‘Scorched-Earth Attack’: Trump Admin Cuts Off Childcare Funds to All States
“My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks at a vigil in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025.
(Photo by Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Jan 01, 2026
“My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks at a vigil in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025.
(Photo by Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Jan 01, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration on Wednesday froze federal childcare funding to every state in the US after initially suspending funds for Minnesota earlier this week, a move that the state’s Democratic attorney general condemned as a “hasty, scorched-earth attack” on key social services.
Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a statement posted to social media that he has “activated our defend the spend system for all [Administration for Children and Families] payments” to states, alleging “fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” As evidence, O’Neill cited a viral video by Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who recently visited Somali-owned Minnesota daycare sites at the direction of state Republicans.
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In order to receive Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funding going forward, O’Neill said Thursday, states will have to provide “a justification and a receipt or photo evidence.” States with childcare centers that the Trump administration suspects of fraud will have to jump through additional hoops, according to an HHS spokesperson.
The Trump administration’s decision to cut off childcare funds to all states—not just Minnesota—on the dubious grounds of fighting fraud came after Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused President Donald Trump of politicizing the issue to advance a broader assault on the social safety net.
“While Minnesota has been combating fraud, the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail,” Walz wrote in a social media post on Thursday, apparently referring to the president’s commutation of the seven-year prison sentence of David Gentile, a former private equity executive convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors.
“Trump’s using an issue he doesn’t give a damn about as an excuse to hurt working Minnesotans,” Walz added.
“If we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that the Trump administration “is threatening funding for the essential childcare services that countless families across Minnesota rely on—apparently all on the basis of one video on social media.”
“To say I am outraged is an understatement,” he said. “We’ve seen this movie before. In mid-December, the Trump administration gave four counties in Minnesota one month to conduct in-person interviews with almost 100,000 households that receive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits to reverify their eligibility.”
“My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding,” Ellison added.
Minnesota state Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (D-49B), co-chair of the Legislature’s committee on children and families, warned that “if we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday froze federal childcare funding to every state in the US after initially suspending funds for Minnesota earlier this week, a move that the state’s Democratic attorney general condemned as a “hasty, scorched-earth attack” on key social services.
Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a statement posted to social media that he has “activated our defend the spend system for all [Administration for Children and Families] payments” to states, alleging “fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” As evidence, O’Neill cited a viral video by Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who recently visited Somali-owned Minnesota daycare sites at the direction of state Republicans.
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In order to receive Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funding going forward, O’Neill said Thursday, states will have to provide “a justification and a receipt or photo evidence.” States with childcare centers that the Trump administration suspects of fraud will have to jump through additional hoops, according to an HHS spokesperson.
The Trump administration’s decision to cut off childcare funds to all states—not just Minnesota—on the dubious grounds of fighting fraud came after Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused President Donald Trump of politicizing the issue to advance a broader assault on the social safety net.
“While Minnesota has been combating fraud, the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail,” Walz wrote in a social media post on Thursday, apparently referring to the president’s commutation of the seven-year prison sentence of David Gentile, a former private equity executive convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors.
“Trump’s using an issue he doesn’t give a damn about as an excuse to hurt working Minnesotans,” Walz added.
“If we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that the Trump administration “is threatening funding for the essential childcare services that countless families across Minnesota rely on—apparently all on the basis of one video on social media.”
“To say I am outraged is an understatement,” he said. “We’ve seen this movie before. In mid-December, the Trump administration gave four counties in Minnesota one month to conduct in-person interviews with almost 100,000 households that receive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits to reverify their eligibility.”
“My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding,” Ellison added.
Minnesota state Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (D-49B), co-chair of the Legislature’s committee on children and families, warned that “if we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer.”
Obsessed Trump derails New Year's Eve party with rant on 'Somalia fraud'
Robert Davis
December 31, 2025
Robert Davis
December 31, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump stands next to Vanessa Horabuena as he auctions her speed painting of Jesus of Nazareth during a New Year's Eve party with members and guests at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Erns
President Donald Trump raged about alleged social services fraud committed in Minnesota during a brief appearance at his New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.
The debate about social services fraud in Minnesota reappeared this week after a right-wing YouTuber posted a video alleging he found $100 million in child care fraud at Somali-run child care centers. A top Republican in the state has admitted she steered the YouTuber to the centers, all of which had recently had their operations paused.
"We're back! I didn't think it could happen this fast, but it did," Trump said. "Faster than anybody thought possible. We have a lot of leaders here. Great leaders, like Tom Emmer, whom I saw on television today. He was talking about the Somalia fraud. He was talking about the Somalian population and not very nicely."
Trump and his allies have gravitated toward the Somali fraud story in recent days in an attempt to distract from the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files, some of which painted Trump's relationship with Epstein in an unscrupulous light.
"We're going to take back our country," Trump continued. "Can you imagine, they stole $18 billion. That's just what we're learning about."
"That's peanuts," he continued. "California is worse. Illinois is worse. And, sadly, New York is worse."
U.S. President Donald Trump stands next to Vanessa Horabuena as he auctions her speed painting of Jesus of Nazareth during a New Year's Eve party with members and guests at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Erns
President Donald Trump raged about alleged social services fraud committed in Minnesota during a brief appearance at his New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.
The debate about social services fraud in Minnesota reappeared this week after a right-wing YouTuber posted a video alleging he found $100 million in child care fraud at Somali-run child care centers. A top Republican in the state has admitted she steered the YouTuber to the centers, all of which had recently had their operations paused.
"We're back! I didn't think it could happen this fast, but it did," Trump said. "Faster than anybody thought possible. We have a lot of leaders here. Great leaders, like Tom Emmer, whom I saw on television today. He was talking about the Somalia fraud. He was talking about the Somalian population and not very nicely."
Trump and his allies have gravitated toward the Somali fraud story in recent days in an attempt to distract from the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files, some of which painted Trump's relationship with Epstein in an unscrupulous light.
"We're going to take back our country," Trump continued. "Can you imagine, they stole $18 billion. That's just what we're learning about."
"That's peanuts," he continued. "California is worse. Illinois is worse. And, sadly, New York is worse."
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