Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says billions were siphoned by fraudsters with ‘zero plan to fix it’
The Trump administration announced Thursday it is suspending all U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to Minnesota, effective immediately, with a large-scale fraud investigation underway.
“Enough is enough! The Trump administration has uncovered MASSIVE fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis —billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have ZERO plan to fix it,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in a social media post.
The USDA will suspend federal financial awards to the state “until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped,” according to Rollins.
“No more handouts to thieves!” she wrote in the post. “Time to drain the Minnesota swamp and put American taxpayers first.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said Minnesota tax dollars may have been filtered to terrorist group al-Shabab after a December investigation by his agency.
In one alleged fraud scheme, the nonprofit “Feeding Our Future” allegedly swindled $250 million from a USDA-funded children’s nutrition program that Minnesota oversaw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dozens of people are charged with faking invoices, attendance records and meal distribution in low-income communities in Minnesota, having allegedly used USDA COVID-era waivers that allowed for unchecked program enrollment.