WASHINGTON 鈥� Gov. Tim Walz was slapped with a subpoena Wednesday, Sept. 4 that compels the Minnesota Department of Education to produce documentation relating to the state鈥檚 Feeding Our Future scandal.
In what congressional leaders have called the 鈥渓argest pandemic fraud scheme in the country,鈥� 70 people were charged in federal court with a 鈥渂razen鈥� scheme to steal $250 million in government funding that was meant to feed children in need.
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More than a dozen people have already pleaded guilty in the scheme, and five of seven were found guilty by a jury in June.
But as the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee works to conduct oversight on what exactly happened with the federal dollars provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, committee members say the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) hasn鈥檛 been cooperative.
鈥淎fter MDE, under Governor Walz, failed to respond to previous attempts by the Committee to garner information necessary to uncover how the Governor and the USDA allowed such fraud to occur, the Committee today is proceeding with a subpoena to compel responses,鈥� a committee news release reads.
In the subpoena鈥檚 cover letter, Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said Walz was 鈥渨ell aware鈥� of the fraud and has a responsibility to ensure the MDE鈥檚 compliance with oversight.
鈥淎s the chief executive and the highest ranking official in the state of Minnesota, you are responsible for the MDE and its administration of federal child nutrition programs,鈥� Foxx wrote. 鈥淵ou are well aware of the multi-million-dollar fraud that has occurred under your tenure as Governor.鈥�
Walz has previously claimed that state employees were unaware of the misuse of funds.
鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 malfeasance,鈥� the letter quotes Walz as saying. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a single state employee that was implicated in doing anything that was illegal. They simply didn鈥檛 do as much due diligence as they should鈥檝e.鈥�
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The subpoena demands Walz to appear before the House Education and Workforce Committee at noon on Sept. 18, and to provide the committee with all documents relating to communications between the MDE and Feeding Our Future, communications regarding the MDE鈥檚 decision to resume payments to Feeding Our Future as well as communications between Walz and various state officials.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Harris-Walz campaign deferred questions to the governor鈥檚 office, which had not yet released a statement responding to the subpoena, or indicating whether Walz intends to fight it.
Other subpoenas were also issued to Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett, USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack and USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong.
At the time of the subpoena's public release, Walz was traveling in Pennsylvania for campaign events.
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