In opening salvo of war on fraud, Vance freezes $259 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota

Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

At the State of the Union on Tuesday, President Trump announced Vice President JD Vance would lead the federal government's "war on fraud." A day later, Vance gave the country its first look at what that would mean. 

Flanked by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Vance announced a temporary halt in Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota in response to billions of dollars worth of fraud discovered in the state in recent months.

“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money,” Vance said in prepared remarks. 

Oz followed Vances remarks by going into greater detail the "three bold actions" being taken, saying $259.5 million in Medicaid funds would be temporarily cut off while the federal government works to identify scammers.

“This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota. It’s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously,” Oz said.

“Any delay in services is going to be -- should be -- laid at the seat of Governor Walz. I believe he will take this seriously,” Oz added, saying Tim Walz's office was being notified of the funding freeze as he was speaking. 

Walz responded to the move predictably, accusing the Trump administration of "a campaign of retribution."

The lame-duck governor said on X, "Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota." Walz, who abruptly dropped his re-election bid last month amid a fraud scandal in Minnesota that made national headlines, made no mention in his response of the fraud that took place under his watch that prompted the action from the federal government.

Numerous reports in late November and December of 2025 blew the lid off a raft of social service scams largely being operated by Somali immigrants that bilked state and federal taxpayers out of billions of dollars. 

A CBS news investigation found fraudsters spent stolen taxpayer money on lakefront property, travel to faraway places like the Maldives and wire transfers made to various places in East Africa and China. Below, watch a clip from Vance's announcement.