Tag: taxes

JD Vance: California Fraud Dwarfs Theft of Federal Funds in Minnesota

Vice President JD Vance revealed this week that about $7 billion worth of Small Business Administration (SBA) fraud has been discovered in California, an indicator the theft of federal funds across all departments in the Golden State could well exceed any other state’s.

“I think we have a fraud problem that is much worse in California than it is in Minnesota,” Vance said in an interview Thursday with Newsmax.

He continued, “I was talking actually to our small business administrator and I think she found probably a half billion dollars of fraud in Minneapolis and the broader Minnesota area. I think she’s found 7 billion dollars worth of fraud in California.”

“This is unfortunately a problem that is much bigger than Minnesota,” he added. ”But it also highlights how absurd this effort to prevent immigration enforcement is.”

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Zohran Mamdani Announces That Children of Illegal Aliens Will be Included in City’s ‘Free’ Childcare Program

New York City’s new Democratic Socialist (communist) Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently made it clear that the children of people in the country illegally will be included in the city’s new ‘free’ childcare program.

He went on to reaffirm New York’s status as a sanctuary city and pushed lies about ICE arresting people without showing warrants.

It’s amazing that New York City is going down this road just as a daycare centered fraud scandal is on the verge of unseating the governor and attorney general in Minnesota.

FOX News reports:

Mamdani clarifies NYC won’t check immigration status for universal childcare enrollees

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani clarified Friday that the city wouldn’t check the immigration status of children enrolling in his administration’s universal pre-K and 3-K programs.

“Just to put it very clearly, these are programs for every single New Yorker,” Mamdani, who took office at the beginning of the year, said in a media roundtable discussion. “These are not programs that are going to ask the immigration status of any one of the children.

“All of those children are New Yorkers. They should all be enrolled in 3-K and pre-K, no matter where they were born or where they come from. And we are also proud to be a sanctuary city.”

He said that means ICE agents are denied access to schools, hospitals and city properties “unless those ICE agents can present a judicial warrant signed by a judge. We know that the vast majority of the time, ICE agents are not presenting that kind of documentation. If they’re presenting any kind of documentation, it tends to be an administrative warrant. And, a lot of times, there isn’t any kind of documentation provided.”

The mayor said earlier that the program is open to any New Yorkers who have children turning 3 or 4 anytime in 2026, adding the program could save New Yorkers tens of thousands of dollars a year “by providing them with free childcare.”

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California man arrested for allegedly stealing millions in homeless funds

California officials have arrested Alexander Soofer, who allegedly used tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars meant to house and feed the homeless to fund his lavish lifestyle, Fox News has learned. 

Soofer was the executive director of the charity Abundant Blessings, which received government funding for its work.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in a news conference on Friday that Soofer has been charged with wire fraud, a felony that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

“I want to tell you a little bit about his organization, Abundant Blessings. It was a South Los Angeles-based charity whose purpose is to help house and properly feed the estimated 72,000 homeless people living in the greater Los Angeles area. His organization received more than $23 million in taxpayer funds for the purpose of housing and feeding the homeless,” Essayli said.

“California was pushing this money out quickly. A lot of money went out the door, with, frankly, very little vetting, very little checks and balances. And, he’s one of the individuals that got it in this organization,” he added.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO AFFORDABILITY? Tax Rate in Virginia Poised to Become Highest in the Nation After Democrats Take Over

For months now, Democrats in various locations have been running on talking points about ‘affordability’ but it is just talking points, nothing more.

Case in point, Virginia. Democrats took control of Virginia just days ago and the state is already poised to have the highest tax rate in the country, beating even California.

Does that sound like affordability to you?

