Tim Walz Shamed After Trying to Take Credit for Federal Raids on Somali-Owned Minnesota Businesses
Americans rarely remember those who held the nation’s second-highest office (quick: name Ulysses S. Grant’s vice president), let alone those who sought the vice presidency and lost.
Now, assuming posterity stoops to notice Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, it will forever associate him with massive fraud.
In the wake of reports early Tuesday that the FBI and local authorities in Minnesota had raided nearly two dozen businesses — most of them Somali-owned — as part of a fraud investigation, Walz went on the social media platform X and tried to take partial credit for the raid, only to encounter reminders from X users that Walz himself both enabled the fraud and not long ago fought the federal government tooth and nail over it.
“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today,” Walz wrote. “We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.”
If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) April 28, 2026
But Walz, who served as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate during her failed 2024 presidential campaign, appears to have a short or selective memory.
In a series of videos that went viral in December, YouTuber Nick Shirley visited locations across Minneapolis that supposedly provided publicly funded services such as child care to the Somali immigrant community, only to discover evidence of massive fraud, including the absence of children at those locations.
Partly in response to Shirley’s reporting, President Donald Trump sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Minneapolis.
Walz then responded to the ICE deployment by talking of “war” with the federal government.
In other words, the Democrat governor hardly proved receptive to federal efforts at cleaning up his state.
On Tuesday, X users reminded Walz of both his responsibility for the fraud and his past attempts to stymie investigations.
One user, for instance, aptly characterized Walz as an “[a]rsonist masquerading as a firefighter.”
Arsonist masquerading as a firefighter. https://t.co/TlsKmmT6Rf
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) April 28, 2026
“The nerve of this guy for taking credit,” another user wrote.
The nerve of this guy for taking credit. https://t.co/f7NN9T9ZNz
— Bruce (@FireNewz) April 28, 2026
“Don’t you dare try to take credit now, Tampon Tim,” a third user wrote.
You’ve spent 7 years and 3 months turning a blind eye to and enabling Somali fraudsters.
In an alternate universe where you would’ve become Vice President, these raids would not be happening.
It took over 100 employees at the Minnesota Department of Human Services coming… https://t.co/jNCj3K0Yu0
— Bad Hombre (@Badhombre) April 28, 2026
Perhaps Walz changed his tune in part because Trump empowered Vice President J.D. Vance to investigate fraud nationwide and impose justice on the perpetrators, both the fraudsters themselves and the politicians who enabled them. The president even mentioned Walz and other Minnesota politicians by name.
Trump also made combating fraud nationwide a key part of his February State of the Union Address.
Thus, it would make sense for Walz to play nice with the Trump administration. As X users noted, however, it won’t fool anyone.
After all, once your name is associated with fraud, it’s difficult to change that.
Speaking of which, Schuyler Colfax served as Grant’s vice president, at least until the infamous Crédit Mobilier scandal, involving railroad fraud, compelled Grant to replace Colfax with Henry Wilson.
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