Sen. Amy Klobuchar is campaigning for Minnesota governor on a promise to root out fraud, but a review of her own Senate office's press releases found she never mentioned the state's massive social-services scandal while it was unfolding.
A Fox News Digital review of more than 1,000 press releases issued by Klobuchar's Senate office between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2025, turned up zero mentions of the Feeding Our Future fraud case or any related scandal. The search covered specific terms, "Minnesota fraud," "social services fraud," "Medicaid fraud," "autism fraud," "Housing Stabilization Services," "child nutrition fraud," "DHS fraud," and "nonprofit fraud." None appeared. During that same four-year window, Klobuchar's office did issue releases about other forms of fraud. The one that consumed billions in taxpayer money in her own state went unmentioned.
Minnesota Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is running against Klobuchar for governor, seized on the gap. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Demuth framed the silence as disqualifying for a candidate now asking voters to trust her on the issue that dominates Minnesota politics.
The Feeding Our Future scandal broke in late January 2022. A fraudulent charity exploited a federal child nutrition program, and prosecutors say the broader social-services fraud it exposed could total more than $9 billion. Federal investigations produced 78 indictments, the Washington Free Beacon reported, and polling found 79 percent of registered Minnesota voters consider fraud in state programs the biggest or a major problem.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, dropped his re-election bid in January 2026 amid the fallout. At a press conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Walz said, "Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity." He also deflected accountability for the fraud itself, telling reporters, "Well, I certainly take responsibility for putting people in jail."
Klobuchar, a twenty-year Senate veteran, breezed through the Democratic primary and heads into November as the favorite to replace Walz. Earlier this month she released a campaign ad promising a "top-to-bottom audit of state government" on her first day in office. On X, she posted: "It's time for results, not excuses."
Demuth's response was blunt. In the Fox News Digital interview, she laid out the case that Klobuchar had both the platform and the power to act, and chose not to:
"My question is, where were you for the last 10 years, but absolutely the last eight years? She could have done press conferences, she could have partnered with Governor Walz. She has called Governor Walz an exceptional governor, 'he's a great governor.' Back when he was running for vice president, she was giving all of his accolades. Where was she to help him where our state was falling apart? I think it's a little bit too late for her to say that this was really a priority."
Demuth also pointed to a congressional hearing on Minnesota fraud held a few months before the interview. Klobuchar, she said, did not attend, despite two decades in the Senate and the ability to call hearings of her own.
"She with her extended time, twenty years as a senator, could have held hearings but not only did she not hold hearings, the hearing that took place a few months ago about fraud here in the state of Minnesota she didn't even attend and so I think that speaks very loudly to the people of Minnesota that we have a twenty-year senator, the most explosive fraud that has taken place a theft of our tax dollars here and yet, there was no mention."
Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar's campaign for comment. No response was noted.
The Feeding Our Future case alone involved roughly $250 million in stolen federal funds. But the scheme was only the most visible piece. Prosecutors say the full scope of social-services fraud in Minnesota, spanning child nutrition, Medicaid, housing stabilization, and other programs, could exceed $9 billion. Hundreds of millions of those taxpayer dollars were misused or stolen under the Walz administration, the Washington Examiner reported.
The fraud has already produced real-world consequences beyond politics. One Feeding Our Future fugitive was arrested in Somalia after nearly four years on the run, a reminder that the criminal fallout from the scandal is still playing out across continents.
Demuth, who became Minnesota House Speaker in 2025, said she established the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee as one of her first acts. In a post on X, she wrote: "Billions of our tax dollars stolen. It's time for change." In a speech earlier this week, she released her own fraud-fighting plan and drew public attention to the press-release gap in Klobuchar's record.
In her Fox News Digital interview, Demuth drew a direct contrast between the two candidates:
"Who are Minnesotans gonna trust for their next governor? Somebody that has just decided to talk about fraud now that they're running for office or someone that has been fighting fraud this entire time? And I think I am the most trustworthy when it comes to ending fraud and respecting taxpayer dollars as your next governor."
Klobuchar's pivot is striking. Her campaign ad language, promising to "root out waste fraud and abuse", mirrors the kind of anti-fraud, pro-accountability rhetoric that Republican candidates have used for years. That she felt compelled to adopt it tells voters how deep the damage runs. Demuth, in a statement reported by the New York Post, put it plainly: "The explosive fraud in Minnesota is a direct result of incompetent Democrat control in this state for more than 16 years."
Demuth also tied Klobuchar's silence to a broader pattern: "Tim Walz and Amy Klobuchar have been more focused on advancing their national political ambitions than fighting Minnesota's fraud crisis."
Minnesota is not the only state where Democratic officials face questions about financial accountability. A Massachusetts mayor was recently arrested on federal fraud charges for allegedly looting $1.5 million in COVID relief funds, part of a broader pattern of pandemic-era fraud cases now reaching courtrooms.
Republican Senate hopeful Michele Tafoya, who is running for the Minnesota Senate seat Klobuchar would vacate, told Fox News Digital earlier this month that voters are "ready for a change." The fraud scandal has reshaped Minnesota's political landscape so thoroughly that even Klobuchar's departure from the Senate could open a competitive race in a state Democrats have long considered safe.
Congressional investigators, meanwhile, continue to follow the money in fraud and financial misconduct cases touching left-leaning organizations. A House committee recently subpoenaed three nonprofits over $39 million in suspicious financial flows, a sign that oversight pressure on misused funds is building across multiple fronts.
The core problem for Klobuchar is not complicated. Over four years, her Senate office produced more than a thousand official communications. The largest fraud scandal in Minnesota history, one that prosecutors say could reach $9 billion, did not merit a single mention. She addressed other fraud. She praised the governor presiding over the crisis. She pursued national ambitions. And now she is asking the same voters whose tax dollars were stolen to believe fraud was her priority all along.
Demuth noticed the silence early. In the Fox News Digital interview, she recalled watching the scandal unfold in real time:
"As Feeding Our Future was breaking and all of the fraud that was being talked about, the absent voice that I was noticing was Senator Klobuchar."
That absence is now the central issue in the governor's race. Klobuchar can promise audits and talk tough on waste. But the record she built while the fraud was happening, over a thousand press releases, zero mentions, is the record voters will weigh.
Accountability that only shows up on the campaign trail is not accountability. It is a brochure.