Gov. Tim Walz (D) admitted Tuesday that he failed to stop the fraud that gutted Minnesota’s social-service programs, then immediately tried to minimize the scandal by comparing it to President Trump’s White House ballroom.
The former vice-presidential candidate said that acting like a toreador while fraudsters ran roughshod over the state should not define his legacy.
Walz made the backhanded admission in an exit interview at the Star Tribune’s North Star Summit.
“Fraud — should have stopped it sooner. We didn’t stop them. I accept that,” he confessed. “I think there does need to be accountability with that. And part of it is that, yep, that’s with me, I’ll step aside.”
Walz accepts blame for fraud but says it shouldn’t define his legacyhttps://t.co/irffP1yIG5
— Ryan Faircloth (@RyanFaircloth) September 22, 2026
The alleged fraud in the North Star State has been so extensive that Walz was forced to drop his reelection bid at the beginning of the year. Federal prosecutors have already nailed down hundreds of millions in Minnesota fraud — and they say the final tally could run into the billions once the rest of the scheme is uncovered.
He's limping off into the sunset in disgrace, but that shouldn't be how you remember him. Because he addressed climate change and gave free meals to schoolkids ... or something.
“Those are legacy things to address climate. They’re legacy things to address livability,” Walz said. “And I get it, that fraud tainted a lot of that. It doesn’t change the fundamentals underneath it. This is the best state in the country to raise a child, and it will continue to be so because of those investments.”
Walz's comments come just weeks after a Star Tribune investigation detailed how "Walz and his top advisers failed to connect warning signs that emerged across state government," an assertion he once called "make believe."
Tim Walz says the rampant fraud that robbed Minnesotans of BILLIONS was “make-believe.”
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2026
MS NOW: Is there anything you could’ve done differently?
WALZ: “No… it was all make-believe…” pic.twitter.com/HbjhTmo0H3
Walz attempted to put the losses “into perspective” by claiming they may amount to less than the cost of Trump’s ballroom project. Which is absurd since the Minnesota fraud fleeced taxpayers while the ballroom is being funded by private donations from the president and outside donors — not by looting federal meal and Medicaid programs.
The comparison does nothing to explain why his administration missed years of warning signs before abandoning a third-term bid under the weight of the scandal. If there were straws sitting off to the side during this interview, Walz would be grasping at them.
The Feeding Our Future scheme alone siphoned more than $240 million in child-nutrition funds, while House investigators put nutrition losses near $300 million and warned that as much as $9 billion in Minnesota Medicaid spending may have been lost or put at risk.
It takes a weapons-grade level of stones to claim he at least expanded school meals — after a meal program was looted for hundreds of millions.
This is the record Walz now wants voters to treat as a footnote — hundreds of millions already proven stolen, billions more still being counted, but aw shucks, he did his best. Good riddance.
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