I spent many years in the corporate world, working on big projects of one sort or another. On any such big project, it seems that there was almost always one person who spent every day for the months (or years) that the work went on with his/her feet up on the desk, smoking and joking, and never joining in the work. But when the work was done, the project closed out, the final audits done, when it was time for a celebratory champagne, cake, and photograph session, this person was always first in line for the champagne and cake, and at the front of all the photographs.
Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz, He of a Thousand Uncomplimentary Nicknames, is one such person. In his latest, he took to his X account to praise Minnesota's work in the latest roundup of fraudsters. The problem is, it was the FBI and a young journalist named Nick Shirley (along with other investigative journalists) who did all the heavy lifting here, and FBI Director Kash Patel wasted no time in giving Governor Walz a good dragging over it.
Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today. But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship. https://t.co/HczInx5sZm
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 28, 2026
Governor Walz's original post read:
Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it. That’s how the system is supposed to work, and our agencies will keep at it as long as there are fraudsters around to put behind bars.
What a schmuck.
Read More: Rep. Ilhan Omar Pulls a 'Who Do You Think You Are' Moment As She Blows Off Minnesota Fraud Hearing
Here's the thing: Aside from the FBI's involvement, much of the original investigative work was done by a range of exceptional investigators and journalists. Among them:
Scott Stillman, formerly an employee of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, was testifying about fake daycare centers as early as 2015.
Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives, who gave some of those investigative journalists leads. These elected officials worked with whistleblowers and were shining a light on this fraud as early as 2025.
Armen Rosen at County Highway, who authored a spectacular deep dive into the fraud.
Nick Shirley, who, at considerable personal risk, went around Minneapolis documenting fraudulent activities around supposed daycare centers; there are also issues in Minnesota and elsewhere with massive Medicare fraud.
These are the people who blew this wide open, to the point where even Minnesota couldn't ignore it anymore. Mr. Shirley and another man named David Hoch may well have lit the final fuse.
These people have counterparts all over the fruited plain, in Ohio, in Idaho, in Washington, Maine, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
All of these people deserve as much credit as the FBI, and far more than anyone in Governor Walz's offices.
The Tuesday raids, for which Governor Walz tried to take credit, were focused on fake daycare centers. The accounts of the raids I've seen so far mentioned primarily federal agents.
Federal agents carried out raids at about 20 childcare centers in Minneapolis early Tuesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into suspected fraud, according to multiple officials and a statement from the Justice Department.
No arrests were made during the raids, which officials described as a renewed effort to address alleged COVID-era fraud schemes in Minnesota.
The Justice Department said the FBI, along with federal, state and local law enforcement, executed court-authorized search warrants as part of the investigation. The activity comes months after a previous federal crackdown in the region and follows national scrutiny of Minnesota's childcare programs.
Local and state officials may have been involved, but the warrants and charges, if filed, will be federal.
Tim Walz is a great example of everything that's wrong with politics and politicians today. He's best known for inaction. He denies wrongdoing in his state until his face is rubbed in it. He resists federal authorities carrying out their legal duties to remove illegal aliens from our country. And when the FBI steps in and slams the door on a big fraud operation, he takes credit for it. And this guy was, remember, a candidate for the vice-presidency, a position for which he is even less suited than John Nance Garner's infamous bucket of warm spit.
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