Senate Hopeful Praises Tim Walz After Fraud Engulfed State On His Watch

A massive fraud scandal is rocking her state, but Democratic Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig has been conspicuously silent.

Craig, a four-term lawmaker running in a contested Democratic primary in Minnesota’s 2026 Senate race, has largely avoided commenting on the multi-year welfare fraud schemes that occurred under Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s watch. When asked by the Daily Caller News Foundation whether the Walz administration bears responsibility for failing to protect stolen taxpayer dollars, Craig effusively praised the two-term governor and insisted they both have taken action to prevent fraud in the North Star State.

“I think the governor is taking and his team are taking an aggressive approach to crack down on fraud in Minnesota,” Craig told the DCNF in a brief interview Tuesday. “They’re prosecuting and putting the folks who are perpetrating the crime in jail.”

Craig’s defense of Walz comes after he said he takes “full responsibility” for the fraud scandal, which federal prosecutors say could have exceeded $1 billion in losses.

“Fraud happened. We need to take accountability, ultimately me,” Walz said during a press conference Friday.

Minnesota Democrats are facing scrutiny following federal prosecutors charging dozens of individuals — the vast majority of Somali descent — with stealing more than $300 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future. In separate schemes, groups allegedly stole taxpayer money from a federally-funded housing program and autism treatment services.

At least ten of the 78 individuals charged or convicted in the Feeding Our Future scheme since 2022 were residents of Craig’s district, including Aimee Bock, the nonprofit’s founder.

Prosecutors have dubbed the cases the “largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Child Nutrition Program funded sites across Minnesota to provide meals to children. Bock oversaw a sprawling scheme in which sites fraudulently claimed to be serving millions of meals to children, according to the Department of Justice.

A federal jury convicted Bock in March of multiple counts, including wire fraud and bribery.

Craig’s constituents Abdiaziz Shafii Farah and Mohamed Jama Ismail were sentenced to 28 years and 12 years, respectively, for stealing over $40 million alongside their co-conspirators. Farah and Ismail, who were owners and operators of Empire Cuisine and Market LLC — a restaurant in Craig’s district — helped launder the fraudulent proceeds, according to the DOJ.

Abdimajid Mohamed Nur was also sentenced to 10 years in connection with the scheme originating out of Empire Cuisine & Market.

Other constituents implicated include Dorothy Jean Moore, who was charged in June 2025 for defrauding the federal program of $1.4 million. Asha Jama, Abduljabar Hussein, Mekfira Hussein, Khadar Jigre Adan and Abdihakim Ali Ahmed also pled guilty for their role in the laundering scheme.

Amid her silence on the ongoing fraud scandal, Craig told the DCNF she’s worked to combat fraud at the federal level in recent years.

“I’ve been aggressive to make sure that there’s a federal layer to this as well,” Craig said Tuesday.

The Senate hopeful said she introduced a bill in 2022 to crack down on fraud in federal programs, but the DCNF could not identify fraud prevention legislation introduced by Craig that year.

The DCNF found legislation sponsored by Craig in later years that would have toughened penalties for fraud in federal programs in response to the scandal’s early revelations.

Her 2023 “Fighting Their Fraud Act” would have doubled the fine for fraudulent activity related to child nutrition programs from $25,000 to $50,000. Meanwhile, her 2024 “Stop Fraud in Federal Programs Act” would have increased the penalty for federal program bribery and required sponsors to use third-party auditors, which, according to her office,would “ensure that sponsors, like Feeding Our Future, cannot self-certify that they have delivered meals.”

Neither bill advanced beyond introduction and had zero cosponsors.

A spokesperson for Craig did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment before publication.

Republicans have excoriated the Walz administration for failing to stop the brazen fraud schemes. Walz has blamed the massive fraud scandal in part on the state’s “culture of generosity.”

President Donald Trump responded to the developing fraud scandal in late November by pledging to revoke the temporary protected status of Somalis in Minnesota, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up enforcement operations in the weeks since.

“Walz has had seven years to address and stop the fraud,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the highest-ranking Minnesota Republican, said Tuesday. “It wasn’t until President Trump made this a national issue that Walz started to pretend that he cares about his constituents’ tax dollars supporting a terrorist group in Somalia. Accountability is coming.”

“Our dishonest, failed governor must and will answer for his complete incompetence,” Emmer added.

City Journal reported on Nov. 19 that “untold millions” of Minnesota taxpayer dollars went into the hands of the radical Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Craig is vying against Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith. Flanagan is running to Craig’s left and has secured endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Craig and Flanagan have railed against Trump’s criticism of the Somali community in Minnesota, but have said little about the Somalis convicted in the fraud schemes.

“I’ve got news for you, Mr. President: in Minnesota, we stick up for our neighbors,” Craig wrote on X. “And our Somali community isn’t going anywhere.”

Caden Olson contributed to this report.