Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump Draws Red Line on Iran plus “Who’s Paying Them?” WH Targets Dark Money Behind Anti‑ICE Mob

Transcript

Trump Draws Red Line on Iran plus “Who’s Paying Them?” WH Targets Dark Money Behind Anti‑ICE Mob · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: US President Donald Trump. We are now being told as
0:04
Speaker 1: considering airstrikes on Iran to stop a crackdown on the protesters,
0:09
Speaker 1: the White House has confirmed on Monday, adding that people
0:13
Speaker 1: were being killed in the streets. A channel for diplomacy,
0:17
Speaker 1: they also made clear, is still open with Iran, taking
0:21
Speaker 1: quote a far different tone in private discussions with President
0:24
Speaker 1: Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witskoff and the pres Secretary Caroline Levitt,
0:29
Speaker 1: confirming that saying quote, one thing President Trump is very
0:33
Speaker 1: good at is always keeping all of his options on
0:36
Speaker 1: the table, and air strikes would be one of the many,
0:40
Speaker 1: many options that are on the table for the commander
0:42
Speaker 1: in chief. Levitt added that diplomacy is always the first
0:46
Speaker 1: option for this president, saying quote, what you're hearing publicly
0:50
Speaker 1: from the ringing regime is quite different from what the
0:54
Speaker 1: message the administration is receiving privately, and I think the
0:57
Speaker 1: President has an interest in exploring those messages. Iran's foreign
1:02
Speaker 1: ministry said earlier on Monday that a channel of communication
1:06
Speaker 1: was open between its top diplomat and Trump's special envoy,
1:11
Speaker 1: despite a lack of diplomatic relations. Trump said on Sunday
1:16
Speaker 1: that the US military was in fact, considering a very
1:19
Speaker 1: strong option against Iran, saying it looks like tehranic crossed
1:24
Speaker 1: his previously stated red line of protesters being killed. Now,
1:28
Speaker 1: before we get into even more of what the White
1:30
Speaker 1: House has said, I want you to listen to President
1:32
Speaker 1: Trump and his own words in his last conversation he
1:35
Speaker 1: had publicly about Iran with Sean Hannity.
1:38
Speaker 2: Are you following the protesting that is taking.
1:42
Speaker 3: Place all over the country of Iran?
1:45
Speaker 2: And have you read that the ayatolah Ali Kamani is
1:50
Speaker 2: now as a plan B to go to.
1:53
Speaker 4: Russia in some place.
1:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's looking to go. You believe that's getting a
1:56
Speaker 2: ran in You think the country is on the vergic collapsing, Well,
2:00
Speaker 2: it could be. I mean what they've done is they
2:01
Speaker 2: start in the past, they've started shooting the hell out
2:06
Speaker 2: of people, and all of a sudden, people without any
2:08
Speaker 2: weapons whatsoever, is standing there in your machine guns, gunning
2:11
Speaker 2: them down, or they take them to prisons and then
2:14
Speaker 2: hang them and kill them. So they played rough and
2:17
Speaker 2: I said, if they do that, we're going to hit
2:18
Speaker 2: them very hard. Well, we're gonna hit them out. We're
2:21
Speaker 2: ready to do it. If they do that, We're gonna
2:23
Speaker 2: hit them mart and so far, for the most part,
2:27
Speaker 2: there's been some of it, but for the most part
2:29
Speaker 2: they have and there have been people killed, some of them.
2:33
Speaker 2: The crowds are so big that some of them have
2:35
Speaker 2: had really like we're stomped on them. Literally, it was.
2:39
Speaker 2: It was terrible. The crowds are just they're massive. The
2:46
Speaker 2: enthusiasm to overturn that regime is incredible. But there's been
2:51
Speaker 2: people killed, but it's more from death by it's literally stomping.
2:56
Speaker 2: It's people running in a certain direction. See what happens.
3:00
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens over there. They know though, that
3:03
Speaker 2: it's a stampede, is I guess the best words they have,
3:06
Speaker 2: like a stampede. You talk about stampede for cattle, but
3:10
Speaker 2: the people are stampeding and you're losing a lot of
3:14
Speaker 2: people with the stampede. There's so many there's so many
3:17
Speaker 2: people protesting. Nobody's ever seen anything like what's happening right now.
3:21
Speaker 2: But I have put a rando noticed that if they
3:23
Speaker 2: start shooting at them. These people are totally unarmed people,
3:27
Speaker 2: and they love their country. They want something to happen.
