The move was the latest sign that House Republicans were pivoting from investigating and attacking President Biden to take aim at the new Democratic ticket.
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House Republicans took aim at Gov. Tim Walz with a subpeona.
A top House Republican on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, for details about a years-old fraud scheme in his state in which a nonprofit organization used a pandemic-era program aimed at feeding hungry children to steal $250 million.
In a letter demanding documents about the scheme, Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and the chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, sought to tie Mr. Walz to the wrongdoing. Mr. Walz was selected just last month as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, and the subpoena was the latest sign that House Republicans, who have spent most of the Congress using their majority to investigate and attack President Biden, were pivoting to take aim at the new Democratic ticket.
Ms. Foxx said that Mr. Walz must produce records to show “the extent of your responsibilities and actions addressing the massive fraud that resulted in the abuse of taxpayer dollars intended for hungry children.”
Minnesota’s Education Department, which oversaw the child nutrition program, has already been providing documents for and cooperating with the committee, according to a state official familiar with the case who did not have authorization to comment on it and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official also noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funded the pandemic-era program, refused during the Trump administration to act on the state’s repeated warnings about the fraud scheme.
The scheme was first reported by The New York Times in March 2022. The Justice Department charged 48 people in the scheme two years ago, and there are now 70 defendants in the case. The congressional investigation has been going on for months.
The timing of the congressional subpoena reflected the new strategy by House Republicans. Having spent the past 20 months targeting Mr. Biden, the candidate they expected to run against former President Donald J. Trump, they now have limited time to try to do the same to his new Democratic rivals.
“This was an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Walz said. “The state Department of Education worked diligently to stop the fraud, and we’re grateful to the F.B.I. for working with the department of education to arrest and charge the individuals involved.”
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times. She writes features and profiles, with a recent focus on House Republican leadership. More about Annie Karni
See more on: 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia Foxx
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Source: nytimes.com
