Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he accepts responsibility for how fraud in his state was handled, and ties that responsibility to his decision not to seek another term, according to a Fox News report.
Speaking on Friday’s episode of “The Lever” podcast, Walz said he lacked the authority to stop payments to suspected fraudsters on his own and needed legislative action to obtain it. He nonetheless acknowledged that his administration should have acted sooner.
Asked whether the fraud allegations would keep doing damage, Walz answered, “Yes. They undermine faith in government.”
He added, “It’s one of the reasons I accept responsibility for that.” He said he had decided “probably after the murder of Melissa Hortman, certainly before Christmas” not to run again, because “They’re going to use this to attack others and to attack the system.” Walz announced in early 2026 that he would not seek a third term.
He also pushed back on the scale of the attacks. “The amount of fraud, like I said, $1 is too much, but the amount that has been prosecuted, and people put in jail, is less than what [President Trump] is asking for his ballroom,” he said.
“Every state has this. Most states have far more than this,” Walz argued, saying the Trump administration “decided to focus on the perfect storm for them.” Still, he conceded: “Should we do more? Yes. Were there things that we should have closed back doors sooner? Yes.”
Walz then turned the issue back on his opponents. He said fraud and corruption undermine faith in government in a way that “plays right into Republicans’ hands,” giving them “a reason to cut these programs,” including those that feed children and serve autistic children. “So, man, what a gift to them,” he said.
Critics who spoke to Fox News Digital rejected his account. Julian Epstein, former chief counsel for House Judiciary Democrats, said, “These excuses insult our intelligence,” and argued that a governor “has ample authority to stop payments when there’s evidence of fraud” and can refer evidence to prosecutors.
Theo Wold, a former acting assistant attorney general, said Democrats were in charge while public funds were stolen and now “deflect and blame Republicans.”
Epstein also said there are “serious questions” about whether officials looked away because the fraud’s beneficiaries supported them politically, which he posed as an open question rather than an established finding. Fox News Digital said it contacted Walz and the White House for comment and did not receive an immediate response.