3:30
Speaker 2: Look at their country. They've gone they've gone back one
3:33
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty years. But I've told them that if
3:37
Speaker 2: they do anything bad to these people, we're going to
3:40
Speaker 2: hit them very hard.
3:42
Speaker 1: We're going to hit them very hard. The president clearly
3:45
Speaker 1: sticking with that line, as Trump said, the US military
3:48
Speaker 1: is considering those very strong options, and the Iran leaders
3:52
Speaker 1: have reached out for a meeting, but we may have
3:54
Speaker 1: to act before a meeting. The President also went on
3:57
Speaker 1: to say rights groups have also reported growing death toll,
4:01
Speaker 1: with information continuing to trickle out of Iran despite a
4:05
Speaker 1: day's long internet and phone shut down. Caroline Levitt White
4:09
Speaker 1: House Presioteria appear to confirm there have been a significant
4:13
Speaker 1: increase in death, saying quote, he certainly doesn't want to
4:16
Speaker 1: see people being killed in the streets of Tehran, and
4:19
Speaker 1: unfortunately that's something we're seeing right now. One thing is
4:22
Speaker 1: for sure, the President United States of America is going
4:25
Speaker 1: to hold Iran accountable for what's happening right now on
4:29
Speaker 1: the ground, keeping all options on the table. Which brings
4:34
Speaker 1: us to another important story. President Donald Trump has come
4:38
Speaker 1: out and pledged to uncover the leftist groups that are
4:42
Speaker 1: countering Ice all over the country. President Trump said that
4:46
Speaker 1: he believes the woman that was fatally shot by a
4:49
Speaker 1: US Immigration and Customs enforcement officer in Minneapolis last week
4:54
Speaker 1: may have been a professional agitator, and indicated that the
4:57
Speaker 1: government will uncover the funding sources behind such anti law
5:02
Speaker 1: enforcement agitation nationwide. Here's the President in his own words.
5:07
Speaker 5: The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement.
5:12
Speaker 5: You saw that they were harassing, that were following for
5:16
Speaker 5: days and for hours. And I think, frankly, they're professional agitators,
5:23
Speaker 5: and I'd like to find out, and we are going
5:24
Speaker 5: to find out who's paying for it with their brand
5:27
Speaker 5: new signs and all the different things. But these are
5:30
Speaker 5: professional agitators, and law enforcement should not be in a
5:34
Speaker 5: position where they have to put up with this stuff.
5:37
Speaker 5: What that woman and what her friend and what their
5:41
Speaker 5: other friends were doing to law enforcement, not just ice,
5:45
Speaker 5: law enforcement, is outrageous.
5:48
Speaker 1: The President added that he would like to find out,
5:51
Speaker 1: and we're going to find out who's paying for it
5:53
Speaker 1: with their brand new signs and all the different things.
5:57
Speaker 1: But these are professional agitators, and law enforcement should not
6:00
Speaker 1: be in a position where they have to put up
6:02
Speaker 1: with this stuff. What that woman and what her friend
6:05
Speaker 1: and what their other friends are doing to law enforcement,
6:08
Speaker 1: not just ice law enforcement is outrageous. The US Department
6:12
Speaker 1: of Homeland Security retweeting a post in which rep Republican
6:16
Speaker 1: Representative Lance Coudden of Texas asserted that the anti ICE
6:19
Speaker 1: protesters are actually all just being paid for saying, quote
6:23
Speaker 1: the anti ice mobs or anything but organic. Dark money
6:28
Speaker 1: is bankrolling these far left groups like Ice Watch and
6:31
Speaker 1: lighting the Fuse. Americans deserve to know who's cutting the checks,
6:35
Speaker 1: the lawmakers said in his post. A person weaponizing their
6:40
Speaker 1: vehicle against law enforcement is unacceptable, and we're witnessing it
6:44
Speaker 1: happen all over the country. Fox News having even more
6:49
Speaker 1: on this, and here's what they said.
6:51
Speaker 5: Right now.
6:51
Speaker 6: DHS is deploying hundreds of more federal agents to Minnesota
6:55
Speaker 6: as violent anti ICE protests continue to rise in the state.
7:00
Speaker 3: Matt Finn joins US Live in Minneapolis with the details, Hey, Matt.
7:05
Speaker 4: Hi Ainsley, DHS sources tell us up to one thousand
7:08
Speaker 4: additional federal officers could surge at Minneapolis here. That's on
7:11
Speaker 4: top of the already two thousand agents on the ground.
