GOP House panel subpoenas Walz over Minnesota group accused of $41M pandemic relief fraud scheme

The GOP-led House Education and Workforce Committee has issued subpoenas to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democratic vice presidential nominee, as part of its investigation into an alleged COVID-19 fraud scheme that dates back to 2020.

The subpoenas were issued Wednesday and also sent to Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong.

The subpoenas request them to produce documents related to the oversight of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which has been charged on 41 federal counts including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering in connection with the matter.

The group said it gave away 18.8 million meals to needy children across the state. However, prosecutors say the group fabricated invoices and submitted thousands of fake names of children to get $49 million in federal funds.

In June, a jury found five defendants guilty and two not guilty in connection to the charges during the first trial in one of the country's largest pandemic relief fraud cases.

Walz said days after the verdict, and before he became the nominee, that there wasn't any wrongdoing on the state's part.

"There’s not a single state employee that was implicated in doing anything that was illegal," he said, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. “They simply didn’t do as much due diligence as they should have.”