Cash for crowds scandal as lobbyist ‘offered hundreds of dollars to recruit attendees for JD Vance speech’

Vice President JD Vance‘s appearance in a state critical to the 2028 Republican presidential nomination is raising eyebrows due to a lobbyist’s bid to entice attendees.

Ahead of a rally Vance headlined in Des Moines with Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn that took place last Tuesday, a text message was sent by an Iowa ethanol lobbyist recruiting spectators to attend. The messages contained an offer of payment.

The text, obtained and published by Iowa Starting Line read:

‘Gentlemen, Jake Swanson here. I wanted to invite you to join me in seeing Vice President JD Vance this afternoon in Des Moines. I do some work for an ethanol company and so if you’re able to join, I will give you $100, and for anyone that you recruit, an additional $25. No limit on referrals, so if someone recruits a group of 20 to show up, that’s $500.’

Swanson is a lobbyist and a former policy adviser to Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds.

In a statement to Iowa Starting Line, Swanson defended the move: ‘I love ethanol and what it does for our state. 

‘So I was happy to bring some Iowa State kids to the rally to celebrate all the things Trump-Vance have done for biofuels and I think there’s opportunity for so much more. This is what I like to do in my own personal spare time,’ Swanson noted.

The Daily Mail reached out for comment to the Vice President’s office, which did not respond in time for publication. There is no suggestion that Vance or his team were aware of Swanson’s actions. Swanson was also contacted for additional comment.

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FBI Raids 22 Minnesota Child Care Centers and Businesses, Including the Infamous ‘Quality Learing Center,’ as Part of Fraud Investigation Linked to the Somali Community

The FBI, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement, executed 22 search warrants across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in Minnesota early Tuesday morning.

The targets included multiple childcare centers and other businesses, most reportedly tied to the Somali community, as part of the ongoing investigation into social services fraud that has allegedly cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the operation in a statement to NBC News.

“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the spokesperson said.

The raids were not related to immigration enforcement, officials stressed repeatedly.

Instead, they focused on alleged fraud in programs such as childcare assistance, Medicaid-funded services including autism support, and pandemic-era initiatives.

One high-profile location hit was the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis, a day care that gained national attention after a viral video by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley showed no children present despite receiving millions in public funds.

The center was later reported to be closed.

Minnesota has been the center of repeated, large-scale fraud schemes involving federally funded social services.

The Feeding Our Future case alone involved over $250 million in fraudulent claims for meals that were never served.

The Department of Justice charged 47 defendants in that scheme in 2022, with dozens pleading guilty and additional convictions continuing to be secured.

Separate investigations have targeted fake autism services that allegedly defrauded taxpayers of $14 million, with multiple defendants indicted since September and at least one guilty plea.

The Trump administration has estimated total fraud losses in Minnesota social services programs at up to $19 billion.

The raids come just months after President Donald Trump declared a “war on fraud” and appointed Vice President JD Vance to lead a dedicated task force to root out waste in federal programs.

Vance commented on the raids in a post on X.

“The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding,” Vance wrote.

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WHCD Shooter’s BlueSky Account Reveals Violent ‘No Kings’ Protester’s Obsessive Anti-Trump Rants, Violent GIFs, JD Vance Attacks, and Pro-Ukraine Obsession

The 31-year-old California man arrested after opening fire while charging a Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner on Saturday had a public Bluesky account filled with aggressively anti-Trump rhetoric, criticism of Vice President JD Vance, strong support for Ukraine, and imagery implying violence.

Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, faces federal charges after the attempted assassination at the Washington Hilton, where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and other administration officials were in attendance.

In a manifesto sent to relatives, and since made public, Allen admitted to targeting Trump administration officials, and left writings in his hotel room describing Trump as a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor.”

Allen had checked into the Hilton the day before the event, having traveled by train from Los Angeles.

It has now been revealed that Allen was active on Bluesky under the handle “coldForce,” with eye emojis replacing the “o”s.

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Disgusting: Michigan Senate Candidate Under Fire After Comments About Vice President Vance’s ‘Brown Children’

Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim and socialist, is proof that not all press is good press.

He is already under fire for openly and proudly campaigning with controversial pro-Hamas/pro-Hezbollah influencer Hasan Piker.

A campaign event last August took a dark turn when he suggested “choking out” opponents.

“We need Democrats who have the courage to stand up to the power brokers in our own party, let alone Trump and his goons,” El-Sayed said to wild applause. “We don’t back down.”

“When they go low, we don’t go high,” he added as the crowd continued to roar. “We take them to the mud and choke them out!”

Now, after comments he made on Friday targeting Vice President JD Vance’s children, he is facing online blowback.

El-Sayed appeared on “The Allen Analysis Show,” and the subject of Vance’s personal life came up.

In discussing Second Lad Usha, El-Sayed said, “What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks? She’s like, ‘Damn, I have to sleep with him.’”

He continued, “I guess she’s pregnant so something is happening.”

“Can you imagine, he’s got Brown kids, at some point he’s going to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like, you made your career hating people who are different.”

“He’s got to look at his kids and be like, ‘Yeah, those are Brown kids, they’re mine,’ You know what I mean? ‘And I had Brown kids. I had Brown kids?’”

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Vance Pledges Probe Into Epstein ‘Pizza’ And ‘Grape Soda’ References

Vice President JD Vance has publicly committed to investigating references in the Jeffrey Epstein files that he says evoked the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, citing emails mentioning “pizzas or grape sodas” in odd contexts.

His remarks come as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche doubled down on the Department of Justice’s position that every relevant document has already been released, leaving critics to question whether the full truth about Epstein’s network will ever see daylight.

In remarks at a Turning Point USA event, Vance described reviewing the files and encountering an email that stood out.

