredibly basic, but what is a war crime? Is there a governing body I'm aware of that could enforce a war crime law? Who is actually accountable to whom?

What is the point? Is the war crime accusation, a legal matter, or a purely moral stance where in the rest of the world gets to look down their noses at the offending country with a collective tisk-tisk. Thanks for the question, Aaron, go Steelers, but your question's serious, so we'll bring attention to it. War crimes are a little bit of a misnomer. Violations of international law aren't enforced by a multinational toothsome organization. Instead, war crimes are agreements for conduct and armed conflict that countries agree to via international compact. War crimes are designated into two parts. One, Heg Law, which defines inhumane action during combat, and two, Geneva law, which defines inhumane actions outside of combat or de combat. The Hague conventions were first drawn in

1890 and 1907, and the first Geneva conventions were drawn up in 1863. Together, they ban militaries from using chemical or biological weapons and from killing combatants who have surrendered or ejected from sinking aircraft or watercraft. Even though those compacts are relatively modern, rules governing combat have been adhered to for centuries. In 1474, the military leader Peter von Hagenbach was convicted by an ad hoc Holy Roman Empire Tribunal for atrocities committed by his soldiers

during a military occupation in modern-day Germany. Today, individuals can be convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, or SEC, and according to the Rome Statute, convicted war criminals can serve sentences in any country that adheres to the Hague and Geneva conventions. Countries or cities in the case of New York mayors Iran Mandani regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Notanyahu may or may not have policies of arresting those with arrest warrants from the ICC. See Russian President Vladimir Putin and his relatively free

mobility across countries. Speaking of countries, the consequences for nation states are muddy. Allies can reconsider commitments to share intelligence with counterparts they believe have violated international law as the United Kingdom is done with the U.S. following strikes on boats in the Caribbean. And international determination of war crime can also lead to a loss of treaties, or the imposition of sanctions, and broader diplomatic isolation. The same designation can also lead to domestic consequences. The exact consequences aren't specifically drawn up. The system is far from perfect. critics of international law contend that powerful nations like the United States often operate outside the bounds of war crime rules while less powerful nations face prosecution from them. Without a war crime police force or jail, these consequences can

feel like tisk-tisking, but in practice, they can become very consequential. That's it for our reader question today. I'm going to send it back over to John for the rest of the pod. I'll talk to you all soon. Have a good one. Of course. Go Steelers. Thanks, Ari. Here's your Under the Radar story for today, folks. A year ago this month, wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area, killing at least 31 people, displacing tens of thousands of others, and destroying approximately 17,000 structures.

As the rebuilding process continues, residents are contending with a major hazard, toxic fumes. Ash from the fires contains remnants of insuffer. incinerated cars, electronics, paints, furniture, and other belongings, and some residents have reported nascent health issues like headaches and respiratory challenges. Separately, a report released in November found that six out of ten homes damaged by smoke from one of the fires have dangerous levels of asbestos, lead, or both. I don't feel comfortable in the space, local resident Nina Malone said, describing the smell

of her bedroom as an ashtray that has been sitting around for a long time. The Associated Press has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. As I mentioned yesterday, we are currently experimenting with taking out the numbers section. I've received a bunch of emails from people. Some are against it. Many are for it. But I would like to hear from other people. If you haven't written in yet, please let me know what you guys think about this.

Does ticking out the number section help the flow of the podcast? Do you like it? Do you miss it? Let me know. Reach out to me at John J-O-N at readtangle.com. And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. Charlie Hicks has had the same daily routine for nearly a decade. The Air Force veteran visits the shrimp basket in Pensacola, Florida on his lunch break,

orders a cup of gumbo, and watches baseball in the restaurant while he eats. One day in September, however, Hicks didn't show. After initially making contact with Hicks and learning that he was at home sick, the restaurant stopped hearing back from him. Donnell Stalworth, Shrimp Basket Chef, decided to check in on Hicks at his apartment and heard a cry for help coming from inside. There, he discovered Hicks severely dehydrated and with broken ribs after a fall.

Paramedics transported him to the hospital where he stayed for two months, but fully recovered. I don't know what would have happened if Donnell hadn't shown up, said Hicks, who recently celebrated Thanksgiving with the shrimp basket staff and their families. The Washington Post has this story and there's a link in today's episode description.

All right, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to readtangle.com, where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, podcast membership, or a bundled membership that gets you a discount on both. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac, Ari, and the rest of the crew,

this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. Our executive editor and founder is me. Isaac Saul, and our executive producer is John Wall. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by managing editor Ari Weitzman with senior editor Will Kayback

and associate editors, Audrey Moorhead, Lindsay Canuth, and Bailie. solved. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our website at readtangle.com.