WASHINGTON – Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) joined The Evening Edit on Fox Business Network to discuss the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearing on Somali fraud in Minnesota.
"We need to get to the bottom of what the Walz administration was doing and not doing to protect taxpayer resources":
"Number one, Tim Walz has been governor up there in Minnesota for the past six, seven years. We have now uncovered the information that his own department over human services was ignoring a lot of the reports from whistleblowers about fraudulent activity. They were doing cursory reviews, but not the intense reviews necessary to protect taxpayer dollars. And so, what we're trying to figure out and understand is the depth of the fraud. Of course, kudos to Pam Bondi and the crew over there at the Department of Justice because arrests have been made. People are actually having to plead guilty to wire fraud, and that investigation on the criminal side is being done. But we need to get to the bottom of what the Walz administration was doing and not doing to protect taxpayer resources, and that's the thing that we're having a real issue with now. He needs to come in and testify because you're talking about federal dollars that obviously were being used in fraudulent means, and we're also seeing many reports about a lot of that money was being sent back to Somalia, and once you get over in that network, it's not clear if it was being used for foreign terrorist organizations or not. He's got a lot of things to answer for."
"What is clear is that his administration was aware of this fraudulent activity, and at best, they were ignoring the fraudulent activity":
"I definitely believe so. And this is a quick message to Governor Walz. If he thinks that this is political, it is not. When you have taxpayer resources being fraudulently and fragrantly spent in these means, I mean, you had fraudsters who are buying property in Kenya, and then they were sending money to Somalia. This is a real issue. He has a responsibility to come and testify in front of Congress because those funds have been appropriated by Congress, [and] signed by presidents of the United States. I will say plural and for the use of aid to Americans, and what is clear is that his administration was aware of this fraudulent activity, and at best, they were ignoring the fraudulent activity."
