‘MORE CORRUPT THAN MINNESOTA’: Trump Launches Fraud Investigation Into California’s Billions-Dollar Fraud Machine

With Donald Trump confronting and defeating malign forces abroad—brokering peace where none seemed possible, forging eight historic agreements between bitter enemies, and acting as a clear force for stability—the gravest threat facing the United States is no longer foreign. It is domestic.

The Democrat Party has entrenched itself deep within America’s institutions, hollowing them out from the inside with a culture of treasonous indulgence, systemic fraud, rising crime, and open hostility to the nation’s founding principles. This apparatus is sustained not by popular consent, but by taxpayer-funded corruption—laundered through fraud, bureaucracies, NGOs, and opaque financial schemes that reward failure and punish accountability.

What began as rot has metastasized. The task of excising it is made exponentially harder by a judiciary increasingly populated by radical activists in robes—judges who shield corruption, obstruct reform, and weaponize the law against those attempting to restore constitutional order. America’s greatest battle is no longer overseas. It is the fight to reclaim its own institutions. The real fight is here at home.

Billions lost to COVID fraud, rail boondoggles, and homelessness scams as Trump signals the era of Democrat immunity is over

Trump announced his administration has started a federal fraud investigation into California, without naming the leading agency or its full scope. The move follows a state auditor report flagging high-risk waste in areas like the Employment Development Department, which lost $20-32 billion to COVID-era unemployment fraud, plus billions on unfinished high-speed rail and homelessness programs. Newsom’s office hit back hard, claiming they’ve blocked $125 billion in fraud and made hundreds of arrests, while dismissing Trump as a liar. No official federal confirmation has appeared yet amid ongoing budget debates.

California risks $250 billion fraud, GOP candidates claim after collecting whistleblower tips

California could be losing a staggering $250 billion in taxpayer cash through rampant fraud, waste and abuse — according to a Republican-backed analysis of whistleblower tips.

Steve Hilton, who is running for governor, and Herb Morgan, who is seeking the state controller job, unveiled findings from their “CALIFRAUDIA” tip-line investigation — a damning review of the Golden State’s bloated welfare system, which they allege has become a piggy bank for scammers and political hacks.

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🚨 IT'S OFFICIAL: California is under full investigation by the Trump administration after up to $76.5 BILLION+ STOLEN from the taxpayer.

California was always worse than Minnesota.

Tim Walz's career was ended.

Now it's time to end Gavin's. pic.twitter.com/XIwBSDpqnm

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 6, 2026

Minnesota Is Just the Tip of The Iceberg

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$1.26M Child Care Fraud Center’s Phone Leads Directly to Tim Walz’s Office

Federal Officials Launch Massive Operation in Response to Billions-Scale Minnesota Fraud

President Trump announces fraud investigation into California under Gavin Newsom, declares it “more corrupt than Minnesota” pic.twitter.com/lp98AaLYE6

— America (@america) January 6, 2026

Trump Says California Under Investigation: ‘More Corrupt Than Minnesota’

By Shane Croucher, Newsweek, January 6, 2025:

Newsweek is a Trust Project member
Republican President Donald Trump called California “more corrupt than Minnesota” under Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and said his administration has now started investigating the state for fraud.

The investigation broadens an anti-fraud crackdown that the Trump administration has linked to its Democratic opponents, blaming them for ignoring corruption within migrant communities out of political self-interest because the party benefits from their votes and donations.

But Democrats say Trump is tarnishing them without evidence and using the tools of federal power to punish his political enemies, while smearing immigrants to justify their hardline mass deportation policy.

“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible??? The Fraud Investigation of California has begun,” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform on Tuesday morning.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Newsom’s communications director Izzy Gardon called Trump “a deranged, habitual liar whose relationship with reality ended years ago” and defended the governor’s record on tackling fraud, saying he “has been cleaning house”.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 3, 2025 in New York City. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Trump has seized on the Minnesota fraud scandal, where potentially billions of dollars of taxpayer money was stolen by a network of schemes largely centered in the Somali community under the state’s Democratic administration.

The president and his MAGA base see the Minnesota welfare fraud as vindication of the mass deportation policy, centered on the argument that many migrants, legal and illegal, exploit the U.S. while contributing little to it.

Democratic Governor Tim Walz ended his campaign for a third term in Minnesota in the wake of the fraud scandal—and Trump senses the chance to damage his political opponents across other states, too.

Newsom, a likely candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has repeatedly clashed with Trump under a political strategy to take the fight to the president and his administration, played out largely on social media.

“This is not complicated. [Trump] spends his days posting whatever garbage his shriveled little brain can cough up — and Fox News dutifully treats it like the Lord’s scripture,” Gardon told Newsweek in a statement.

“Meanwhile — in the actual world where adults govern — Gavin Newsom has been cleaning house. Since taking office, he’s blocked over $125 BILLION in fraud, arrested criminal parasites leaching off of taxpayers, and protected taxpayers from the exact kind of scam artists Trump celebrates, excuses, and pardons.

“Gavin Newsom runs a state. Donald Trump runs his mouth and little fingers.”

The Trump administration is planning to freeze $10 billion in welfare funding from five Democratic states—California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York—due to concerns over potential fraud.

The Department of Health and Human Services freeze was first reported by The New York Post, citing unnamed officials, on Monday.