President Trump’s education secretary has criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over his handling of an expanding fraud scandal, calling for his resignation in a sharply worded letter that also raises concerns about alleged misconduct within the state’s higher education system.
McMahon ended her letter by imploring Walz to step down.
“Given your dereliction of the office entrusted to you by Minnesotans, I implore you to resign and make way for more capable leadership,” she wrote.
The letter focuses on Minnesota’s large-scale fraud scandal, which has drawn national scrutiny following allegations that nonprofits, including Feeding Our Future, misappropriated at least $1 billion in taxpayer funds during Walz’s tenure as governor. The education secretary also cited what the department described as widespread fraud within Minnesota’s higher education system.
Separately, the Department of Education announced last week that it had prevented more than $1 billion in fraudulent student aid during President Trump’s first year back in office, citing increased enforcement against suspected automated applications and so-called “ghost students” seeking federal loans.
One of the alleged schemes disproportionately affected Minnesota. According to Fox News Digital, Riverland Community College averaged more than 100 potentially fraudulent student aid applications per year.
McMahon said her department identified nearly 2,000 so-called “ghost students” linked to colleges and universities in Minnesota.
“We call these fraudsters ‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist,” McMahon wrote. “In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest without attending the college at all.”
She said the department has since implemented stricter nationwide safeguards, including mandatory identity verification for certain first-time applicants, before turning her attention to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
McMahon wrote that Omar borrowed “tens of thousands” in student loans and “now does not think she should have to repay, despite her generous, taxpayer-funded salary.”
A conservative watchdog group last month called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to pursue garnishment of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s congressional wages over her student loan debt, citing her $174,000 annual salary, Alpha News reported. In her letter, McMahon accused Omar of having “taken advantage” of federal taxpayers.
The letter also criticized Gov. Walz beyond education policy, alleging that his administration oversaw what federal officials described as widespread welfare fraud affecting multiple assistance programs, including housing aid, food assistance, small-business relief, and services for seniors and children with autism.
According to the letter, the fraud allowed perpetrators to enrich themselves while the governor “did absolutely nothing” to prevent it.
“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen and for benefiting from it,” McMahon wrote. “Stop defrauding American taxpayers. No politician is above the law, and my department, alongside every other agency under the leadership of President Trump, will continue to ensure that you will not be able to dodge accountability for your actions.”
Last week, Walz announced the launch of a new statewide fraud prevention program and the hiring of a private forensic auditing firm.
“I take full responsibility for it,” Walz said. “I think, and I will acknowledge certainly to Minnesotans and to the press here, I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of communicating the hard work that’s being done.”
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