From Liberty Unyielding, via the Fairfax GOP:

Virginia State Tax Rate Could Rise From 5.75% to 13.8%, Highest In The Nation

Bills pending in the Virginia state legislature could raise the state income tax a lot. The most likely to pass bill would increase the state income tax rate from 5.75% to 8% on incomes over $600,000 and 10% on incomes over $1,000,000. Another bill would impose an additional 3.8% tax (a “net investment income tax”) on most income above $500,000. If both bills pass, Virginia would have an 13.8% tax rate. That would be higher than what is currently the highest state tax rate in America, the 13.3% rate in California for households with million-dollar incomes. It would be far higher than the top tax rates in the region around Virginia, such as the 3.99% tax rate in North Carolina, the 4.82% rate in West Virginia, and the zero percent tax rate in Tennessee, which has no state income tax.

The most likely to pass bill is HB 979, introduced by Delegate Vivian Watts, the powerful chair of the Finance Committee in Virginia’s House of Delegates. HB 979 “establishes two new tax brackets beginning on and after January 1, 2027, that tax income in excess of $600,000 but not in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of eight percent and income in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of 10 percent.”

But wait, there’s more!

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Legislation Proposed To Make It Easier To Denaturalize Somali Fraudsters

In the wake of the massive Somali-fraud scandal out of Minnesota and other states, President Donald Trump wants to denaturalize American immigrants convicted of crimes and deport them, but the current legal framework and federal bureaucracy make such sweeping denaturalization efforts difficult to achieve quickly. 

“I would do it in a heartbeat if they were dishonest,” Trump told the New York Times earlier this month. “I think that many of the people that came in from Somalia, they hate our country.”

Existing federal law provides limited pathways for revoking the citizenship of naturalized citizens. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act the government can denaturalize individuals who obtained citizenship through fraud, misrepresentation, or the concealment of material facts during the naturalization process. The law does not allow automatic revocation based solely on crimes committed after naturalization. Current denaturalization proceedings require civil lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice in federal court or criminal prosecutions for naturalization fraud, both demanding individualized evidence, extensive litigation, and meeting high burdens of proof. Civil cases require “clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence,” while criminal prosecutions demand proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has proposed a solution to this problem. He’s introduced the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act in the Senate to expand federal denaturalization authority. The legislation creates a 10-year window after naturalization during which citizens who commit specified crimes could face citizenship revocation and deportation. Among those offenses are welfare fraud exceeding $10,000, aggravated felonies, espionage, and joining terrorist organizations, a category the bill explicitly extends to gangs and drug cartels. The measure also lowers the threshold for federal authorities to begin denaturalization proceedings by broadening the legal grounds beyond fraud committed during the citizenship application process.

The bill even includes a fallback provision that automatically reduces the revocation window from ten years to five years if courts strike down the longer period as unconstitutional.

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Virginia Democrat Moves to Squash Oversight of Nonprofits After Somali Fraud Scandal

A Virginia state Democrat introduced a bill that would bar the state from verifying eligibility to receive federal taxpayer benefits.

“No state agency responsible for the administration of federal funds shall impose a requirement on a nonprofit charitable organization providing a federal public benefit to determine, verify, or otherwise require proof of eligibility of any applicant for such benefits,” the one-page bill stated, which was proposed by state Delegate Jessica Anderson.

The Dominion State Democrat’s bill was introduced as the nation has increasingly scrutinized the misuse of taxpayer funds. The Trump administration has moved to clamp down on fraud across many federal benefit programs.

Billions of dollars of taxpayer funds have been lost due to fraud related to Minnesota’s Somali community.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged at least 78 people as part of the “Feeding our Future” scandal, named for a Somali-linked nonprofit that bilked taxpayers of $250 million.

Those accused reportedly faked invoices, attendance records, and the distribution of meals in low-income and other areas in Minnesota.

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Aimee Bock, “mastermind” of Minnesota’s biggest fraud scheme, says “I wish I could go back and do things differently”

The Trump administration has justified its ongoing immigration crackdown in Minnesota by citing a need to curb fraud and pointing to a widening scandal involving members of the Somali American community. Yet prosecutors say the mastermind of the state’s biggest fraud scheme to date was not Somali but a White woman — 45-year-old Aimee Bock. 

