A Republican-led U.S. House committee has issued a subpoena to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, seeking documents and communications related to a massive fraud scheme by nonprofit organizations using pandemic relief funds meant to feed children.
The subpoenas were sent to Walz, Minnesota Education Secretary Willie Jett, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong, NBC News first reported.
The House Education and Labor Committee said in a letter to Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, that it was investigating the Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Education’s oversight of federal child nutrition programs, as well as Feeding Our Future, a group that has allegedly embezzled more than $250 million in pandemic relief funds.
The subpoena does not require Walz to appear before the committee in person, but sets a deadline of September 18 to provide documents.
Five people involved in the scheme were convicted earlier this year of trying to bribe jurors by placing bags containing $120,000 in cash in their homes. A total of 70 people have been indicted in connection with the scheme.
Walz’s growing national political profile has drawn new scrutiny over his role as Minnesota’s top executive and whether the state Department of Education, under his watch, should have uncovered the misconduct.
“I believe you are well aware that millions of dollars in fraud have been committed during your tenure as governor,” the committee’s Republican chairwoman, Virginia Foxx, wrote to Walz.
A spokesman for Governor Walz called the Feeding Our Future lawsuit a “gross abuse of federal COVID-19 relief programs.”
“The state Department of Education works diligently to stop this fraud and is grateful to the FBI for working with the department to arrest and prosecute those involved,” the spokesperson said.
Walz had previously defended the department, but acknowledged that oversight could be improved after a state audit found that the department’s lack of oversight “created opportunities for fraud.”
“No state employees are accused of any wrongdoing. They simply did not exercise the due diligence that they should have,” Walz said after the audit report was released.
Fox argued that the committee made a voluntary request for documents from the Minnesota Department of Education but “did not receive any substantive responses.”
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.