7:14
Speaker 4: And this comes as DHS Secretary Christy Noum is defending
7:18
Speaker 4: her assessment of the Renee Good shooting.
7:22
Speaker 3: If you look at what the definition of domestic terrorism is.
7:25
Speaker 3: It completely fits the situation on the ground. This individual,
7:29
Speaker 3: as you saw in the video that we released just
7:31
Speaker 3: forty eight hours after this incident, showed that this officer
7:34
Speaker 3: was hit by her vehicle, she weaponized it, and he
7:38
Speaker 3: defended his life and those colleagues around him and the public.
7:42
Speaker 4: But the Democratic Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frye, disagrees and
7:46
Speaker 4: is slamming Secretary Noam.
7:50
Speaker 6: It sounds like she doesn't believe a single word that
7:53
Speaker 6: she is saying. Right now, here's the thing she's calling
7:55
Speaker 6: Minneapolis like this dystopian hell hole. You know how many
7:58
Speaker 6: shootings we've had so far this year, two and one
8:02
Speaker 6: of them was ICE. Two shootings in a large city
8:05
Speaker 6: so far this entire year, and one of them is ICE.
8:08
Speaker 6: This is a safe city. ICE and Christy Nolman, everything
8:12
Speaker 6: they're doing is making it far less safe.
8:17
Speaker 4: And there's new video leading up to the moments of
8:19
Speaker 4: Renee goods shooting death by an ICE agent on Wednesday.
8:35
Speaker 4: The video appears to show goods suv partially blocking the street,
8:39
Speaker 4: honking her horn and apparently dancing in the driver's seat.
8:43
Speaker 4: Border Patrol tells us it's dangerous for agents to be
8:46
Speaker 4: blocked in by a car because there are so many
8:48
Speaker 4: anti ICE agitators who quickly surround them. A new video
8:52
Speaker 4: from last night apparently shows federal agents using crowd control
8:55
Speaker 4: tactics firing tear gas and pepper balls at protesters outside
8:59
Speaker 4: the federal building where ICE detainees are being held. And
9:03
Speaker 4: independent photographer who was there says protesters tried to stop
9:07
Speaker 4: traffic in and out of the federal facility and they
9:10
Speaker 4: were met with forces. Now this is happening in a
9:13
Speaker 4: city where the mayor has told ICE to get the
9:15
Speaker 4: f out, and highly organized anti ICE activists are patrolling
9:19
Speaker 4: the neighborhoods. We ask Border Patrol during a ride along
9:22
Speaker 4: if any of this is going to deter them.
9:26
Speaker 7: Absolutely not. We're out here to do a job and
9:29
Speaker 7: we're not going to stop until it's done. If if
9:32
Speaker 7: a mayor wants to say something that he's not not
9:35
Speaker 7: for us, if anybody wants to say that they're not
9:37
Speaker 7: for us, that is not going to stop what we're
9:39
Speaker 7: doing in Minneapolis or anywhere across the country.
9:43
Speaker 4: And that was during a ride along with Border Patrol.
9:45
Speaker 4: Have to say driving around the city as soon as
9:47
Speaker 4: they get out of their cars, they are met with
9:49
Speaker 4: people who have those ear piercing whistles of people, you know,
9:53
Speaker 4: resisting trying to surround the cars. There is really a
9:56
Speaker 4: highly organized anti ICE, anti border patrol network here on
9:59
Speaker 4: the ground in the Twin Cities.
10:02
Speaker 1: It's clear the President United States of America wants to
10:04
Speaker 1: find out exactly who is weaponizing these individuals to go
10:08
Speaker 1: after ICE agents. And you can see it there as
10:11
Speaker 1: ICE put out saying these individuals are impeding law enforcement
10:15
Speaker 1: and they're weaponizing their vehicles against ICE. The officer in
10:19
Speaker 1: this shooting was duefully acted in self defense. That is
10:23
Speaker 1: what the DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin
10:27
Speaker 1: said on X One. Thing's for sure. The President now
10:30
Speaker 1: has made it clear we're going to find out exactly
10:32
Speaker 1: who's paying these individuals and what group is behind them.
