Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said the Trump administration is investigating claims that tax money from Minnesota went to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, which is based in Somalia.
Bessent, in a post on social platform X, said he ordered the probe after finding the North Star State’s tax funds went to Al-Shabaab “under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz.”
“Thanks to the leadership of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, we are acting fast to ensure Americans’ taxes are not funding acts of global terror,” the Treasury chief wrote. “We will share our findings as our investigation continues.”
He also shared a post from the conservative publication City Journal that claims millions of dollars from welfare programs in Minnesota went to the group. The story reported that Republicans state lawmakers asked for the federal government to investigate the claim.
Among these large-scale fraud cases is a $250 million scheme involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future. This case led to five people being convicted in 2024 after they were found guilty of misusing funds that were meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former U.S. Attorney Andy Lugar told The Minnesota Star Tribune that those convicted with the scheme “were looking to get rich, not fund overseas terrorism.”
Most of those charged in connection with the state’s various fraud cases are part of Minnesota’s Somali community, CBS News reported.
Walz told local news outlet KTTC that he welcomes a federal fraud investigation and defended Minnesota’s Somali community. The governor appeared at a speaking event last Tuesday and called out critics of the state’s Somali population.
“Do not paint an entire group of people [Somali nationals] with that same brush—demonizing them, putting them at risk when there is no proof to do that,” the governor said. “But if you want to help us and you want to go after the criminals and make sure there’s no connection or find out where the money went, we welcome that. We’ll work with you on that.”
The Hill reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
Last month, President Trump revoked the legal protections for Somali residents in Minnesota. At the time, Trump accused Walz of being “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Trump and Walz have also traded barbs with each other in recent weeks.
After the president used a slur meant to demean people with disabilities in his criticism of the Democratic governor, the Minnesota leader demanded the administration to release Trump’s recent MRI results — referring to a recent physical. The White House on Monday said the preventive cardiovascular imaging was “perfectly normal.”
The president has also heavily criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the only Somali-born member of Congress.