A U.S. House committee is expanding its investigation into fraud in Minnesota social services programs with new requests for testimony and briefings from state and federal officials.

Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, announced earlier in December that the committee would be looking into “widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs under Governor Tim Walz’s watch.”

On Dec. 22, Comer sent letters to seven current and former state officials, including people who led the Minnesota Department of Human Services and Department of Education, and other current and former staff in those departments.

He asked them to provide testimony through in-person transcribed interviews, adding in the letters that: “If you do not voluntarily appear for the interview, we will be forced to evaluate the use of the compulsory process.”

A spokesperson for Walz said in a statement Dec. 22: “This is clearly a coordinated political attack to try to silence one of the President’s most effective critics. The Governor takes fraud seriously and wishes they would too.”

The committee’s investigation comes as the state has been grappling with reports of fraud across numerous social service programs, and the Walz administration has been instituting a variety of new oversight measures. Federal prosecutors announced new charges Dec. 18 against six people they allege defrauded two programs, among 14 Medicaid-funded programs they’re investigating.

Comer also sent letters Dec. 22 to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for staff-level briefings on financial regulations and ongoing investigations. The House Committee also sought various Minnesota-related suspicious activity reports from the Treasury Department.

The latest requests follow initial letters from Comer to Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that asked for documents and communications related to fraud investigations.

“Rep. Comer already knows about Attorney General Ellison’s consistent work to fight fraud,” a spokesperson for Ellison said Dec. 22, noting a letter the attorney general sent to Comer recently. “His persistent allegation that the Attorney General has not been working hard to combat fraud wherever he has the authority to do so is baseless and false.”

Comer told a Minnesota Star Tribune reporter previously that Walz and Ellison sent some information, “but there’s a lot more out there.”

“This is going to be our priority investigation going into the new year,” Comer said.

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(Sydney Kashiwagi of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.)

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