10:37
Speaker 1: There has been a lot of speculation about the weapons
10:40
Speaker 1: that were used in taking out the leader in Venezuela,
10:44
Speaker 1: capturing Maduro. Well, we now have confirmation that the US
10:49
Speaker 1: use a sonic weapon on the Venezuelan troops. This coming
10:54
Speaker 1: from a report shared by Caroline Levitt, the White House
10:57
Speaker 1: Press Secretary on media. The viral story from a man
11:03
Speaker 1: claiming to have witnessed the US operation to capture the
11:06
Speaker 1: Venezuelan president states of the US use sonic weapons during
11:09
Speaker 1: the mission to incapacitate the opposing forces. The Press secretary
11:15
Speaker 1: of sharing the eyewitness interview on act, encouraging our followers
11:19
Speaker 1: to read the statement. The witness the interview claims to
11:22
Speaker 1: be a guard who was serving at the Caracas military
11:24
Speaker 1: base where the US capture Maduro. We were on guard,
11:28
Speaker 1: but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,
11:32
Speaker 1: the witness said. The next thing we saw were drones,
11:36
Speaker 1: a lot of drones flying over our positions. We didn't
11:40
Speaker 1: know how to react. The witness then described watching roughly
11:44
Speaker 1: twenty US soldiers deploy out of roughly eight helicopters over
11:49
Speaker 1: the base. They were technology well, their technology was very advanced.
11:54
Speaker 1: The guard said. They didn't look like anything we had
11:56
Speaker 1: fought against before. We were hundreds, but we had no chance.
12:01
Speaker 1: He said, they were shooting with such precision and speed
12:05
Speaker 1: it felt like each soldier was firing three hundred rounds
12:08
Speaker 1: per minute. The witness then described the US deploying some
12:11
Speaker 1: sort of sonic weapon against Venezuelan forces. At one point
12:17
Speaker 1: they launched something. I don't know how to describe it.
12:19
Speaker 1: He said. It was like a very intense sound wave.
12:23
Speaker 1: Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.
12:28
Speaker 1: We all started bleeding for the nose, he added, some
12:31
Speaker 1: were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move.
12:35
Speaker 1: We couldn't even stand up. After that sonic weapon or
12:38
Speaker 1: whatever it was, those twenty men, without a single casualty,
12:43
Speaker 1: killed hundreds of us. The witness claimed, we had no
12:46
Speaker 1: way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I
12:49
Speaker 1: swear I've never seen anything like it now. The White
12:52
Speaker 1: House did not immediately respond for questions on this that
12:56
Speaker 1: were asked, and when asked whether Caroline Levitch sharing the
13:00
Speaker 1: post constitution confirmation of it. The Pentagon also did not
13:04
Speaker 1: I respond when asked if the US deployed sonic or
13:07
Speaker 1: energy weapons in Venezuela. But it's very clear the White
13:12
Speaker 1: House Press Secretary wants the world to know exactly what
13:15
Speaker 1: we are capable of, or at least put it out
13:18
Speaker 1: there so people understand that America is not messing around
13:22
Speaker 1: the Other reason why this story was probably shared by
13:25
Speaker 1: the White House Press Secretary is She's also sending a
13:27
Speaker 1: message to other countries right now that are thinking about
13:31
Speaker 1: trying to stand up for drug cartel members, including Mexico.
13:37
Speaker 1: There's been a lot about what's happening in Mexico, and
13:41
Speaker 1: the President of United States America also making it very
13:44
Speaker 1: clear he's not putting up with any of these cartel
13:47
Speaker 1: leadership any longer. Just go back to Donald Trump when
13:51
Speaker 1: he was in Norfolk, Virginia speaking to military members, and
13:55
Speaker 1: Donald Trump made it clear, even as we were going
13:58
Speaker 1: after the boats filled with drugs, that's just the beginning,
14:01
Speaker 1: not the end of what he plans for those that
14:04
Speaker 1: are helping kill Americans than a.
14:06
Speaker 5: Month or shortly thereafter, and speaking to them would have
14:09
Speaker 5: been much more difficult. In recent weeks, the Navy has
14:12
Speaker 5: supported our mission to blow the cartel terrasts the hell
14:17
Speaker 5: out of the water. You see that, and you know
14:20
Speaker 5: there are no boats in the water anymore. We can't
14:22
Speaker 5: find any.
14:23
Speaker 1: We'll have a hard time finding them.
14:25
Speaker 5: But you know, it's a pretty tough thing we've been doing.
14:29
Speaker 5: But you have to think of it this way. Every
14:31
Speaker 5: one of those boats is responsible for the death of
14:35
Speaker 5: twenty five thousand American people and the destruction of families.
