GOP lawmaker moves to award congressional medal for journalist who exposed Minnesota fraud
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., will introduce a bill to honor independent journalist Nick Shirley and his work in exposing alleged fraud schemes involving members of the Somali community in Minnesota.
"I want to thank and acknowledge the independent reporters Nick Shirley and Dave Hock, who broke this story wide open," Crane said at an Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday.
"I'm introducing a bill to award Nick Shirley with the Congressional Medal for his explosive work in exposing astronomical fraud in Minnesota."
NOEM PUTS NEWSOM ON NOTICE, VOWS CALIFORNIA PROBE AFTER MINNESOTA FRAUD BUST
Shirley, a video journalist who posts his work to social media and YouTube, has visited several daycare, medical and benefits facilities in the North Star State in recent weeks, uncovering scores of providers that had bare bones setups and were largely devoid of activity despite receiving millions in government funding.
Many of the programs actively turned Shirley away when he asked if he could sign up to receive services from them.
While Shirley’s work only covered a handful of cases, it highlighted what the schemes looked like on the ground amid congressional probes about how the state had racked up mountains of losses to fraud.
According to recent investigations, Minnesota could have lost as much as $9 billion through fraud operations like the ones uncovered by Shirley.
Crane said Shirley's video footage had exposed unique insights into Minnesota’s lack of oversight and how easy it had been to expose some of the schemes’ operations.
"The reason I'm doing this is because the American people are sick and tired of this, and they're sick and tired of mainstream media not covering any of it," Crane said.
PAM BONDI DISPATCHES FEDERAL PROSECUTORS TO MINNESOTA FOLLOWING SOMALI FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
Crane said the work started by Shirley would have to continue. In his view, it posed bigger questions.
"The biggest question that most Americans have is this: is this incompetence at the executive level with the governor and attorney general — or are they involved?"