President Trump launched a $25 million whistleblower fund paying Americans cash for fraud tips that deliver convictions, putting Democrat-run waste in the crosshairs while rewarding citizen reporters who protect taxpayers.
President Donald Trump stood in the Oval Office on Tuesday and announced the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, known as WHIP, a Justice Department-backed effort that pays tipsters who expose theft from federal programs.
Vice President JD Vance joined him, along with senior adviser Stephen Miller, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and independent journalist Nick Shirley. The message was simple: Americans who turn in fraudsters can share in the recovery.
FL Voice News reported the program offers up to $30,000 for tips submitted through fraud.gov that lead to a conviction or major enforcement action, plus a 1% commission on larger sums recovered.
Shirley, a 24-year-old citizen journalist, received the first payout on the spot, a $10,000 check, for viral reporting that exposed widespread schemes involving Somali-run childcare centers and other fraud in Minnesota.
Trump laid out the scale of the reward structure without hesitation. Larger recoveries would trigger bigger payouts under the commission rule.
Trump said, “Anyone that can prove that [they] turned somebody in [...] and you find $1 billion dollars, we are giving a commission of 1%.”
"Anyone that can prove that [they] turned somebody in [...] and you find $1 billion dollars, we are giving a commission of 1%,"
He also made clear he would personally settle any disputes over who gets paid. Trump described it as binding arbitration designed to move fast and skip the usual delays.
"I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In other words, I’ll determine whether or not the person is deserving, and I’ll determine, and I will be very generous, believe me,"
Trump added that the process would be fair and quick. “I promise you I’ll be fair, and I’m not doing it for any other reason, other than to expedite, because I think it’s very important. But it’ll be a binding arbitration. You’ll get your money immediately, but I’ll make the determination.” He also promised, “It’ll be done expeditiously and fairly, and we won’t have long lines waiting, or court cases or anything else.”
White House officials said the new program builds on existing tools such as the IRS whistleblower program and the False Claims Act, yet most of the fraud now being targeted falls outside those older frameworks. That gap is exactly what WHIP is meant to close.
Fox News reported that Vance appeared alongside Trump to roll out the program and said the idea grew from a conversation with the president about recruiting everyday Americans to help stop taxpayer fraud and share in the rewards.
Vance chairs the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud that Trump established to coordinate anti-fraud work across agencies. In the Oval Office he praised Shirley’s role and noted the young reporter would receive a financial reward even though money was never the motive.
"We’re actually thrilled to be joined by Nick Shirley who as the president said has done more than anybody that I’ve met recently as a citizen journalist to uncover the fraud. Nick is going to get a financial reward for doing so. I know that’s not why he did it,"
Vance has already pressed hard on benefits theft, Medicaid and Medicare abuse, and related schemes. His portfolio includes actions such as removing hundreds of thousands of questionable Obamacare enrollees and suspending providers tied to waste. That record sits alongside earlier coverage of Trump’s preference for Vance in 2028 and the vice president’s rising profile inside the administration.
The New York Post reported Vance stating that over 99% of the federal fraud the administration is finding is not covered by the False Claims Act. He also said the 1% commission would not be limited only to criminal prosecutions, if tipsters help recover the money, they benefit.
“If you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards,” Vance said. The approach treats honest citizens as partners rather than bystanders while fraud drains public funds.
Trump credited Shirley’s reporting with real enforcement results. “Partially as a result of Nick’s work since I took office, 115 Minnesota fraudsters have been arrested and charged,” the president said.
Shirley spoke from the Resolute Desk area and kept the focus on taxpayers. He said he simply cared about the well-being of tax dollars and now stood next to the president after exposing the schemes.
"I want people to think about what is happening right now [...] me as a 24-year-old, I went out and exposed the fraud. I just was concerned about the well-being of our tax dollars, and right now, I’m standing next to the President of the United States,"
He urged others to act in their own communities. “I hope by today millions of people are empowered inside the United States to go out and actually make a change inside your own community, and you’ll actually be rewarded for saving America money.”
Trump went further on the Minnesota situation, calling the governor “100% guilty” and labeling him “a fraud, he’s a thief, he’s a crook.” Those remain the president’s words; no separate charging document against the governor appeared in the available accounts.
At the same event, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced the administration is deferring an additional $1.2 billion in Medicaid payments to California over suspected fraud and missing documentation in personal care services. “$1.2 billion deferred in their Medicaid payments to personal care services,” Oz said.
Breitbart reported White House spokesperson Lauren Bis stating that every day the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve, with zero tolerance for those who steal from the public. The same coverage noted Vance’s leadership of the March-established task force and the $10,000 check tied to Shirley’s work that prompted investigations, including a guilty plea by Fahima Mahamud.
Stephen Miller used the moment to describe the broader pattern he sees. “Their plan is to bring in 10, 20, 30 million people to loot you, and rob you, and take everything you have,” he said. He added that those involved “are living the high life, while you, the American citizen [...] are funding that lifestyle! That’s what the Democrat Party did to you!”
The mechanics are straightforward. Tips go to fraud.gov. Payments come from the $25 million Justice Department fund when the information produces a conviction or significant enforcement action. Trump serves as the final decision-maker on contested claims so money moves without endless court fights.
That design matches the administration’s larger push against waste, fraud, and abuse, especially in states where oversight has lagged. Shirley’s path, from independent videos to an Oval Office check, shows what the White House wants repeated: citizens who notice missing money and missing paperwork can force action and get paid for it.
Vance’s central role keeps the pressure on. Coverage of Vance leaving the door open on a 2028 run has not slowed his work as fraud czar. The same holds for other recent turns in his portfolio, including statements on foreign policy flashpoints that keep him in the headlines.
Readers tracking Vance’s earlier political path can also revisit reporting on claims about 2016 campaign contacts and the episode in which he was named in a media conflict that reached the White House press operation. Those threads sit beside the current anti-fraud drive rather than defining it.
The program does not invent new crimes. It simply pays people who help prove the ones already on the books. When a tip recovers serious money, the tipster keeps a cut. When documentation fails, as Oz described in California’s personal care services, payments stop until the gaps are closed.
Trump’s team is betting that real dollars in the hands of whistleblowers will surface more cases faster than agency memos alone. Shirley’s $10,000 check and the 115 Minnesota arrests cited by the president are the opening proof points they want the country to notice.
Taxpayers have watched too many programs leak money while officials looked the other way. A cash reward that reaches the people who actually catch the theft is common sense, not a gimmick, and it puts the burden back where it belongs.