Vice President J.D. Vance predicted that federal investigators will uncover crimes related to taxpayer-funded welfare fraud in states including California.
Vance told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany that the government’s anti-fraud task force is investigating whether government officials contributed to the alleged scams. He warned that anyone covering up abuse “should be jailed”.
“I promise there is [going to] some of the criminal wrongdoings we committed [going to] Vance told “Us Saturday” exclusively that because there was so much wrongdoing, someone had to know what they were doing.
Vance was named chairman of the anti-fraud task force, which works to root out alleged fraud in states such as California and Minnesota. On Wednesday, the vice president joined Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in announcing that the administration would delay $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California due to regulatory issues.
JD Vance announces multi-state fraud task force after Minnesota scandal
Vice President J.D. Vance speaks during a news conference on anti-fraud initiatives in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, May 13, 2026. The Trump administration is warning states they could lose Medicaid funding if they don’t comply with federal anti-fraud regulations.
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Vance said the federal government has shut down fraudulent hospice centers and issued 22 subpoenas related to an alleged fraud ring in Minneapolis. The task force also announced a six-month freeze on new Medicare enrollment for hospice and home care providers.
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Now, he said, state officials who knew about the fraud but failed to take action should face consequences.
“When I hear a report that says to the governor, ‘This is all this fraud,’ and he’s done nothing about it, I ask myself, ‘Was anyone involved in the criminal conduct? Was there anyone in his office who was involved in the criminal conduct?'” Vance said.
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“I am [going to] Assuring the American people that we will look into these matters, we [going to] Check it out, we’re [going to] Take it seriously,” Vance added. “Because if there was a crime, people should go to jail for it. “
A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office pushed back on Vance’s comments, telling Fox News Digital that California has long struggled to root out fraud.
“Combating fraud is nothing new for California, which is why Governor Newsom suspended all new hospice provider licenses back in 2022 to root out fraud while preventing bad actors from entering the system. We are pleased to see the Trump administration follow California’s lead in this regard, and we have been calling on them to do so for weeks,” a spokesman for the governor said.
“California welcomes federal cooperation in fraud prevention. If the Trump administration wants to focus on insider criminality, they don’t need to go too far — pardoning criminal cronies and letting bad guys off the hook has been a flagship of the president’s administration, as long as those people donate or vote for him,” the spokesperson added.
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Vice President J.D. Vance speaks at Bangor International Airport in Maine on May 14, 2026 to promote the administration’s anti-fraud initiatives.
Newsom’s office also said in a post on X that the governor has acknowledged the fraud problem and has previously expressed a willingness to work with federal officials to combat it. In a separate response to Vance on X regarding alleged fraud in the Los Angeles area, Newsom wrote:
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“The Trump administration — home to the biggest fraudsters on Earth — is trying to blame California for problems with its federal programs. It’s good to see the Fed finally taking fraud seriously in the programs they themselves administer… just 15 months after Trump took office.”
Vance said Wednesday that the task force is sending out letters asking states to show they are aggressively combating Medicaid fraud.
“If they don’t aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud, we will stop funding these anti-fraud units,” Vance warned.
Original source of the article: J.D. Vance warns blue state officials could face jail time over multibillion-dollar fraud epidemic