Bernie Sanders agrees fraud in Minnesota should be ‘severely punished’

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., condemned the alleged fraud uncovered in Minnesota during a Wednesday appearance on Theo Von’s podcast.

Von spoke with the senator about independent journalist Nick Shirley’s viral investigative videos exposing the alleged massive fraud in Minnesota. 

“You have this young man who’s been going around, Nick Shirley, who’s like kind of going door-to-door, like trick-or-treating about fraud, kind of, right? And figuring it out,” Von said. “That almost is like — it’s like, why get people to pay taxes? Who even cares about paying taxes anymore if we’re just going to let them slip out of the bottom?”

CONVICTED MINNESOTA FRAUDSTER ALLEGES WALZ, ELLISON WERE AWARE OF WIDESPREAD FRAUD

Bernie Sanders spoke on Theo Von’s podcast. (Screenshot/Theo Von YouTube channel)

“But, the answer is fraud is disgusting — and especially to steal money from hungry kids,” Sanders replied. “If you have a program to feed hungry kids, you steal that money, that is probably as bad as it gets, and I think way back in the early [20]20s under Biden, they started an investigation.”

“Those people should be severely punished,” Sanders continued. “I don’t care if you’re Somali, if you’re green, you’re blue, whatever you are.”

“Right, I’m using the term Somali fraud because that’s kind of the term people are using,” Von said. 

“But anyhow, that should be punished. That’s disgusting behavior,” Sanders said. “But, you know, understand — and I’m sure you do — fraud is not just in a child nutrition program in Minnesota.”

Minnesota has been at the center of national controversy as investigators at both the local and federal levels have uncovered numerous alleged fraud schemes of businesses, posing as daycare centers, food programs, health clinics and more, accused of robbing the state of up to $9 billion. In these cases, the investigators say fraudsters either inflated the number of the people they allegedly helped or fabricated their services altogether — all while receiving government dollars. 

WALZ’S MINNESOTA MESS COULD SPARK THE TOUGHEST FRAUD REFORMS IN DECADES

Independent journalist Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Sanders noted that trillions are being spent on the American military, where he says many major contractors are caught engaging in fraud.

“We are spending a trillion dollars a year on the military, OK? There is not one major defense contractor that has not been charged with fraud… you know, providing fraud to the United States government. Their CEOs make huge amounts of compensation,” Sanders said. “They cannot even undergo an independent audit.”

“So they don’t even know what they own,” Sanders added. “I mean, it is so massive. But nobody, nobody, nobody, Republican, Democrat, independent, nobody doubts that there’s massive fraud. There’s fraud all over the place, unfortunately, in this country, and we’ve got to do our best to eliminate that.”

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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders condemned the alleged fraud emerging in Minnesota, but warned it is one of a myriad variety of fraud scandals across the country. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Fox News’ Leo Briceno contributed to this report.