Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in an interview with the Minnesota Star-Tribune framed as an “exit interview” ahead of his departure from office in January, acknowledged his administration failed to stop the fraud that has drained hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from state programs — but argued the scandal should not define his time in office.
“Fraud — should have stopped it sooner,” Walz said. “We didn’t stop them. I accept that. 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.”
Federal prosecutors have estimated the fraud, which touched multiple state-administered programs, at $9 billion. Walz argued that figure has been overstated and drew a comparison to a different set of taxpayer-funded expenses far from Minnesota.
“I should have been down on those agencies a little more, but I will tell you this, in the scheme of things, all the fraud that’s been prosecuted, by the way, and all the fraud that’s probably out there is less than the ballroom at the White House,” Walz said. “So it puts it into perspective. It doesn’t make it right. Doesn’t make it right.”
He was referring to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, expected to cost taxpayers around $300 million.
Walz went on to argue his broader record should carry more weight than the fraud controversy. “Those are legacy things to address climate. They’re legacy things to address livability,” he 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.”
Republicans push back
Three Republican Minnesota lawmakers offered a sharply different accounting of the Walz years in comments to Fox News Digital.
“Governor Walz is correct, he shouldn’t only be remembered for fraud,” said state Sen. Julia Coleman. “We should remember him spending our $18 billion surplus, raising taxes $10 billion, creating an unsustainable budget, letting rioters burn down Minneapolis, hurting our students and businesses with lockdowns and pardoning a child rapist.”
Coleman’s reference is to Walz’s role in approving a full pardon for Tue Lue Vang, a Laotian national convicted of repeatedly raping a girl beginning when she was 10. Critics have said the decision put Vang’s immigration status and family ties ahead of the severity of his crimes; a Department of Homeland Security official previously called the pardon “disgusting.”
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican now running to succeed Walz and facing Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November’s race, said the fraud scandal will overshadow anything else Walz points to.
“Tim Walz’s legacy will always be defined by the out-of-control fraud crisis that occurred on his watch,” Demuth said. “Yet Amy Klobuchar praised him as ‘an incredible leader who delivers for the people of Minnesota.’ As the senior member of our state’s congressional delegation, Sen. Klobuchar likewise failed to address the fraud crisis and even skipped hearings on the matter in D.C. Minnesotans deserve better than four more years of Walz-style failure.”
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chaired the Legislature’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee last session, said Walz still has options he isn’t using.
“He says he ‘should have stopped it sooner,’ which is obvious, but he could still be doing more NOW,” Robbins said. “He has been silent on fraud for months instead of taking the actions that are STILL under his control.”
Robbins listed steps she said Walz could take, including firing senior Department of Human Services official Shireen Gandhi, blocking Minnesota from seeking a federal SNAP waiver that lets applicants attest to eligibility by phone without a recorded call, and directing Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute Partners in Nutrition — a nonprofit that administered federally funded meal programs — rather than settle with it.
“His legacy will be fraud because he continues to enable fraud, despite two years of hearings, investigative journalists, and Office of the Legislative Auditor reports,” Robbins said. “He was never serious about stopping it and still isn’t.”
The Minnesota House Republicans’ account on X also criticized the governor’s framing: “Walz accepts blame for fraud, but believes his loss of $9 billion in taxpayer dollars ‘shouldn’t define his legacy.’ It does, and Minnesotans are paying attention to his blatant disregard of their hard-earned tax dollars.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
