Overview
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has frozen child-care disbursements to Minnesota pending audits and will require states to provide justification with receipts or photo evidence for payments from the Administration for Children and Families.
- Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families said investigators found children at all but one of the centers highlighted in the video, with further review ongoing for four sites.
- Federal agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, have increased operations in Minnesota, and the Small Business Administration has reviewed and suspended pandemic-era loans flagged for irregularities.
- House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer plans a January hearing on suspected misuse of federal programs in Minnesota and has invited Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to appear in February.
- Day-care operators report harassment and threats following the video’s spread, while similar influencer-led visits in Washington state drew warnings from officials against intimidation and calls to route suspected fraud through formal channels.