In an exclusive interview from her jail cell, Bock defended her conduct, admitted regrets and argued that state officials who she worked with should bear some of the blame. It was the first time Bock spoke publicly since she was arrested for her role in what prosecutors say was a $250 million COVID-era effort to defraud a federal program to feed hungry children. 

“I wish I could go back and do things differently, stop things, catch things,” said Bock, who was the head of Feeding Our Future, the now-infamous nonprofit that signed up restaurants and caterers to receive taxpayer money for providing meals to kids. “I believed we were doing everything in our power to protect the program.”

So far, prosecutors have charged 78 defendants connected to Feeding Our Future, with more than 60 pleading guilty or convicted at trial. Nearly all are East African or of Somali descent, except for Aimee Bock.

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Taxing Lawnmowers, Gym Passes, And DoorDash Proves Dems Actually Hate ‘Affordability’

“Affordability” was the word of the year in Virginia politics in 2025.

“Affordability takes center stage in New Jersey, Virginia governor races,” ABC News‘ Benjamin Siegel wrote on November 2, 2025.

“Spanberger turns Virginia governor’s race into a test of Trump’s economy,” Politico’s Erin Doherty and Brakkton Booker wrote on October 29, 2025. “Spangberger has stuck to a message on the economy, specifically the cost of life for Virginians.”

“It’s not about inflation or the economy — the election instead delivered a ‘wake-up call’ on affordability politics, top pollster says,” Fortune’s Jason Ma wrote on November 8, 2025.

And Democrats won on this message.

Abigail Spanberger beat incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears while Democrats picked up seats in the state legislature. A post-election poll conducted by CBS News found that “‘economy’ voters voted for Abigail Spanberger over Winsome Earle-Sears by more than 20 points.”

Affordability carried the day — until Democrats actually got into office. Within weeks of Election Day, Virginia Democrats have made clear that “affordability” was never more than a campaign slogan.

House Bill 978 would dramatically expand Virginia’s sales and use tax to cover a ton of everyday services. Under the bill, taxes would be applied to gym memberships and fitness classes, dry cleaning, laundry services, pet care, home repairs and cleaning services, car repairs, delivery and shipping services, digital services and event planning.

In other words, the things that normal Virginians pay for to live their lives may soon cost more.

The revenue, meanwhile, is earmarked for transit authorities while another portion would be distributed on the “basis of the high-need student population in the locality.” The formula for “high-need student” includes students in social programs, special education, or English language learners.

Then comes Democrats’ anti-lawn crusade.

House Bill 881 would “Provide[s] that any locality with a population density of at least 2,500 persons per square mile may by ordinance prohibit or regulate the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.”

Yet at the same time, House Bill 557 would establish “a separate classification of tangible personal property for electric-powered landscaping equipment in a trade or business and used to maintain commercial, public, or private gardens, lawns, trees, shrubs, or other plants, including lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws.”

In other words, Virginia Democrats are trying to ban gas-powered leaf blowers while raising the tax on electric landscaping equipment.

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Biden’s FBI paid anti-Trump ‘Sedition Hunters’ as informants in J6, Arctic Frost probes, memos show

he Biden-era FBI made more than $100,000 in payments to informants who were members of an anonymous group of tech sleuths known as the “Sedition Hunters” to gather and analyze video evidence in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Arctic Frost probes despite the group’s significant anti-Trump fervor and known ties to foreigners, according to memos reviewed by Just the News.

The payments are due to be disclosed by FBI Director Kash Patel to Congress along with acknowledged concerns that the Christopher Wray-run bureau’s approval of certain members of the Sedition Hunters as confidential human sources may have violated bureau policies in the Domestic Investigation and Operations Guide (DIOG) concerning informant bias, informant secrecy, foreign influence, and contracting transparency, officials said.