14:40
Speaker 5: So when you think of it that way, what we're
14:42
Speaker 5: doing is actually an act of kindness. But we did
14:46
Speaker 5: another one last night. Now we just can't find any
14:50
Speaker 5: you know, it's the old story. We're so good at
14:52
Speaker 5: it that there are no boats, in fact, even fishing boats.
14:55
Speaker 5: Nobody wants to go into the water anymore. Sorry to
14:58
Speaker 5: tell you that, but it's we stop. We're stopping drugs
15:01
Speaker 5: coming into America. If that's okay. We're stopping drugs at
15:04
Speaker 5: a level that nobody's ever seen before. Last year we
15:08
Speaker 5: lost I believe, three hundred thousand people. And that's not
15:13
Speaker 5: talking about the destruction to families. Every one of us
15:15
Speaker 5: knows families that have been destroyed because the Sun's daughter,
15:19
Speaker 5: even mothers and fathers are destroyed by the fentatyl pouring
15:22
Speaker 5: in and drugs pouring in. Well, they're not coming in
15:26
Speaker 5: by sea anymore, so now we'll have to start looking
15:28
Speaker 5: about the land because they'll be forced to go by land.
15:31
Speaker 5: And let me tell you right now, that's not going
15:33
Speaker 5: to work out well for them either.
15:35
Speaker 2: Now.
15:36
Speaker 1: President Trump was also asked on Sunday aboard Air Force
15:39
Speaker 1: One about Mexico specifically and could they be next for
15:43
Speaker 1: these land targets. Here's part of what the President had
15:46
Speaker 1: to say.
15:47
Speaker 5: By the way, you have to do something with Mexico.
15:49
Speaker 5: Mexico has to get there pact together because they're pouring
15:53
Speaker 5: through Mexico and we're gonna have to do something. We
15:56
Speaker 5: love Mexico to do it. They're capable of doing it,
16:00
Speaker 5: but unfortunately the cartels are very strong.
16:02
Speaker 7: Indvixer, I remember one time you actually speaking of Mexico.
16:04
Speaker 7: I asked you about Claudia Scheinbab and you told me
16:07
Speaker 7: at one point you would offer to send US troops
16:09
Speaker 7: in Chamarsco to combat the drug trafficking. There is that
16:12
Speaker 7: something you see now.
16:14
Speaker 5: I think she's a terrific person. I would say every
16:17
Speaker 5: single time I talked to her, I've offered.
16:19
Speaker 8: Your sentoms and she's just not willing.
16:23
Speaker 5: She's concerned, she's a little afraid. The cartels are running Mexico.
16:28
Speaker 5: Whether you like it or not. It's not nice to say,
16:31
Speaker 5: but the cartels, the cartels are running Mexico.
16:34
Speaker 1: Yes, this will end bad for Mexico. They're being run
16:39
Speaker 1: by the cartels, not actually by the leadership. And that's
16:43
Speaker 1: the point that the present's making. You better get your
16:45
Speaker 1: country in order, you better go after these cartels and
16:48
Speaker 1: stop the drugs coming to this country, and if you don't,
16:51
Speaker 1: we will do it for you. That's the obvious message
16:55
Speaker 1: that the President is trying to send. We also now
16:58
Speaker 1: know that the present's moving forward. After the fall of
17:01
Speaker 1: the leader in Venezuela. Even Cuba's communists are now trying
17:05
Speaker 1: to threaten America, saying if they come here, they will
17:09
Speaker 1: come to die. As the rhetoric continues to ratchet up there,
17:14
Speaker 1: the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba publishing
17:17
Speaker 1: a compilation of reported social media comments in which supporters
17:21
Speaker 1: of the sixty seven year old regime are now threatening
17:24
Speaker 1: America and Donald Trump and say the death toll should
17:29
Speaker 1: be something you wouldn't want to take a part of,
17:32
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to be a part of, and wouldn't want
17:35
Speaker 1: to take place in our country. The comments were a
17:38
Speaker 1: response to Donald Trump approving an operation to arrest the
17:41
Speaker 1: now deported Venezuelan and so socialist dictator Maduro, a close
17:46
Speaker 1: ally of the Castor regime, on January third, that executed
17:51
Speaker 1: the warrant on a variety of criminal charges, most of
17:53
Speaker 1: them related to narco terrorism activity and Caster's regime is
17:57
Speaker 1: now saying, don't even think about trying to do that country.
18:01
Speaker 1: Cuba lived for many years on large amounts of oil
18:03
Speaker 1: and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provides security services
18:08
Speaker 1: for the last two Venezuelan dictators, but not anymore. Trump
18:12
Speaker 1: said in a message on his website True Social on Sunday.
