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keith ellison
Minnesota AG Ellison: Vance Referred Him, Walz to DOJ Over Fraud Cases as 'Political Stunt'
"It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries," said Keith Ellison.
Jun 09, 2026
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison forcefully pushed back against Vice President JD Vance's Monday night announcement on Fox News and social media that he had referred the state AG and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to the US Department of Justice following allegations in a GOP congressional report that the pair was aware of fraud involving federal funds and failed to stop it.
"The allegations in the House Republican report are unfounded, and Vice President Vance's referral is a political stunt from an administration that uses the machinery of government to target its perceived opponents while extending leniency to those aligned with its interests," Ellison told CNN, highlighting how his office has investigated and prosecuted allegations of fraud involving public programs.
"It is deeply troubling to see official powers and public resources diverted away from serving the people and instead aimed at pursuing political adversaries," added Ellison, who is seeking another term in November. "That is not what government is for, and it diminishes public trust in our institutions."
Dozens of people were charged in Minnesota as a result of a federal probe into abuse of taxpayer funds during the Covid-19 pandemic that began under former President Joe Biden and related investigations that have continued since President Donald Trump returned to office last year. Trump has repeatedly used the cases to attack Somali Americans with racist rants, as well as to target Democratic politicians.
The new referral is not the first time the Trump administration has targeted Ellison and Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate who dropped his bid for another term as governor early this year. The DOJ subpoenaed the pair and other top Minnesota officials in January as part of its investigation into an alleged conspiracy to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers sent to the Twin Cities by the president—a probe the governor denounced as part of a broader trend of the administration "weaponizing the justice system."
As the White House faced intense national backlash for the deadly operation in Minnesota, Trump appointed Vance as "fraud czar" in February, and the vice president swiftly announced that the administration would pause some Medicaid funding for the state over fraud concerns. Walz said at the time that "this has nothing to do with fraud" and "is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota."
In March, Walz and Ellison testified before the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about the fraud cases, clashing with GOP lawmakers. At the time, the panel released an interim version of the report that was published on Monday. The Minnesota Star Tribune noted that the March edition "prompted House Democrats on the Oversight Committee to publish a competing report accusing Republicans of singling out Minnesota for political purposes."
Even before Vance's referral, spokespeople for Walz and Ellison were deeply critical of the final report, which claims that they "were aware of widespread fraud in federally funded social services programs for years, possessed the legal and procedural authority to stop payments and ban fraudulent providers from participating in these programs, but repeatedly failed to act."
As MPR News reported:
"This committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke. They continue to rehash Covid-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ICE, and the president’s insider trading," [said] Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for Walz. "Gov. Walz is glad to see fraudsters are going to prison. If the committee is concerned about corruption, they should investigate why President Trump continues to let fraudsters out of prison."
Walz’s office noted that several changes have been made over the last few years to address fraud, including new legislation creating an Office of the Inspector General, which will have independent power to investigate fraud.
Brian Evans, a spokesperson for Attorney General Keith Ellison, said, "Republicans in Congress issued a report riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations in an effort to politicize the issue of fraud, instead of actually helping Minnesota protect tax dollars and go after fraudsters."
In addition to releasing the updated report, the Oversight Committee's chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to Vance about it. The vice president then announced his referral on Jesse Watters' show, and posted his letter to the DOJ on social media.
While Oversight Committee Republicans celebrated Vance's post on social media, journalist Marcy Wheeler responded, "This fraud effort has ALWAYS been an attempt to distract from far bigger right-wing crimes, especially by Trump."
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'Justice Demands No Less': ICE Agent Arrested on Charges of Lying About Minneapolis Shooting
“In Minnesota, we believe in equal justice under the law," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. "That means nobody is above the law, including agents of the federal government."
May 29, 2026
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was arrested in Texas on Friday after he was charged by Minnesota officials for allegedly shooting a Venezuelan immigrant during an ICE operation in Minneapolis and lying about what happened.
Christian Castro, 52, was deployed as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push in the Twin Cities, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” and was charged by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty earlier this month with four counts of felony assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
The charges stem from the shooting of Venezuelan national Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis at his home on January 14 as ICE agents pursued his roommate, another Venezuelan immigrant named Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.
According to The New York Times, Castro was arrested Friday after being tracked down by investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Texas Rangers and agents with the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General carried out the arrest, according to the Minnesota-based Sahan Journal.
“Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” Moriarty said. “The BCA’s investigative work was instrumental in this process, and we’re grateful for their collaboration as we pursue accountability for this incident on behalf of Mr. Sosa-Celis, his family, and our community.”
Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were originally charged by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), after Castro claimed that he had shot in self-defense when the men assaulted him with a broom and a shovel, claims that were parroted by then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
But the charges were later dropped after video of the incident and an examination of X-ray evidence demonstrated that Castro's claims were false. Castro and another agent were subsequently placed on administrative leave by DHS while they were investigated internally for lying under oath.
“In Minnesota, we believe in equal justice under the law. That means nobody is above the law, including agents of the federal government,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison following news of Castro's arrest on Friday. “I am pleased to hear Christian Castro has been taken into custody and will stand trial for the crimes he allegedly committed in Minnesota. Justice demands no less.”
Castro is the second ICE agent to be charged by Moriarty's office for their role in Operation Metro Surge, which civil rights groups and Minnesota officials have characterized as a lawless immigration crackdown involving racial profiling, warrantless arrests, violent raids, and multiple shootings by federal agents.
Another agent, Gregory Morgan Jr., was charged last month with two counts of felony second-degree assault after he allegedly pulled a gun on two local residents during a traffic stop. Morgan turned himself in to local authorities last week and was released on bond.
Ellison also sued the Trump administration in March for refusing to cooperate with the state investigation into the shooting of Sosa-Celis, and other probes into the fatal shootings of two US citizens.
Moriarty's office has not yet brought charges against ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Minneapolis mother Renee Good in January, or Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez in connection with the deadly shooting of Department of Veterans Affairs nurse Alex Pretti later that month.
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Trump DOJ Sues Minnesota in 'Desperate Effort to Shield' Big Oil From Climate Case
"The American people deserve a Department of Justice that fights for us, and it's a tremendous shame that Trump's DOJ would rather sell us out to Big Oil," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
May 04, 2026
Just weeks after the Minnesota Supreme Court allowed the state's climate deception lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry to move into discovery, President Donald Trump's Department of Justice took action in federal court on Monday to block the case.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison first sued the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and its subsidiary Flint Hills Resources in state court for orchestrating and executing a "campaign of deception" regarding the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency "with disturbing success" in 2020.
The industry has been fighting to kill the case since then, and the DOJ on Monday filed a complaint in the District of Minnesota against both the state and Ellison. In a related statement, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward declared that "President Trump promised to unleash American energy dominance, and Minnesota officials cannot undermine his directive by mandating that their woke climate preferences become the uniform policy of our nation."
"Minnesota's attempt to impose a national regulation on global greenhouse gas emissions not only is preempted by federal law, but also undermines affordable and reliable American energy, weakening the national and economic security of the United States," Woodward continued, summarizing the argument made in the new federal filing.
While the fossil fuel entities targeted by Minnesota welcomed the Trump DOJ's intervention, Ellison made clear that he was undeterred.
"In 2020, I sued Big Oil for lying to Minnesotans about the true causes of climate change, then sticking us with the bill for the harms it is causing," Ellison said. "Six years later, we are still waiting to go to trial because Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions."
"This frivolous and meritless lawsuit is just their latest attempt to hide from accountability, and I will move to have it dismissed immediately," he pledged. "The American people deserve a Department of Justice that fights for us, and it's a tremendous shame that Trump's DOJ would rather sell us out to Big Oil."
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which supports cases against polluters, also ripped the federal filing.
"This is a desperate effort to shield the architects of Big Oil's decadeslong climate deception from facing accountability," said Wiles. "Big Oil and the Trump administration are clearly terrified that Minnesota's lawsuit will reveal exactly how these defendants defrauded the public about the dangers of fossil fuels. Federal courts dismissed the Trump administration's last two attempts to stop states from taking Big Oil companies to court. This naked political intimidation tactic should meet the same fate."
Trump was backed by Big Oil during the 2024 election and campaigned on a promise to "drill, baby, drill." Since returning to office, he's aimed to serve industry interests in a range of ways, including last year's executive order directing the US attorney general to protect "American energy from state overreach."
The Justice Department noted in its Monday statement that last year, its Environment and Natural Resources Division "filed complaints against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont to stop those states' unconstitutional climate actions."
Dozens of state and local governments have filed cases similar to Ellison's in Minnesota. The US Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments related to one from Colorado that dates back to 2018: Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County.
Meanwhile, Trump and Big Oil's allies in Congress are also working to protect polluters. Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill that, if passed, would "prohibit liability against those engaged in the mining, extraction, production, refinement, transportation, distribution, marketing, manufacture, or sale of energy for damages or injunctive or other relief from the use of their products, and for other purposes."
Wiles noted at the time that "Big Oil companies have raked in massive profits at the pump while lying to the American people about the catastrophic harm of their products, and now they want to deny Americans their rightful day in court and stick taxpayers with the bill for the mess they made."
"If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong," he asked, "why do they need immunity?"
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