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  "path": "/post/207104/jd-vance-doge-fraud-minnesota-medicaid",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-26T18:54:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "J.D. Vance",
    "doge",
    "department of government efficiency",
    "Elon Musk",
    "Fraud",
    "Medicaid",
    "Minnesota",
    "Somali Americans",
    "Fox News",
    "said",
    "slash thousands of federal jobs",
    "meaningfully reducing spending",
    "making it easier",
    "$288 million",
    "boost his many businesses",
    "win big off of Trump’s tariffs",
    "dismantle",
    "political opponents",
    "punish blue states",
    "to the tune of $1.4 billion",
    "red and blue states",
    "told"
  ],
  "textContent": "The vice president made a surprising claim on Fox News Wednesday while discussing his new role leading the administration’s so-called “war on fraud.”\n\n“I think it’s unfortunate that nobody has ever tried to take a systematic look at how much fraud there is in the federal government,” JD Vance said.\n\nSorry, what?\n\nThere are some of us old enough to remember Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which purported to investigate claims of fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government. The agency managed to slash thousands of federal jobs without meaningfully reducing spending—while making it easier for fraudsters to take advantage of Americans. Musk, who was appointed as head of DOGE after donating a whopping $288 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, used his position to boost his many businesses, win big off of Trump’s tariffs, and dismantle the agencies that regulate his companies.\n\nVance said that there was no way to know a “top-line number” on how much fraud there was, because no one had ever bothered to investigate, but still baselessly claimed that “billions and billions of dollars” in Medicaid funding were being used on undocumented immigrants.\n\nVance’s so-called “war on fraud” is a thinly veiled excuse to go after Trump’s political opponents and punish blue states—all while the president has already enriched himself to the tune of $1.4 billion at the taxpayer’s expense.\n\nMore than a dozen schemes have popped up in Minnesota’s safety net programs in recent years, many of them involving members of the state’s Somali population. It’s worth noting that the government had already investigated federal fraud in Minnesota. During the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were charged, at least 60 of whom were ultimately convicted. Both red and blue states have participated in benefits abuse, but not everyone has had sweeping federal cuts inflicted on them.\n\nSenior Justice Department prosecutor Colin McDonald told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the recent crackdown on alleged fraud in Minnesota would serve a blueprint for a new DOJ office focused on protecting taxpayer dollars from scams.\n\nSpeaking to Fox News later that day, Vance claimed that the entire administration would be enlisted in the war on fraud, and would employ “a whole host of tools that we have that have never been used.”",
  "title": "JD Vance Conveniently Forgets DOGE While Cruelly Punishing Minnesota"
}