18:15
Speaker 1: Most of those Cubans are dead from last week's US attack,
18:19
Speaker 1: and Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and
18:24
Speaker 1: exhortionists who held them hostage for many, many years. Trump continued, saying,
18:29
Speaker 1: Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most
18:32
Speaker 1: powerful military in the world by far, to protect them,
18:36
Speaker 1: and protect them we will. There will be no more
18:40
Speaker 1: oil or money going to Cuba zero. I strongly suggest
18:45
Speaker 1: they make a deal before it's too late. Thank you
18:48
Speaker 1: for your attention to this matter. The message concluded, it's
18:52
Speaker 1: obvious now that the President United States of America is
18:54
Speaker 1: moving on from Venezuela, looking at Cuba, looking at Mexico,
19:00
Speaker 1: and making sure that whatever he does next continues to
19:03
Speaker 1: help us stop the flow of fetnel coming into this
19:06
Speaker 1: country that has killed countless American citizens. Now there are
19:10
Speaker 1: many that are criticizing the President, saying you can't do
19:13
Speaker 1: all this. At the same time, that also isn't true.
19:16
Speaker 1: The President is saying, no, we will do whatever we
19:19
Speaker 1: have to do to keep Americans safe. He believes this
19:22
Speaker 1: is a national security issue of the highest importance. And
19:26
Speaker 1: one thing is for sure, this is exactly what many
19:29
Speaker 1: Americans voted for, a secure border and getting rid of
19:32
Speaker 1: the drugs that are flowing into this country. There's an
19:36
Speaker 1: important story that I want to get to, an incredible
19:39
Speaker 1: report coming out from the Daily Signal. I want to
19:42
Speaker 1: read part of it to you because it's really important
19:44
Speaker 1: to understand just how long the corruption had been taking
19:49
Speaker 1: place in Minnesota and how long the governor had been
19:52
Speaker 1: a part of the cover up. Whistle Blowers have now
19:56
Speaker 1: come forward and accused Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz is a
19:59
Speaker 1: ministe stration of actually squashing the criminal fraud investigations as
20:05
Speaker 1: far back as twenty nineteen, according to a Republican state
20:10
Speaker 1: representative who oversees fraud prevention in state programs. Representative Christen Robbins,
20:17
Speaker 1: a Republican and chair of the Menso's House Fraud Committee,
20:21
Speaker 1: told exclusively The Daily Signal that four whistleblowers inside the
20:26
Speaker 1: Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General revealed they
20:31
Speaker 1: were ordered by the governor to stop investigations after revelations
20:37
Speaker 1: of systemic fraud in the state's childcare assistance program. The
20:43
Speaker 1: Office of the Legislative Auditor published the revelation in an
20:47
Speaker 1: April twenty nineteen report, citing an August twenty eighteen email
20:53
Speaker 1: by j Swanson, the manager of the Recipient and Childcare
20:59
Speaker 1: provis Investigations unit, that claimed large scale fraud schemes and
21:04
Speaker 1: childcare assistance was happening.
21:07
Speaker 5: Quote.
21:08
Speaker 1: It was after that that as unit was told they
21:10
Speaker 1: can no longer do criminal investigations. Robin, who testified to
21:14
Speaker 1: Congress about the fraud on Wednesday, has said publicly for
21:18
Speaker 1: the first time, in the summer of twenty nineteen, they
21:21
Speaker 1: were told you can't do search warrants, you can't do
21:24
Speaker 1: criminal investigations anymore. The order to stop investigations and switching
21:32
Speaker 1: only to investigating over billing and not fraud shows that
21:37
Speaker 1: they were willfully turning a blind eye to the actual
21:41
Speaker 1: criminal fraud that was taking place. I want you to
21:45
Speaker 1: hear what was said is James Comer asked questions.
21:48
Speaker 4: Step up I now recognize Representative Robins for her opening statement.
