Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is at the center of a widening scandal as federal prosecutors continue to unravel one of the nation’s largest COVID-era fraud cases, but anyone who relies on evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS for information would have no idea.
The Justice Department announced new charges last week against the 78th defendant in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which prosecutors say involved more than $300 million in stolen funds from a federally funded child nutrition program and has already resulted in over 50 convictions. Many of the individuals charged come from Minnesota’s Somali community, and critics have pointed at Walz.
A group of Minnesota state employees said they wrote to former Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) multiple times "warning them" about Walz and what they described as his "incompetence, fraud scandals and retaliation." Walz was Harris' running mate on the failed Democratic 2024 ticket.
In a Truth Social post on Thanksgiving, Trump tore into Walz, who the president called "seriously r------d," and accused the governor of doing nothing "either through fear" or "incompetence."
The New York Times published a blistering report on Saturday, headlined, "How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch," writing, "Walz and fellow Democrats are being asked to explain how so much money was stolen on their watch."
However, ABC’s "World News Tonight," NBC’s "Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News" have not mentioned Walz by name in the past week, according to a search of transcripts using Grabien Media.
The terms "Somali" and "Somalian" were also not used on any of the three network newscasts.
ABC News, NBC News and CBS News did not immediately respond when asked by Fox News Digital why their evening newscasts skipped the story.
NewsBusters referred to it as an "omission" and accused the networks of suppressing the scandal.
"Another day, another massive story of blue-state political malfeasance hidden by the elitist media nightly news," NewsBusters analyst Jorge Bonilla said in a report for the conservative media watchdog. "This time, there is not a peep about the exploding welfare scandal currently engulfing the state of Minnesota — which directly implicates some of its senior-most elected leaders."
"This is, without a doubt, a scandal of massive proportions that continues to unfold. And yet, a search of the legacy nightly news over the past week yields absolutely nothing," Bonilla continued. "Had such allegations of corruption unfolded in, say, Florida, you’d never hear the end of it. But, as is often the case with these things, they appear to be different. The double standard wins again."
Walz did face questions about the scandal Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press," when host Kristen Welker pressed him on whether he takes responsibility for failing to stop the fraud in his state.
"Well, certainly, I take responsibility for putting people in jail," the governor responded.
"I will note, it's not just Somalis. Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state. We're AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals. Those people are going to jail," Walz continued. "We're doing everything we can. But to demonize an entire community on the actions of a few? It's lazy."
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Walz also addressed the fraud at a press conference last week, saying it "undermines trust in government," and "undermines programs that are absolutely critical in improving quality of life."
"If you’re committing fraud, no matter where you come from, what you look like, what you believe, you are going to go to jail," Walz said.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck and Ashley Carahan contributed to this report.
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