\n The hearing grew heated at moments, with lawmakers accusing one another of going \u201coff the rails\u201d<\/a> and calling for decorum, as flaring tensions delivered more political sparring than clarity.\n <\/p>\n \n As the contentious hearing unfolded in Washington, an ICE agent shot and killed<\/a> a 37-year-old woman hundreds of miles away on the streets of Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the woman \u201cattacked\u201d the ICE officers, but Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the claim that the shooting was in self-defense is \u201cbullsh*t.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, mentioned the shooting during the hearing, describing it as a \u201chorrific killing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI encourage folks to watch those videos and see what\u2019s happened for themselves. And I\u2019m hopeful that this committee investigates this incident and that we have full accountability,\u201d Garcia said.\n <\/p>\n \n At the end of the hearing, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley introduced a motion to subpoena DHS for all documents and footage related to the shooting. The motion ultimately failed after the committee vote resulted in a tie.\n <\/p>\n \n Here\u2019s what you need to know about Wednesday\u2019s hearing:\n <\/p>\n \n Wednesday\u2019s hearing featured ardent testimony from three Republican members of the Minnesota House of Representatives who, the chairman of the Oversight Committee says, \u201csounded the alarm\u201d on the fraud years ago: Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick.\n <\/p>\n \n Hudson testified he had no doubt \u201cwhatsoever\u201d that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz <\/a>knew about the fraud as it occurred.\n <\/p>\n \n Robbins, who chairs her state\u2019s fraud prevention committee, said credible reports of child care fraud started surfacing in 2011, and Walz knew about it \u201cfrom the very beginning.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe Tim Walz administration has utterly failed to protect Minnesota taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, ignoring years of credible reports,\u201d Robbins said in her opening statement. Walz was sworn in as governor in 2019.\n <\/p>\n \n Hudson said he believed Walz ignored concerns of fraud in part because Somali Americans were a significant piece of the Democratic voting base in Minnesota.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cA culture suppressing raising those concerns was fostered by the Walz administration,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Rarick said if Walz was serious about addressing fraud, he would have done so when he first took office.\n <\/p>\n \n Walz dropped his bid for a historic third term as governor on Monday as the scandal has steadily amplified.\n <\/p>\n \n Robbins said whistleblower allegations of millions of dollars in day care fraud go as far back as 15 years. Some include allegations of fraud in the Somali community focused on Feeding Our Future<\/a>, a nonprofit prosecutors said falsely claimed to provide meals to needy children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Federal charges were brought against dozens of people \u2014 most of them Somali \u2014 beginning in 2022 under President Joe Biden.\n <\/p>\n \n Much of Wednesday\u2019s discussion was framed around how the Feeding Our Future scandal informed the new fraud allegations. Some Republicans on the committee moved beyond claims that Walz\u2019s administration overlooked the fraud, but that it actually had political incentive to perpetuate it after taking office in 2019.\n <\/p>\n \n Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas asked all three lawmakers on the panel: \u201cDid the Walz administration and Democrats intentionally, in your opinion, overlook this fraud while it was happening for political gain?\u201d Robbins, Hudson and Rarick all answered yes, citing whistleblower reports.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTim Walz and the Democrats have repeatedly protected their political base at the expense of all Minnesotans,\u201d Robbins said.\n <\/p>\n![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2254206676.jpg\")
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