21:53
Speaker 9: Good morning, mister Chairman and members. Thank you for inviting
21:56
Speaker 9: us to testify. As tera of the Prevention Fraud Prevention Committee,
21:59
Speaker 9: and I've been working to uncover the massive fraud under
22:03
Speaker 9: Tim walls proposed solutions and hold state agencies accountable. Today
22:08
Speaker 9: I will highlight the scale of the problem, outline the
22:11
Speaker 9: Worker Committee is doing to fight the fraud, and provide
22:13
Speaker 9: a roadmap for other states on how to detect and
22:16
Speaker 9: stop fraud. Minnesota is one of the highest tax states
22:20
Speaker 9: in the nation, and hard working Minnesotans have been told
22:23
Speaker 9: that they don't pay their fair share for years. In truth,
22:26
Speaker 9: Minnesotans pay much more in taxes than in other states,
22:29
Speaker 9: and when they pay their taxes, they expect that their
22:32
Speaker 9: money is going to things that help our communities, roads, schools,
22:35
Speaker 9: health care, and law enforcement. They do not want their
22:38
Speaker 9: tax dollars absconded by criminals to buy resorts and apartment
22:42
Speaker 9: buildings in Kenya, property in Turkey, and luxury homes and
22:46
Speaker 9: cars in the US.
22:47
Speaker 8: Tim Walls and his.
22:48
Speaker 9: Administration have wilfully turned a blind eye to crime in
22:52
Speaker 9: the face of countless whistleblower and auditor reports, as well
22:55
Speaker 9: as stories by local investigative journalists and the Center of
22:58
Speaker 9: the American Experiment.
23:00
Speaker 8: These are actual crimes that must be parnished.
23:03
Speaker 9: There are crimes against our moral values and erode trust
23:06
Speaker 9: in government. The time for accountability and justice is here. First,
23:11
Speaker 9: we are unearthing staggering amounts of fraud of Minnesota.
23:14
Speaker 8: As far back as.
23:15
Speaker 9: Twenty fourteen, there were credible whistleblower allegations of millions in
23:18
Speaker 9: daycare fraud. Instead of shutting it down, the state minimized
23:22
Speaker 9: whistleblower reports and allowed fraud to grow. Unfortunately, childcare fraud
23:27
Speaker 9: was just the tip of the iceberg. In since twenty nineteen,
23:31
Speaker 9: Tim Walls and Minnesota Democrats have allowed fraud to absolutely
23:35
Speaker 9: explode in Minnesota. There's been more than three hundred million
23:38
Speaker 9: dollars in the Feeding our Future child nutrition program scandal,
23:42
Speaker 9: and the Feeding our Future prosecutions revealed that as many
23:45
Speaker 9: as half of those indicted also ran other Medicaid funded programs. Yet,
23:51
Speaker 9: despite this being known back in twenty twenty three, Tim
23:54
Speaker 9: Walls and his agencies have done nothing to stop those
23:57
Speaker 9: defendants from getting additional statement money. We have now found
24:01
Speaker 9: fraud in multiple Medicaid programs including autism centers, sober homes,
24:06
Speaker 9: non emergency medical transportation, integrated community supports, and housing stabilization.
24:12
Speaker 9: Just last month, our committee held the hearing on credible
24:14
Speaker 9: allegations of fraud in two new areas, adult day services
24:18
Speaker 9: and assisted living. First US Attorney Joe Thompson, the leading
24:22
Speaker 9: prosecutor in these cases from the Biden administration and the
24:26
Speaker 9: Trump administration, says the fraud could be an astronomical nine
24:29
Speaker 9: billion dollars. In the face of mounting reports and literal
24:33
Speaker 9: criminal indictments and convictions, the Walls administration has repeatedly and
24:38
Speaker 9: publicly denied or downplayed the fraud. Just last January, the
24:42
Speaker 9: Commissioner of DHS, Jody Harpstead, who'd been on the job
24:45
Speaker 9: for five and a half years, said there's a lot
24:47
Speaker 9: more rumors of fraud than there is actual fraud.
24:51
Speaker 8: You cannot make this up.
24:53
Speaker 9: The Walls administration has been gaslighting Minnesotans on the scale
24:56
Speaker 9: of the fraud problem for years. In response, when republic
25:00
Speaker 9: Wilkins took control or ended Democrat control of the Minnesota
25:04
Speaker 9: House last year, we created the Fraud Prevention and State
25:06
Speaker 9: Agency Oversight Committee.
25:08
Speaker 8: Since last February.
