Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said that Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz refused to provide him security during a scheduled interview at the state capitol amid ongoing protests and a high-profile fraud investigation.
Bessent told conservative activist Chris Rufo that Walz is “a coward” who is “afraid of what’s coming” amid Treasury Department investigations into allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. The interview, which was released on The Blaze, was initially scheduled to be held inside the Minnesota State Capitol, but it had to be moved to another location because Walz “would not guarantee that the Treasury Secretary of the United States of America would have police protection,” according to Bessent.
“Tim Walz is a coward. He is a coward,” Bessent said, adding, “He is afraid of what’s coming. He’s not going to be able to hide behind this curtain because we will get there, and I don’t have to go into the Capitol building to investigate him. I would love for him to come to Treasury and answer some questions. I can guarantee you that he will be safe and sound then. Depending on what we discover, I don’t know about his future.”
The Daily Wire reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
The state capitol was the site of at least one large demonstration last Friday, which remained peaceful as thousands of demonstrators gathered to hold a vigil for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Walz attended the vigil at the state capitol and was surrounded by state troopers, Fox 9 reported.
Bessent is in the Twin Cities as the Treasury Department seeks to “combat rampant government benefits fraud.” The fraud probe stems from a federal indictment against dozens of Minnesotans — most of them of Somali descent — alleging that they received state funds for welfare programs, but the funds were “diverted to benefit Somali fraud rings.”
The Treasury secretary’s visit to Minneapolis coincides with anti-ICE protests and clashes with federal law enforcement officers. The demonstrations have continued for more than five days after the shooting death of Good. Along with pushing back against the Trump administration’s fraud investigation, Minnesota also filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop the surge of federal agents to the state, arguing that Minnesota is being unfairly targeted over “differences of opinion.”
“The obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy, and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Shortly after Minnesota filed the lawsuit against the federal government, the Trump administration deployed 1,000 more Border Patrol agents to the state to continue the immigration crackdown.
On the fraud front, Bessent suggested that the federal investigation into Minnesota uncovered some troubling issues with Ellison.
“There are evidently some disturbing tapes of AG Ellison in meetings with people who donated to him — them calling for political favors to stop the investigations,” he said. “So, we’ll see. Again, I don’t want to get out ahead of the investigation. We’re going to be very methodical, and Chris, I can guarantee you, when the bear trap snaps, we’re going to get these folks.”
Bessent’s comment about Ellison likely refers to the attorney general’s highly scrutinized December 2021 meeting, during which Ellison spoke with individuals linked to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. A nearly 55-minute recording from the meeting revealed that Ellison condemned the Minnesota Education Department’s probe into Feeding Our Future, claiming it was done in “a very racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic manner.”
When reached for comment, Ellison’s office directed The Daily Wire to an op-ed the attorney general wrote last April in response to criticism of the meeting.
“I took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know and some turned out to have done bad things,” Ellison wrote in the op-ed. “I did nothing for them and took nothing from them. Some months later, some of them were held accountable for their illegal conduct in the Feeding Our Future case, as well they should have been. I’m glad they were.”
Somali immigrants in Minnesota are also accused of funneling stolen government funds to Somalia and into the hands of the terrorist organization, Al-Shabaab.
“There’s tons of luxury properties and cars that have been bought over there,” Bessent said, referring to East Africa. “How the hell does this happen? How did it happen? President Trump is outraged. I’m outraged. The American people should be outraged.”
