U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon just dropped a bombshell on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, demanding his resignation over a staggering fraud crisis that’s bled taxpayers dry.
In a blistering letter sent on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, McMahon accused Walz of gross negligence in overseeing systemic fraud in Minnesota, including a $1 billion scandal involving nonprofits and rampant abuse in the state’s college education system, calling for him to step down.
Walz, who has led Minnesota since 2019, is under fire for what McMahon describes as a failure to curb fraudulent schemes that have turned the state into a magnet for criminal activity.
The accusations aren’t small potatoes—McMahon pointed to a jaw-dropping $1 billion allegedly siphoned from taxpayers through nonprofits like Feeding Our Future, with much of the fraud tied to specific community programs.
Then there’s the mess in higher education, where Minnesota’s Riverland Community College reportedly averaged over 100 dubious applications annually from so-called “ghost students” who never set foot on campus.
According to McMahon, a staggering 1,834 of these phantom enrollees in Minnesota pocketed $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans, a scheme that’s as bold as it is infuriating.
“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen — and for benefiting from it,” McMahon wrote in her letter, pulling no punches as she accused him of turning a blind eye to the looting of public funds.
Her words sting, but they raise a fair question: How does a state leader miss a billion-dollar heist under their nose? It’s the kind of oversight—or lack thereof—that makes even the most patient taxpayer want to scream.
McMahon didn’t stop there, alleging Walz did “absolutely nothing” to halt fraud spanning welfare, housing benefits, food stamps, and even programs for vulnerable children and the elderly.
The letter also took aim at Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, claiming she borrowed significant student loan sums and failed to repay them despite a hefty congressional salary of $174,000 annually.
A conservative watchdog group, as reported by Alpha News, recently pushed for GOP Speaker Mike Johnson to garnish Omar’s wages over this debt, adding fuel to an already fiery political debate.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education, in Trump’s first year back in office, claims to have blocked over $1 billion in student aid fraud nationwide, using tools like mandatory identity verification to stop bots and fake students.
On Friday, December 12, 2025, Walz announced a new statewide prevention initiative, partnering with a private forensic auditing firm to tackle the fraud mess head-on.
“I take full responsibility for it,” Walz stated, admitting the state’s communication on efforts to address the issue has fallen short.
But conservatives like Dustin Grage argue that’s just lip service, noting not a single state bureaucrat has been fired over the scandals, leaving accountability as murky as a Minnesota winter fog. It’s a fair jab—words without action won’t rebuild trust when taxpayers have been fleeced to the tune of billions.
