GOP Lawmaker Brawls With Tim Walz on Fraud Scandal: ‘Somebody’s Lying!’

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pressed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on the fraud scandal that has rocked his state during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday morning, with Jordan telling Walz that either he or a state judge was lying about why payments were restarted after whistleblowers raised concerns.

Jordan also questioned if Walz ignored the fraud because he feared “political backlash” from the Somali community in Minnesota. The representative said he believed that is exactly why Walz kept payments flowing — leading federal prosecutors to claim last December that more than $9 billion in taxpayer dough was ripped off.

“Why didn’t you tell the truth about restarting the payments?” Jordan started off by asking Walz. He noted a moment earlier that auditors had raised fraud concerns in March 2021 but that the payments were restarted a month later.

The governor — after initially starting to talk about COVID-19 and being asked again by Jordan to answer the question — said, “My understanding was the agency believed the court had required them to make those payments.”

“And that was false, wasn’t it?” Jordan said.

Walz pushed back, before Jordan read a statement from a local judge who said the payments had been restarted “due to inaccurate statements by the governor.”

“That’s pretty straight forward. So the court’s lyin’?” Jordan asked.

“I can’t tell you, congressman” Walz replied.

“Well somebody’s lying! somebody’s lying. Cause you can’t say the court ordered you to restart the payments and then the court says we didn’t order you to restart the payments. So either you’re lying or the court’s lying,” fired back Jordan. “And I’m just asking you which one is it?”

Walz said it “simply” came down to a “misinterpretation.”

Jordan then pointed out a Somali-American investigator in the attorney general’s office had said lawmakers worried that blocking payments could lead to “political backlash” against a key voting bloc.

“Did this have anything to do with the fraud scheme?” Jordan asked.

“It did not,” Walz replied.

Jordan then asked him if he knew how many of the 98 people who were indicted were of Somali heritage. 

“I don’t — we don’t investigate or prosecute people based on ethnicity,” Walz told him.

“Neither do I,” Jordan said before saying 85% of those indicted were Somali-American.

“And I think that [is] what drove this whole thing,” Jordan concluded.

Watch above via Fox News.

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