Despite the Somali fraud in Minnesota taking up the news cycle, a new California auditor report proves that it is actually this state which wins the title of Fraud Capital of America.
Because the California press corps, AKA the "homegrown team," often chooses to cover Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) behind rather than his poor governance, Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA-03) took to The New York Post to lay out the receipts from this auditor report to the nation. Above all else, Newsom wants to become President of the United States. As the biggest thorn in Newsom's flesh, Kiley knows that the nation must be continually reminded of what a feckless and dangerous leader Newsom has been for the state of California, and will be for the nation should he succeed at winning the 2028 Democrat nomination and the presidency.
Our own State Auditor confirms: Newsom has made California the Fraud Capital of America. A scathing report identifies 8 separate state agencies as “high-risk.” This means they exhibit serious “waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement," costing taxpayers billions. pic.twitter.com/Bc7bCrhgIa
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) December 22, 2025
Kiley wrote:
California’s nonpartisan auditor just failed eight state agencies run by Gov. Gavin Newsom, sending a clear message to residents: your state is broken.
While Newsom has hailed California’s laughable cost-cutting measures as the original “DOGE” — a model of “efficient, responsive, and accountable” government — the auditor has revealed the rot in devastating detail.
The auditor’s new report identifies the eight “high-risk” agencies that not only exhibit serious “waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement,” but also have failed to take “adequate corrective actions.”
Four of those eight agencies attained this dubious distinction during Newsom’s term, including the social services department, which was added this year.
The report found, for example, that massive payment error rates in the delivery of food assistance benefits could cost the state $2.5 billion in federal funds.
And it noted that California’s six straight missed financial reporting deadlines have put the state’s credit rating and federal funding in jeopardy.
Ouch. The massive payment errors for the state's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) certainly come as no surprise to Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins. California is one of the blue states that has refused to release its records to the federal SNAP program, so this auditor report corroborates what Rollins has been saying about massive fraud in the program.
Read More: AG Secy Rollins Drops the Hammer: No Funding for States Who Refuse to Share SNAP Data
USDA's Brooke Rollins Spikes Ball on Democrats Following Portland SNAP Fraud Indictments
But wait, there's more: On the House floor, Kiley rattled off two more of those eight agencies detailed, exposing even more jaw-dropping fraud and malfeasance.
WATCH:
A new nonpartisan audit confirms California is the Fraud Capital of America, costing taxpayers billions every year. In one example, the Air Resources Board kept paying an employee a $171,446 annual salary – 15 months after the employee left the agency. pic.twitter.com/gBx5NspHW2
— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) December 26, 2025
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is its own basket of evils. To keep paying an ex‑employee who made over $170,000 a year for 15 months after that employee left? That's some next level brazenness. But it is only matched by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSR), the brain trust overseeing the construction of the so-called California High-Speed Rail project.
When Secretary of Transportation (DoT) Sean Duffy was officially confirmed and sworn in, Kiley petitioned the department to cut the four billion dollars in federal funding for CHSR's boondoggle. The DoT obliged and pulled the plug in July, putting Newsom's panties in a wad. He promptly got his feckless attack dog, CA AG Rob Bonta, to sue the Trump administration to get the funding back.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the Trump administration of illegal conduct after it pulled about $4 billion in federal funds from a high-speed rail project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco — the latest public clash between the president and the outspoken Democratic governor, who described the years-long project as soon entering its final stages.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the funding termination Wednesday, calling the project a “boondoggle” and stating “federal dollars are not a blank check.”
Newsom on Thursday announced that California is suing the Trump administration over the move. The lawsuit alleges the termination of funding is “petty, political retribution, motivated by President Trump’s personal animus,” a news release said.
Dive Deeper: Trump Pulls the Plug on Gavin Newsom's High-Speed Rail Boondoggle
The release of this California auditor report and Kiley's op-ed have poured some serious cold water on Newsom's TDS-fire. On Friday, AG Bonta announced the state had dropped the CHSR lawsuit against the Trump administration.
California has dropped a lawsuit challenging the decision by the administration of President Donald Trump to cancel more than $4 billion in federal grants for the state's high-speed rail project, the state said late on Friday.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority, which filed the suit in July, said the decision to abandon it on Tuesday reflected the state's "assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California."
That's rich. Good luck trying to continue to fund this project with Californians' taxpayer dollars. At the end of 2025, the state coffers maintain an 18 billion dollar deficit, in large part due to these ill-conceived lawsuits, a majority of which Newsom keeps losing.
Kiley rightly took a victory lap.
Newsom just conceded defeat over High-Speed Rail. He's withdrawn the lawsuit he filed after we cut off federal funding earlier this year. Now the $4 billion can go to our roads rather the train.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) December 26, 2025
The cost of HSR has grown to $128 billion as no track has been laid in 17 years.
Gov. Gaslight wanted the last word, of course, and claimed Kiley was just flat-out wrong. On Friday, Kiley appeared on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle program to reinforce all the evidence to the contrary, and encouraged the American people to do their own research. He said they should read the state auditor report, as well as other auditor reports, which have detailed Newsom's mismanagement and malfeasance surrounding his signature issue of homelessness.
Newsom denies California is the Fraud Capital of America, saying "Kiley is wrong." But it was the nonpartisan State Auditor who found he lost track of $24 billion in homelessness funds, allowed $32 billion in unemployment fraud, and doubled the number of "high-risk" agencies. pic.twitter.com/0cskCOiEEY
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) December 27, 2025
Kiley's final warning in The New York Post op-ed says exactly what is stated above. If you don't want to see America destroyed, don't allow a Gov. Gavin Newsom to fail up and become the leader of the free world.
With 2028 on the horizon, whether we heed that warning will have profound consequences for America’s future.
Consider this video a reflection of Gov. Hair Gel's real priorities: to pander, virtue-signal, and further the delusion of care and competence to suit his own progressive agenda. Lest we forget, Newsom overrode the state constitution in order to gerrymander an already gerrymandered state, all to own the Republicans.
In the clip below, Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom send Californians a Kwanzaa greeting. So, it is on brand that this fraud-riddled politician sends well wishes for a fraudulent holiday while ignoring the massive fraud that happened under his leadership.
WATCH:
As families come together to light the kinara, Jen and I wish all those celebrating a joyful Kwanzaa.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) December 27, 2025
May the seven principles of Kwanzaa, in particular community, purpose, and unity, guide our way toward a better future.
Happy Kwanzaa, California! pic.twitter.com/317XOId1Ki
In Case You Missed It: Despite Prop 50's Passage, Kevin Kiley, Other Targeted Republican Reps Commit to Stay in the Fight
Newsom’s Wife Goes After Trump, Runs Smack Dab Into Her and Gavin’s Past
Consider yourself duly warned.
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