Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledged to stand his ground on Tuesday while lawmakers in his own state are calling on him to resign over his handling of the Somali fraud scandal.
Republican state lawmakers in Minnesota have collectively called for Walz to step down as governor immediately over the scandal, which found that dozens of Somalis stole over $9 billion from federal social service programs in the state. Walz told reporters that he would resign “over [his] dead body” and accused these lawmakers of doing President Donald Trump’s bidding.
“It ain’t happening. I’m not going anywhere,” Walz said. “And you can make all of your requests for me to resign, over my dead body will that happen. I will fight this thing until the very end to make this state better and the question I think they need to decide is when does the guy in the White House resign? When does he take accountability for what he did? Because it isn’t going to happen here.”
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Walz dropped his reelection bid in the 2026 gubernatorial race on Monday as he received national scrutiny for his handling of the fraud. State officials accused the governor in November of bearing full responsibility for the fraud by ignoring whistleblowers and working to “discredit fraud reports.”
Dozens of defendants have faced charges for stealing over $350 million from Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit aimed at providing food for lower-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-seven defendants have been convicted thus far in connection to the scheme.
In a documentary released on Dec. 26, YouTuber Nick Shirley exposed 10 daycare centers run by Somalis that do not appear to be operating, despite them all being funded by taxpayer dollars. Five of the 10 daycare centers visited by Shirley operated as meal sites for Feeding Our Future and received nearly $5 million from the program between 2018 and 2021, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The Sweet Angel Child Care center in Minneapolis had the same phone number as Walz’s office.
Walz called on white people to be held accountable for crimes committed when answering a question on whether Somalis should be held accountable for their crimes during a Dec. 12 press conference.
“Look, it’s not law-abiding citizens. If that were the case, there’s a lot of white men should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the crimes that they have committed,” Walz said.Â
Walz also accused Trump on Dec. 2 of engaging in a “PR stunt” and of “indiscriminately targeting immigrants” when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramped up deportation efforts in predominantly Somali communities.
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