Tim Walz expected to drop out of Minnesota governor race
Tim Walz was expected to drop out of his reelection bid for Minnesota governor amid backlash to the wide-reaching Somali fraud scandal. The former vice presidential nominee announced that he will be holding a news conference on Monday morning to 'discuss [the] news of the day.'State officials are being tight-lipped about what Walz may say. But the news conference comes as he faces calls from Republican lawmakers in his state to resign or drop his bid for a third term in office. Minnesota political insider Blois Olson said that Walz was likely to drop out of the race, with a possible replacement being the state's current Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar. Olson said the Walz and Klobuchar met on Sunday to discuss their plans. A growing number of elected officials inside Walz's party also express concerns about the viability of him winning the gubernatorial election, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Nearly a dozen Democrats who have spoken to the newspaper in recent weeks said they thought Walz should not seek re-election - with some even comparing his run for a third term to former President Joe Biden's doomed 2024 campaign.'There's always sort of gossip and rumblings,' State Sen. Jen McEwan admitted, though she claimed: 'I'm not a part of the group that's talking actively about this.' The push to ouster Walz comes amid the fallout over a federal investigation found that dozens of Minnesota residents, predominantly Somali refugees, defrauded the federal government potentially of billions of dollars. Tim Walz, a two-term governor of Minnesota, may be dropping out of the race for a third term Walz is facing backlash amid a federal investigation that found that dozens of Minnesota residents, predominantly Somali refugees, defrauded the federal government potentially of billions of dollarsThe scandal erupted after independent journalist Nick Shirley uncovered an apparently empty daycare in Hennepin County, which allegedly received $4 million in taxpayers' money.The shocking film sparked an immediate federal response including by FBI Director Kash Patel and Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem who then announced investigations into the loans.Prosecutors now say at least 57 people connected with the Feeding Our Future program billed the federal government $250 million, claiming to buy meals for children during the COVID pandemic. Instead, the defendants allegedly used the stolen money to buy Lamborghinis, Porsche SUVs, beachfront property in Kenya and private villas in the Maldives. The vast majority of those convicted in the case are Somali. Investigators then found that around $9 billion in federal Medicaid funds supporting 14 Minnesota programs since 2018 may have been stolen, US Attorney Joe Thompson announced on December 18.Eighty-two of the 92 defendants in the child nutrition, housing services and autism program scams are Somali, prosecutors say.It was later revealed that Walz had connections with at least some of the refugees charged in the fraudulent scheme. He was previously once with Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, who has now been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custodyIbrahim had previously been convicted in Canada of asylum and welfare fraud, according to the Department of Homeland Security.Join the debateShould government leaders be held personally accountable for massive fraud scandals under their watch? Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was pictured with Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, one of the Somali refugees charged in the massive schemeWhite House officials then declared that Somali refugees in Minnesota had committed the 'biggest theft of taxpayer dollars in US history' and that local Democratic officials were 'fully complicit.'On social media, President Donald Trump further called Minnesota a 'hub of fraudulent laundering activity' as he ended the Temporary Protected Status for Somali refugees. US Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller also said authorities 'believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme, and we believe that what we uncover is going to shock the American people.''We believe that we've only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes,' Miller told Fox News' Sean Hannity.As the backlash over the scandal continued, Republican Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen went on television and said the scandal reminded him of Watergate - which eventually led to former President Nixon's resignation. However, this time in Minnesota 'could be even worse,' Jensen claimed to Fox News. 'Because it's possible that there's something far more nefarious than simply covering something up,' he said. 'It could be a pay to play scheme that involves elected officials.' Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen said the $1 billion fraud scandal in the state could parallel WatergateThe GOP candidate then claimed that Walz and the state's Department of Education 'knew in 2020 that there was a problem' but did not involve federal investigators until the following year.'And yet they've made claims that as soon as they learned about it, they got the FBI involved,' Jensen told Fox News. 'That's not true.'Walz has said he is taking strong actions against the alleged fraudsters.'The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,' a spokesperson for Walz told Fox News last week. 'He has strengthened oversight - including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.' Walz also 'hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.' Meanwhile, Walz has tried to position himself as a major Trump opponent in his bid for re-election. Walz has tried to position himself as a strong opponent of President Donald Trump. He is pictured with his wife after participating in the vice presidential debate against JD Vance in October 2024 On social media, President Donald Trump called Minnesota a 'hub of fraudulent laundering activity' as he ended the Temporary Protected Status for Somali refugeesHe last appeared before reporters on December 23 for an event warning about the fallout from the continuing immigration efforts in Minnesota. On Saturday, Walz also hit out at Trump for blaming the murder of Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman on the Somali fraud scandal. The president had shared a post to his Truth Social page suggesting that Hortman was killed because she voted to repeal eligibility for undocumented adults to access MinnesotaCare. After seeing the post, which was liked more than 14,300 times on the president's platform, Walz said it was 'dangerous, depraved behavior from the sitting president of the United States.' 'In covering for an actual serial killer, he is going to get more innocent people killed,' the one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate continued. 'America is better than this.' Walz has said he is taking strong actions against the alleged fraudsters. He is pictured with his family and former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff after former Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the 2024 presidential election to TrumpIf Walz were to now drop out of the race for governor, party insiders believe US Senator Amy Klobuchar, Secretary of State Steve Simon or Attorney General Keith Ellison could jump in as the Democratic nominee.They would then face about a dozen GOP candidates who have lined up to challenge Walz, including Jensen, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