“One person sent an e-mail to Jeffrey Epstein saying oh they were some really nice like pizzas or grape sodas or something like that,” he recalled. “And I remember it sounding like the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.”

His reaction was direct: “We should absolutely investigate.”

Vance added that he plans to follow up “to see whether we’ve investigated that person because we should. We absolutely should when you see evidence of sexual assault sexual misconduct regardless of who the powerful not fact.”

The comments have reignited scrutiny over language in the Epstein files that some have long argued resembles coded references first highlighted in 2016. Those earlier claims, known as Pizzagate, originated from WikiLeaks releases of John Podesta’s emails that contained repeated, seemingly out-of-context mentions of pizza alongside other odd terms.

Recent Epstein document dumps have revived the debate, with analysts pointing to hundreds of “pizza” references that do not appear to describe food.

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‘Bibi Sold It As Easy’: How A Vance-Netanyahu Call Exposed Chinks In US-Israel Alliance Over Iran War

As the Iran war grinds on with no clear endgame, a private phone call between US Vice-President JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blown the lid off quiet but consequential differences between the two allies.

Far from routine diplomacy, the exchange reflects growing unease in Washington over how the conflict was initially framed and how realistic the expectations were. It also highlights a deeper question now shaping the war effort: whether early assumptions about Iran’s internal fragility and the prospects of regime change were misjudged.

According to sources cited by Axios, Vance directly challenged Netanyahu’s pre-war projections, particularly around the likelihood of internal upheaval in Iran.

“Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was,” a US source told Axios. “And the VP was clear-eyed about some of those statements.”

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What Trump’s inner circle really thought of plan to go to war with Iran: CIA ‘dismissed regime-change plan as “farcical”. JD Vance said “it’s a bad idea”. But Donald went with his instinct’

Donald Trump’s inner circle’s almost all thought the Iran war was a bad idea when Israel gave a secret White House briefing that convinced him to launch Operation Epic Fury, it has been claimed.

Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to make his case for war in the Situation Room, The New York Times reports, a venue rarely used for in-person briefings with foreign leaders.

Seated across from the President on February 11, the Israeli prime minister delivered a detailed, hour-long presentation. His message was clear – Iran was vulnerable and the time was ripe for regime change. 

The Israeli delegation painted a picture of swift and decisive victory. Iran’s missile capabilities, they argued, could be dismantled within weeks.

The Strait of Hormuz would remain open, and retaliation against American targets would be minimal.

Behind the scenes, Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, could help spark an internal uprising to finish the job.

At one point, Netanyahu played a video montage highlighting potential future leaders of Iran should the regime collapse – including Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the country’s last shah.

Trump’s reaction was positive, and he appeared to be on board.

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JD Vance’s Task Force Uncovers $6 Billion in Potential Fraud, Begins Taking Action: Report

Vice President J.D. Vance has reportedly uncovered over $6 billion in potential fraud after President Donald Trump tapped him to lead a nationwide task force meant to root out criminal activity.

The task force has identified $6.3 billion in government contracts linked to potentially fraudulent businesses, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday.

“The task force, alongside the General Services Administration (GSA), are beginning to send out letters to nearly 400 businesses with government contracts that they believe could be fraudulent,” according to the report. The investigation found 895 contracts awarded to 392 businesses, totaling $6.3 billion, “with $3 billion still left to be rewarded.”

These businesses will have 30 days to prove their legitimacy and must provide evidence of a real, physical location where their operations take place.

The task force was created shortly after reports circulated of mass fraud that was uncovered in Minnesota earlier this year, when multiple day care centers — many run by Somali immigrants — were found to have no children enrolled, yet were still receiving massive quantities of taxpayer funds.

The Department of Justice estimated that several billion dollars have been stolen by phony organizations in Minnesota alone. The DOJ cited examples of waste and mismanagement of social services programs meant to provide food and health care for the needy.

In his executive order establishing the task force, Trump wrote, “The staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point. Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866 million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be spent in error.”

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Vance Says Tim Walz Could be Prosecuted in Fraud Probe, Signals California Voter Fraud Will Also be Investigated

Vice President JD Vance discussed his plans with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in an interview with Benny Johnson on Friday, where he said that Tim Walz and other Democratic officials could “absolutely” be prosecuted for defrauding taxpayers. 

Chaired by Vice President JD Vance, with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson as Vice Chairman, “the Task Force will coordinate measures to improve eligibility verification, implement pre-payment controls, detect high-risk fraud trends, and disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and the mechanisms through which fraud is committed,” according to the order.

Earlier in the interview, Vance stated that Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)  “definitely committed immigration fraud, against the United States of America” and that the task force is looking into what can be done about it, The Gateway Pundit reported. ‘We’re trying to look at what the remedies are. That’s the thing we’re trying to figure out is what are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud? How do you investigate her? How do you go after her?” he added, suggesting that she may also be involved in the mass welfare fraud in the Somali community.

When asked about failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, Vance trolled Walz’s horrendous debate performance against him, then said, “We’re going to have to maybe kick him again a little bit.”

“We’re absolutely going to prosecute it,” he said if the investigation shows that Walz engaged in criminal activity.

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JD Vance Drops Bombshell: ‘Ilhan Omar DEFINITELY Committed Immigration Fraud,’ Confirms White House Fraud Task Force is Going After Her

Vice President JD Vance has confirmed that the White House’s new federal fraud task force is actively investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar for immigration fraud, and he didn’t mince words about it.

Vance confirmed his belief that Omar “definitely committed immigration fraud” during an interview on The Benny Show, released on Friday, and that the task force is looking into what can be done about it.

“Yeah, so we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America,” Vance asserted.

The VP added that the task force, which he leads, is working with senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller to determine the legal remedies available now that the fraud has been identified.

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