JD Vance meets the press: Confirms crackdown on welfare fraud, drubs media over ICE coverage

There’s soon going to be a new federal official.

Just as soon as President Donald Trump selects a candidate and the Senate can hold a hearing, the United States will have a new assistant attorney general assigned specifically to crack down on welfare fraud.

Like in Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community, where some schemes have been as simple as claiming to have set up a daycare and then demanding millions of dollars from the government for such services, even though no children ever attended, no meals ever were provided.

Estimates are that the Minnesota failure by government officials allowed mostly Somali-organized and run schemes to take some $9 billion from taxpayers.

The issue has flared this week because the federal government dispatched Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to Minneapolis to apply federal border law against members of the Somali community and others, and one woman, in protest, drove her vehicle toward ICE officers.

Fearing a threat to their lives, one responded with gunfire and the woman was killed.

BREAKING: VP Vance just announced the Trump admin will be appointing a NEW Assistant Attorney General to prosecuting FRAUD

They’ll start off by focusing on MINNESOTA, then spread nationwide

REALLY bad news for Tampon Tim Walz pic.twitter.com/9DDzqwXBP9

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 8, 2026

Vance on Thursday confirmed a new – and nationwide – focus on fraud.

He explained there already are some 1,500 subpoenas that have been issued for information on those activities, and in Minnesota, dozens and dozens have been indicted already.

He said there also already are investigations taking aim at Ohio, California, and other states.

“Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants and others,” Vance said.

He said the new official will help “prosecute the bad guy — the bad guys as swiftly and efficiently as possible.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, endorsed the plan.

“As we’ve seen in Minnesota, government fraudsters are active, and their dishonest deeds are hurting hardworking Americans. This is welcome and timely news from the Department of Justice. I applaud the Trump administration’s ongoing work to address waste, fraud and abuse, and ensure those who steal from American taxpayers are held accountable. Once President Trump selects his candidate for this important position, I look forward to leading the nominee’s confirmation process in the Senate Judiciary Committee,” he said.

Evidence suggests in Minnesota the fraudulent activity has been going on for years, even that some state officials knew about it but were reluctant to address it because the Somali community is a huge voting bloc for Democrats.

Vance said, on Gov. Tim Walz, who announced he is dropping his re-election bid, “Tim Walz is a joke. His entire administration has been a joke. He’s a guy who has enabled fraud, and maybe, in fact, has participated in fraud.”

I want every ICE officer to know that their president, vice president, and the entire administration stands behind them.

To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we’re going to work even harder to enforce the law.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 8, 2026

Meanwhile, Minnesota authorities said they were withdrawing from the investigation into this week’s shooting, as they were told they would no longer be given access to evidence in the case.

Vance also took aim at the media for its one-sided reporting, which has been going on since before President Trump’s first term.

I’ve seen a lot of dishonest coverage from the media during my time in politics, but the last 24 hours may have set a new low. pic.twitter.com/V8q4mcSCtS

— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 8, 2026

He said the narrative that the ICE officer murdered the protester is out of line.

“The reason his woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car and he [the officer] acted in self-defense,” he said.

USA Today reported Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the nominee would be confirmed soon.

Vance explained, “This is the person who is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people. When we get the bad guys, we want to make sure we get them permanently and they don’t have some legal technicality they can get out of, which is why we set it up as an (assistant) attorney general.”