Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration has created a new assistant attorney general position to crack down on fraud nationwide.
The new official will have “nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance said at Thursday’s White House press briefing.
“Unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way,” Vance said.
Vance’s announcement is in response to reports of widespread welfare fraud in states including Minnesota.
Federal prosecutors have estimated that welfare fraud in the state could have topped $9 billion, and more than 90 individuals have been charged in connection to fraud schemes there.
A congressional hearing on Wednesday examined the scale of fraud in the state, with members hearing from state Republican witnesses who investigated it. The witnesses alleged that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz knew of welfare fraud schemes as they occured, and that the state intimidated whistleblowers.
Walz has said “the buck stops with me” in reference to the fraud scandals, while adding that his administration “is taking fast, decisive action to solve this crisis.”
“We know that the fraud isn’t just happening in Minneapolis, it’s also happening in states like Ohio,” Vance said on Thursday.
“It’s happening in states like California and so what we’re doing in order to help coordinate this remarkable interagency effort from the Trump administration, but also to make sure that we prosecute the bad guys, and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible.”
When asked by reporters about Walz’s suggestion to resist federal investigations of fraud in the state, Vance responded, “Well, that’s very tough rhetoric from a guy who just quit because his fraudulent activities have been uncovered.”
“He is a guy who has enabled fraud and maybe, in fact, has participated in fraud. That’s what this new assistant attorney general position is going to find out,” Vance said.
“I care about getting to the bottom of this fraud for the American people, and I care about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. That’s what we’re going to stay focused on.”
Vance thanked Attorney General Pam Bondi for her cooperation in investigating fraud.
“Pam has been doing a great job to get the resources there to uncover it, but importantly, creating a job like this often takes months, sometimes even longer, when we realized that we needed this Associate Attorney General position, Pam got this person up and running,” Vance said.
The administration will make the nomination in the next few days, Vance said.
“This is the person who is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people,” Vance said.
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