CNN Panel Spends Two And A Half Minutes Trying To Dismiss Journalist Who Blew Lid Off Somali Scammer Scandal

Former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona spent over two and a half minutes on “CNN NewsNight” Tuesday trying to dismiss independent journalist Nick Shirley’s reporting on Somali-run day care centers that allegedly scammed Minnesota out of millions of dollars.

Shirley touched off a social media storm Friday when he posted a photo of one day-care center, which displayed a banner calling it “The Greater Learing Center” on X, along with a 42-minute video that went viral showing him visiting that and other day-care centers. “CNN NewsNight” host Abby Phillip asked the panel to discuss the Trump administration’s announcement that it could cut off funds from Minnesota over the fraud.

“He goes to the facilities, some of them had already been closed for some time. Minnesota officials say that each of the facilities that he visited had been visited at least once in the last six months,” Phillip claimed. “And so far, they found no evidence of fraud. So, shouldn’t he have to provide actual evidence of fraud before just walking up to a building and saying fraud is happening here?”

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Cross, whose MSNBC show featured racially-charged attacks on conservatives, particularly black conservatives, attacked Shirley, claiming he targeted the Somali day care centers because of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

“Who is he? Like who gave this guy license to go around and say, I couldn’t get in the daycare centers? The doors were locked. Like nobody should be able to walk into a daycare center because the doors are locked. These random vigilante justice, something that people in this country know a lot about, these random vigilante justice seekers who ordained themselves like some sort law enforcement expert, like he’s a random YouTuber,” Cross claimed. “And I just find it laughable that the party of the self-proclaimed pro-life people are celebrating cutting off funding to children. The white evangelical crowd who purports to uphold these Christian values are celebrating targeting communities because of their ethnicity and cutting off care to children. It’s utterly ridiculous, and I have to say only a deplorable human being cannot decisively say it is wrong to target this community.”

“We all heard what Donald Trump said from the White House,” Cross continued. “To pretend that this is some sort of opinion versus this opinion, no, we hear this right now and so we have to call these things out with outrage, with righteous indignation that this type of thing, one day it’s the Somali community, the next day it’s another community. What is hard about saying this is awful? What is hard about saying we should all care about children?”

Cardona piled on to the attacks, claiming that Shirley’s reporting was “dangerous” for the Somali community.

“It’s not just racist and xenophobic, it’s actually dangerous. Because what Donald Trump is doing in targeting this community, it’s putting American citizens in danger, because it is putting a target on their back,” Cardona claimed. “But there’s something else that I think is really disturbing, to your point about who this YouTuber is, and that all of a sudden because he made this video that has gone viral, now DHS and FBI are putting resources into this community, all of a sudden?”

Phillip also dismissed Shirley, claiming his reporting was “performative.”

“That’s not how you investigate fraud,” Phillip claimed.

Estimates of the fraud in Minnesota have increased to at least $9 billion, according to federal officials, with the Treasury Department investigating reports that some of the money stolen in the fraud scheme went to the radical Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab, which is based in Somalia. Whistleblowers in other states, including Maine and Ohio, have alleged that similar schemes by Somali scammers have taken place, while over 500 suspicious day-care centers are being probed by independent journalists in Washington state.