Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted blame for failing to stop billions in fraud sooner but insisted it should not define his legacy, a claim Republican lawmakers rejected as unserious.
In a discussion framed as an “exit interview” with the Minnesota Star-Tribune, the outgoing Democratic governor said he should have cracked down earlier on the scandal that federal prosecutors have pegged at roughly $9 billion. He still argued the scandal should not be the measure of his years in office.
Fox News reported that Minnesota Republican lawmakers answered quickly, telling the outlet that fraud, weak oversight, and other failures will stick to him whether he likes it or not.
Walz announced on Jan. 5, 2026, that he would not seek re-election. He is preparing to leave office in January. The interview landed as he tried to shape how voters remember his tenure.
He did not dodge all responsibility. He put part of the failure on himself.
"Fraud, should have stopped it sooner,"
Walz told the Star-Tribune. He went further:
"We didn’t stop them. I accept that. I think there does need to be accountability with that. And part of it is that, yep, that’s with me, I’ll step aside."
Then came the pivot that set off Republicans. Walz said he should have been harder on state agencies, but he also tried to shrink the scandal by comparing it to another federal project.
"I should have been down on those agencies a little more, but I will tell you this, in the scheme of things, all the fraud that's been prosecuted, by the way, and all the fraud that's probably out there is less than the ballroom at the White House,"
he said. He added that the comparison “puts it into perspective” while insisting it “doesn’t make it right.” Reporting cited the ballroom’s expected taxpayer cost at around $300 million, far below the $9 billion fraud figure tied to federal prosecutors.
Minnesota House Republicans rejected that framing on X, writing that Walz “accepts blame for fraud, but believes his loss of $9 billion in taxpayer dollars ‘shouldn’t define his legacy.’” Their follow-up was blunt: it does define him, and “Minnesotans are paying attention to his blatant disregard of their hard-earned tax dollars.”
State Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chaired last session’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, told Fox News Digital the governor’s record is already set.
"no matter how hard he tries to spin it, Tim Walz’s legacy will be that he allowed rampant fraud."
Robbins said the apology is late and incomplete.
"He says he ‘should have stopped it sooner,’ which is obvious, but he could still be doing more NOW,"
she said, adding that he “has been silent on fraud for months instead of taking the actions that are STILL under his control.”
She tied the scandal to two years of hearings, investigative reporting, and Office of the Legislative Auditor reports. In her view, the pattern never changed.
"His legacy will be fraud because he continues to enable fraud, despite two years of hearings, investigative journalists, and Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) reports,"
Robbins said. Then the line that matched the political fight over the interview:
"He was never serious about stopping it and still isn’t."
Robbins also listed steps she said remain available to him now, including firing senior DHS official Shireen Gandhi, blocking a SNAP waiver that would allow phone eligibility claims without recording the call, and pressing Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute Partners in Nutrition rather than settle. That nonprofit administered federally funded meal programs and sits at the center of ongoing scrutiny of Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud case pressures.
Minnesota Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is running to replace Walz and faces a November matchup path involving Sen. Amy Klobuchar, gave no ground on the legacy question.
"Tim Walz's legacy will always be defined by the out-of-control fraud crisis that occurred on his watch,"
Demuth told Fox News Digital. She also challenged Democratic praise for the governor.
"Yet Amy Klobuchar praised him as ‘an incredible leader who delivers for the people of Minnesota.’ As the senior member of our state’s congressional delegation, Sen. Klobuchar likewise failed to address the fraud crisis and even skipped hearings on the matter in D.C. Minnesotans deserve better than four more years of Walz-style failure."
State Sen. Julia Coleman agreed fraud is not the only mark against him, and argued that makes the record worse, not better.
"Governor Walz is correct, he shouldn’t only be remembered for fraud,"
Coleman said. She then listed the rest of the ledger she wants voters to keep:
"We should remember him spending our $18 billion surplus, raising taxes $10 billion, creating an unsustainable budget, letting rioters burn down Minneapolis, hurting our students and businesses with lockdowns and pardoning a child rapist."
That last item has already drawn separate national attention. Walz helped approve a full pardon for Tue Lue Vang, a Laotian national convicted of repeatedly raping a girl beginning when she was 10. A DHS official called the pardon “disgusting.” The decision has fueled lasting anger, including coverage of how the Star Tribune drew backlash over its handling of the story.
Federal authorities later removed Vang anyway, undercutting any claim that the pardon settled the matter cleanly. Earlier reporting detailed how Walz pardoned a convicted child rapist in a bid tied to deportation questions, only to see the federal government finish the job.
Walz tried to redirect the conversation toward long-term domestic priorities he called lasting achievements.
"Those are legacy things to address climate. They’re legacy things to address livability,"
he said. He conceded the scandal stained that record, then insisted the foundation remains:
"And I get it, that fraud tainted a lot of that. It doesn’t change the fundamentals underneath it. This is the best state in the country to raise a child, and it will continue to be so because of those investments."
He also claimed the state “immediately” took action once fraud came into focus. Robbins and other Republicans say that claim collides with months of silence and with tools he still has not used.
The political fight is no longer limited to St. Paul. Walz testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2026, as Republicans pressed the scale of the failure. A House Republican report has accused Walz and Ellison of turning a blind eye. That federal layer sits beside other legal and political flashpoints already tracked in coverage of a shock White House announcement tied to Walz.
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. No response was included in the reporting.
Taxpayers do not grade governors on the speech they give on the way out the door. They grade them on the billions lost, the cases left unfinished, and the choices still not made.