25:09
Speaker 9: We have held fifteen hearings where we have grilled officials,
25:13
Speaker 9: exposed new areas of fraud, and repeatedly flagged failures in
25:16
Speaker 9: internal controls. I authored a new law to expand whistleblower protection,
25:21
Speaker 9: and we created a portal mnfraud dot Com, resulting in
25:25
Speaker 9: a surge of new whistleblower reports that our amazing staff
25:28
Speaker 9: is still working through. Under the leadership of our Vice chair,
25:32
Speaker 9: Patty Anderson. We passed a bipartisan bill in the Senate
25:35
Speaker 9: to create an independent office of Inspector General. When it
25:38
Speaker 9: got to the House, Democrats killed it because the DHS
25:42
Speaker 9: commissioner testified against it. The Tim Walls administration has utterly
25:47
Speaker 9: failed to protect Minnesota taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, ignoring years
25:51
Speaker 9: of credible reports and retaliating against those who spoke up,
25:55
Speaker 9: often by claiming they were racist or Islamophobic. Tim Walls
25:58
Speaker 9: and the Democrats have reut heatedly protected their political base
26:02
Speaker 9: at the expense of all Minnesotans.
26:04
Speaker 8: Other states should learn from.
26:06
Speaker 9: The failures of the Walls administration. So I'll give you
26:08
Speaker 9: a quick roadmap on how to find and stop fraud. First,
26:11
Speaker 9: culture Matters, Fraud flourishes when leaders ignore it and criminals.
26:15
Speaker 8: See they can get away with it.
26:17
Speaker 9: Second, fraud flourishes when basic internal controls are not followed.
26:21
Speaker 8: This is not complicated. Third, you have to look at.
26:25
Speaker 9: The interconnections of relationships in businesses and multiple programmers and medicaid.
26:30
Speaker 9: It's a huge red flag that has been ignored in
26:32
Speaker 9: our state. Finally, it is important to say what is
26:36
Speaker 9: true and to stand up against fake allegations of racism
26:39
Speaker 9: or Islamophobia. Crime is crime no matter who is committing it.
26:44
Speaker 9: It is true that the majority of the fraud in
26:46
Speaker 9: Minnesota has taken place in the Somali community, and it
26:49
Speaker 9: is also true that some of our best whistleblowers are
26:51
Speaker 9: from the Somali community. Democrats refuse to acknowledge this truth,
26:55
Speaker 9: and that has enabled criminals to steal billions and hurt
26:59
Speaker 9: our vulnerable sits.
27:01
Speaker 8: Mister Chairman, thank you for the opportunity.
27:03
Speaker 9: To share the lessons for Minnesota and for your help
27:05
Speaker 9: in investigating these crimes.
27:08
Speaker 8: The time for justice and accountability is now.
27:11
Speaker 1: You listen to this state lawmaker sid official testifying on
27:15
Speaker 1: the misuse of federal funds in DC. It was a
27:18
Speaker 1: powerful opening statement. The Walts administration has been gas lading
27:22
Speaker 1: Minnesotas on the scale of the problem four years now.
27:26
Speaker 1: So far, nearly one hundred people have been charged welfare
27:28
Speaker 1: fraud in multiple state scandals. One federal prosecutor has estimated
27:32
Speaker 1: the amount of welfare fraud alone in the state has
27:35
Speaker 1: now toppled nine billion dollars, and according to Swanson, the
27:39
Speaker 1: state's Human Services Department created the Childcare Provider Investigation Unit
27:44
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, staffing it with just four investigators and
27:48
Speaker 1: one manager, as well as two special agents in the
27:50
Speaker 1: Minisota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which refers cases then to
27:54
Speaker 1: law enforcement. Swanson's email ledges the fraud, notes that his
27:58
Speaker 1: unit found provides using a similar scheme to successfully steal
28:03
Speaker 1: large sums of taxpayer money from the program. He acknowledges
28:07
Speaker 1: them the most responsibility for the fraud rests with the
28:11
Speaker 1: sophisticated criminals. Nonetheless, warns that an equal amount of responsibility
28:16
Speaker 1: now rests with the lack of internal controls involving the
28:21
Speaker 1: statutes and this was done by design. What's clear is
28:26
Speaker 1: Governor Waltz was obviously involved in some major capacity when
28:30
Speaker 1: it comes to this amount of fraud. He was also
28:33
Speaker 1: profiting from the fraud as the Smalley community was paying
28:36
Speaker 1: in essence payoffs or donations the political campaigns of all
28:41
Speaker 1: their allies who were again in on the scheme. So
28:47
Speaker 1: here we are with more people coming forward and saying
28:50
Speaker 1: what we all know is true, that this fraud is
28:52
Speaker 1: out of control and getting bigger and bigger by the
28:56
Speaker 1: day in Minnesota. Forget to share this podcast, by the way,
29:01
Speaker 1: with your family and your friends on social media wherever
29:04
Speaker 1: you can hit that subscribe or auto download button and
29:07
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again tomorrow.