Trump again accuses Minnesota officials of ‘cover up’published at 20:05 GMT
20:05 GMT
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
We’ve just had another post from US President Donald Trump, again accusing local officials of covering up for “fraud”, without providing any evidence.
“Among other things, this is a ‘cover up’ for the billion dollars that have been stolen from the once great state (but soon to be great again!) of Minnesota,” he wrote.
The issue of fraud has swirled around Washington and Minnesota for some time now, after a conservative YouTuber alleged that several child care centres run by Somali immigrants were taking public money without providing care.
The story was quickly amplified by officials including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Soon after, the Trump administration announced in pause in federal funding for childcare in Minnesota, with the president calling a “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
In January, the White House also announced a new justice department division for national fraud enforcement.
Even before then – in 2021 – a series of federal law enforcement probes into Minnesota fraud schemes led to charges against more than 90 people, with 62 so far convicted.
One scheme, worth $250m, saw a group known as Feeding Our Future claim that it was distributing meals to local schools and programmes, but instead submitting false invoices and receiving kickbacks from people involved in local meal distribution programmes, according to prosecutors.
It is unclear, however, what prompted Trump to connect today’s shooting in Minneapolis with the wider issue, or lead him to believe it was a cover-up.