Donald Trump announced a fresh crackdown on \u201cfraud\u201d in Democratic states and tapped JD Vance to lead the charge. Officials swiftly announced a string of arrests in California.<\/p>\n
In a Truth Social post on Friday, the US president announced that his vice-president was now \u201cin charge of \u2018fraud\u2019 in the United States\u201d, claiming the problem is \u201cmassive and pervasive\u201d and that Vance\u2019s new role as \u201cfraud czar\u201d will be \u201ca major factor in how great the future of our country will be\u201d.<\/p>\n
Without citing evidence, Trump said that Vance would focus on \u201ceverywhere but primarily in those blue states where crooked Democrat politicians \u2026 have had a \u2018free for all\u2019 in the unprecedented theft of taxpayer money\u201d.<\/p>\n
He pointed to California<\/a>, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine and New York, and alleged fraud was \u201cso large that, if successful, we would literally be able to balance our American budget\u201d, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n \u201cRaids have already started in L.A.,\u201d Trump said. Authorities arrested eight people for allegedly perpetrating over $50m in healthcare fraud, largely in southern California, federal officials announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n Most of the accused, which include healthcare professionals such as nurses and a psychologist, allegedly schemed to defraud Medicare by running \u201csham\u201d hospice care facilities where they used people who were not terminally ill as beneficiaries, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.<\/p>\n It comes as the US remains engaged in a war on Iran that cost $12.7bn<\/a> in its first six days. The Trump administration on Friday also put forward a budget proposal under which defense spending would surge to its highest level in decades, while other government programs would face steep cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Allies of Trump are meanwhile increasingly alleging that blue states are complicit in fraud.<\/p>\n Last December, Trump froze<\/a> federal childcare funding to Minnesota over such accusations. He has also heavily deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the state amid controversial immigration raids which resulted in the killings of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as widespread protests.<\/p>\n In February, Vance announced<\/a> that the Trump administration would \u201ctemporarily halt\u201d more than a quarter-billion dollars in Medicaid funds to Minnesota as part of efforts to ensure the state was a \u201cgood steward of the American people\u2019s tax money\u201d.<\/p>\n Minnesota\u2019s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, pushed back at the time, saying: \u201cThis has nothing to do with fraud.\u201d He added: \u201cThe agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DoJ is gutting the US attorney\u2019s office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has also previously<\/a> claimed \u201cthere is more fraud in California than there is in Minnesota\u201d.<\/p>\n In recent months, the Trump administration<\/a> argued that southern California was rife with healthcare fraud and pledged to crack down, while frequently using the matter politically to criticize the state\u2019s Democratic leadership. Nearly all cases cited by the justice department in the wave of arrests as part of \u201cOperation Never Say Die\u201d were tied to southern California.<\/p>\n \u201cThe southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of healthcare fraud,\u201d said Akil Davis, assistant director at the FBI, who claimed that the US loses \u201chundreds of billions of dollars annually to healthcare fraud\u201d.<\/p>\n In response to the news, Gavin Newsom<\/a> defended his state, saying California has taken action. The governor said that he banned new hospice licenses in 2021 and that the state revoked more than 280 licenses since 2024 and pursued more than 100 criminal cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Administration \u2013 home to the biggest fraudsters on Earth \u2013 is trying to blame California for issues with THEIR federal programs,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cGlad to see the Feds finally taking seriously the fraud in the programs they themselves manage\u2026only 15 months after Trump took office.\u201d<\/p>\n In a news conference announcing the arrests, Dr Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said his agency planned to review every hospice in California.<\/p>\n The Guardian has approached the governors\u2019 offices of Illinois, Minnesota, Maine and New York<\/a> for comment.<\/p>\n Since retaking office last January, Trump has granted presidential pardons<\/a> to dozens of people convicted of white-collar crimes, including several individuals who were convicted of fraud.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, earlier this week, Trump delivered a primetime address in which he said<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019re fighting wars. We can\u2019t take care of daycare,\u201d adding: \u201cIt\u2019s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare \u2013 all these individual things, they can do it on a state basis.\u201d<\/p>\n