As the stunning scope of the fraud scandal in Minnesota continues to reveal itself, Gov. Tim Walz announced that he will no longer seek a third term as governor of the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Monday’s announcement marks a precipitous fall from grace for the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee. While Walz accused “Donald Trump, and his allies in Washington and in St. Paul, and online” for trying to make Minnesota “a colder, meaner place” by investigating corruption charges, he admitted “a single taxpayer dollar wasted on fraud should be intolerable” and “the buck does stop with me.”
The decision to end his reelection bid came 10 days after an explosive exposé from independent journalist Nick Shirley on potentially massive fraud in the Minnesota daycare system perpetrated by the Somali community. It followed similar allegations and reporting by City Journal, Walter Kirn’s County Highway, and The New York Times that garnered national attention late last year.
On Monday’s show, Kirn joined Megyn to discuss Walz’s decision to drop out and the depths of the corruption in his home state.
Walz’s Demise
While Walz may have tried to blame “political gamesmanship” from Trump and Republicans for his political demise, he also made it clear he can’t run for office and properly address the fraud crisis at the same time.
“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all. Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” Walz said in a statement Monday. “So, I’ve decided to step out of this race and I’ll let others worry about the election, while I focus on the work that’s in front of me for the next year.
Kirn, who grew up in Minnesota, said the governor can’t have it both ways. “He’s admitting that it’s a crisis. He’s admitting that there’s fraud… And yet, at the same time, it’s all politics. Which one is it,” he asked. “Is it Donald Trump lying about Minnesota, or is it Minnesota getting together to defraud the federal government?”
The latter, Kirn said, is an important component of the case. “Because remember, this was federal money flowing through Minnesota, not just state money. It was primarily federal money that was being appropriated and directed into these state-overseeing programs, where it just disappeared,” he explained. “And it disappeared all over the world, and it disappeared into the pockets of politicians, and it disappeared into the pockets of the culprits and bought their cars and their homes and their watches. And it did so at a level that America was stunned by and continues to be stunned by.”
The mounting scandal finally caught up to Walz, but Kirn said it is nothing new. “Tim Walz, you were almost the vice president of the United States, which means you would have been a heartbeat away from being the president of the United States,” he noted. “This story was not covered during that election, yet it existed. All the facts that have come out recently were there for the press to look at when Tim Walz was running for the vice presidency.”
“To me, he’s the luckiest man in the world. He might be giving the governorship over to someone who will be in a position to pardon him for various crimes he might be surviving to fight another day,” Kirn added. “But I don’t think his troubles are over. And to go out blaming somebody when you’re also supposedly taking responsibility is a classic ‘have your cake and eat it too’ political move. He’s over with.”
Latest Reporting
It appears the straw that broke the camel’s back was Shirley’s 42-minute video that has racked up over three million views on YouTube alone since it was posted on December 26, in which he and an independent investigator named David visit Somali-run daycares and health companies in the North Star State that they allege have collected millions in taxpayer dollars per year.
In the video, which Shirley said was recorded on Tuesday, December 16, the pair visited daycare after daycare and found largely empty warehouse-style buildings and few, if any, children. They allege they uncovered up to $110 million in potential fraud in just one day.
In the wake of the viral video, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a freeze on all child care payments to Minnesota and demanded an audit of the programs from the governor. Walz initially blamed the story on “white supremacy,” before later sort of acknowledging the staggering fraud while taking – you guessed it – a shot at President Trump.
“Our state’s generosity has been taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters who have put their greed and self-dealing above the needs of children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” he wrote in an op-ed that was recirculated by his office. “And it’s my responsibility to fix it. What is not helpful is the president of the United States demonizing an entire community.”
In addition to the action by HHS, FBI Director Kash Patel posted a lengthy update on the FBI’s fraud investigations, writing that the bureau “believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg” and the “investigation very much remains ongoing.”
Even so, corporate media has shown little interest in covering Shirley’s report or the mounting scandal. Kirn believes that is by design. “First, if they admit that it’s a major story, then they also have to explain why they never covered it,” he noted. “And they can’t.”
“Secondly, one of the reasons this story didn’t get the national attention it should have is that anyone who went in to report it, and I can tell you this for a fact, felt very apprehensive about their future,” Kirn continued. “They knew that not only the criminals would be coming after them, but so would this curiously silent press… If silence is consent, they were consenting. If silence is consent, the Minneapolis Star Tribune was allowing this to go on. So, everybody’s implicated.”
Lose-Lose
While Walz is busy calling the Trump administration “mean” and “cold” for trying to root out corruption, the people of his state who actually need the help continue to go without. “The people who should be most outraged by this are the people who want to feed children, the people who want there to be decent daycare, who want there to be transportation systems to get people to their medical appointments and so on, the people who want autistic children to be cared for,” Kirn said.
“All of this money basically came out of the mouths and minds and bodies of the people who should have been getting it,” he concluded. “And because it was diverted from them, the charity toward them and the good feeling toward them has been vastly reduced.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirn by tuning in to episode 1,223 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.