As the fraud crisis in Minnesota continues to unravel, many questions remain unanswered.
That’s why Alpha News took questions about fraud from Alpha News audience members to Representative Kristin Robbins, Chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee.
WATCH:
One of the top questions concerned just how much money has been lost to fraud in Minnesota. Robbins joined Liz Collin’s podcast to talk about that and much more.
Collin asked Rep. Robbins about the often-cited amount of $9 billion dollars.
“The nine billion came from former acting US attorney Joe Thompson, who was the lead prosecutor on many of these cases. He was fantastic,” Robbins said.
She also provided some insight about that that number was determined: “And when we got the list of the 14 high risk programs, he [Thompson] said over the last five years that totaled about 18 billion, and he expected half of that was fraud. So that’s where the nine billion comes from.”
However, Robbins also said “I think that’s a conservative estimate because that’s just in the high-risk programs in Medicaid. That doesn’t count CCAP, that doesn’t count Feeding our Future. My guess is it’s much higher.”
“The estimate back in 2018 on the childcare or the CCAP fraud was 100 million a year. So if you extrapolate that, you know, forward eight years where we are, 800 million just in the CCAP fraud,” Robbins added.
Further discussing the amount of lost taxpayer dollars in Minnesota, Robbins explained that “our SNAP error rate is the highest in our region, 12.8 something percent, a 40% increase just over last year. And that’s not all fraud, but it’s certainly waste. So I definitely think nine billion is a conservative number, but it’s a good starting place.”
Will there be accountability?
Another question asked by the Alpha News audience involved accountability. In response, Robbins said, “Minnesotans deserve accountability and they should expect it.”
“I get this question a lot too, and I always try to remind people as a legislator, we cannot arrest people. People want to know why I haven’t arrested Tim Walz,” Robbins explained.
“I’m frustrated like everyone else, but it takes a long time to build a case. I also know the House Oversight Committee in DC, the House Ethics Committee is looking at Representative Omar,” she added.
In pointing out that legislators are responsible for making laws—not enforcing them—Rep. Robbins said that “the wheels of justice are turning, but as conservatives, we follow the rule of law and we need to be patient and let that system do its work.”
‘It’s been shameful’ how whistleblowers have been treated
The Alpha News audience also asked about how the Walz Administration responded to reports of fraud and handled whistleblowers.
Robbins replied bluntly, “It’s been shameful.”
She also explained how “people who raised their hand and said they saw problems in these programs were retaliated against, investigated, removed from their jobs. One gentleman was so hounded he moved out of state…”
We appreciate Liz Collin so much for standing up for ethics and integrity in our state. We can provide some insights into the questions people have about fraud:
1. To date, there are no protections offered to whistleblowers and concerns are still not being addressed. Retaliation… https://t.co/UFihAPqZIh
— Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary (@Minnesota_DHS) June 25, 2026
Legislative changes made in 2025
“What we did in the 2025 legislature is we expanded whistleblower protection… And so now that there are new places where they can report, that’s when we started seeing these whistleblower reports come out of the woodwork. And that’s really helped us identify all these other vectors of fraud,” Robbins explained.
Despite the progress, Robbins said more drastic measures are necessary.
“To be clear, we have to absolutely clean house in the Walz administration, get rid of all these commissioners, all these deputy commissioners, all these political appointees,” she said.
What can we do?
In response to another question asked by the Alpha News audience about what can citizens do about fraud, Robbins said, “Everyone needs to vote.”
“People who sit at home are just getting more of the same. So we have to engage with the public to make sure they’re holding people accountable,” she added.
What’s next for Robbins and Minnesota’s ‘slide into socialism’
In May, Robbins announced she was ending her run for governor. She will also retire as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives in December.
“I do want to stay engaged in the fight against fraud,” Robbins said, while also pointing out that one aspect of her withdrawal from the governor’s race wasn’t covered by the media.
“One of the aspects of the statement that I put out when I got out of the governor’s race really hasn’t been covered at all was my whole statement about why our biggest fight is the fight to stop Minnesota’s slide into socialism.”
“Even [in] the most recent elections in New York, we see that socialism is on the rise. And I think in Minnesota—again, getting back to saying what’s true—the Democrat socialists who run the party in St. Paul and at the Capitol are not your grandparents’ Democrats,” Robbins said.
“They’re not the old school DFL. We have to help Minnesotans wake up to that and understand that they see the government taking over more sectors of the economy: education, childcare, health care, housing. They see that as a good. And they want government to be the answer for everything. And that will not serve Minnesotans well,” Robbins explained.
“That has never worked in the past where it’s been tried, it’s been an abject failure,” Robbins said in pointing out that the “most important thing we can do is to fight against the rise of Democrat socialism in Minnesota.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