Government officials said group members were first engaged in January 2021, just days after the Capitol riot, to assist making arrests in the January 6 case by identifying potential defendants using facial recognition software. The group members received at least $150,000 in payments for that work and other work related to the Arctic Frost probe into whether Trump supporters violated the law by promoting alternate electors to be considered for the certification of the 2020 election.

Biden-era FBI knew paid foreigners were using spyware to identify J6 arrestees

One of the earliest emails from the FBI’s Washington field office that oversaw that work showed the FBI was clearly aware the group had foreign connections and may actually be using software from overseas to identify American citizens for arrest, according to a copy of the email reviewed by Just the News.

The late January 2021 email from the FBI’s Washington field office stated that “we have a sedition hunter from the United Kingdom running facial recognition software” with the tipster telling the bureau that this UK-based so-called sedition hunter “just found this possible match” to an alleged January 6 suspect a few minutes prior, sharing the picture with the FBI.

FBI Director Kash Patel told Just the News on Tuesday night he is concerned that the paid informant relationship with Sedition Hunters members was inappropriate, and he was committed to working with Congress to develop rules to avoid such entanglements in the future.

“The American people deserve the truth about how the FBI was weaponized against them. Paying openly anti-Trump activists to identify Americans using questionable technology is a stunning abuse of bureau authorities and a clear violation of longstanding informant rules,” Patel said in a statement to Just the News.

“Under my leadership, the FBI will fully disclose these actions to Congress and ensure the bureau never again serves partisan or political ends instead of the Constitution,” he added.

Officials said the FBI believes it has fired all supervisors who were involved in the informant relationship, but is doing an audit to make sure he didn’t overlook any players.

Officials said a Sedition Hunter member also was engaged as an FBI confidential human source in summer 2023, receiving $20,000 in payments in the Arctic Frost probe. The source was specifically tasked with looking for video evidence tying Trump supporters who attended the president’s Jan. 6, 2021 speech on the Ellipse to the subsequent riot at the Capitol.

That footage was being sought as the FBI and prosecutors sought to tie Trump in a criminal conspiracy to the violence that happened at the Capitol even though the president never went there himself, officials said.

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BUSTED: California Ordered to Return $1+ BILLION After Dr. Oz–Led Audit Exposes Federal Healthcare Funds Spent on Illegal Immigrants

The Trump administration has dropped the hammer on California and a coalition of deep-blue states after a sweeping federal audit uncovered more than $1.3 billion in misused federal healthcare funds spent on non-emergency medical care for illegal immigrants, a clear violation of federal law.

According to a bombshell report highlighted on Fox News, the administration’s aggressive audits, led by Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz, found that seven states and Washington, D.C., improperly billed the federal government for healthcare services that go far beyond what is legally permitted.

Under federal law, states may only use federal Medicaid funds to cover emergency medical services for illegal immigrants. Routine care, elective procedures, and non-emergency treatments must be paid for by the states themselves.

That did not happen.

Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli wrote on X, “California must return more than $1 billion to the federal government after an audit by Dr. Oz and his team uncovered federal dollars being spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. We are teaming up to combat healthcare fraud so the money can be used for American citizens who need it!”

Federal auditors identified nearly $1.4 billion owed back to U.S. taxpayers, with California alone accounting for the overwhelming majority:

  • California: ~$1.3 billion
  • New York: ~$30.7 million
  • Illinois: ~$29.8 million
  • Minnesota: ~$12.7 million
  • Oregon: ~$5.4 million
  • Washington: ~$2.3 million
  • Washington, D.C.: ~$2.1 million
  • Colorado: ~$1.5 million
  • TOTAL: ~$1.394 billion

These funds were billed to the federal government for routine medical care, not emergencies, an explicit violation of Medicaid rules.

California officials predictably denied wrongdoing, claiming the state “routinely reimburses” the federal government. But the audit findings directly contradict those claims—and the financial damage is already done.

Governor Gavin Newsom has long championed “universal healthcare regardless of immigration status,” proudly expanding taxpayer-funded care to the state’s entire undocumented population.

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