JD Vance and Trump Administration

Vice President JD Vance said Friday that federal investigations have uncovered 'probably been $19 billion at least' in fraud in the Minneapolis area and suggested California will be the next focus of major federal fraud probes. Speaking in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Vance tied the figure to work by an interagency fraud task force he announced in January under the Department of Justice and to a new task force he is expected to lead under a Trump executive order, casting it as the first 'national look' at how Americans have been defrauded over many years. He argued that taxpayer dollars are being stolen and diverted from services for 'needy people,' citing Minnesota’s 2022 Feeding Our Future COVID‑relief scandal as an example of the kind of abuse being targeted. The comments follow President Trump’s earlier declaration that a fraud investigation of California 'has begun' and his claim that the state is 'more corrupt than Minnesota,' while California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office pushed back, saying the state has blocked more than $125 billion in fraud and accusing the administration of blaming state programs for problems in federally run systems. The clash underscores how the White House is turning alleged large‑scale fraud in blue states into a central enforcement and political narrative, even as Vance’s $19 billion Minnesota estimate is presented as an assertion rather than backed by public charging documents or audits.