NEW: Trump Cabinet Official Demands Walz Resign Over Massive Fraud Scandal

President Trump’s education secretary is turning up the heat on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, blasting his handling of a ballooning fraud scandal and calling on him to resign in a sharply worded letter that also flags alleged abuse inside the state’s college system.

“You have been Minnesota’s Governor since 2019,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote to Walz in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. “During that time, your careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a beachhead of criminality in our country. As President Trump put it, you have turned Minnesota into a ‘fraudulent hub of money laundering activity.’”

McMahon ended the letter by urging Walz to step aside.

“Given your dereliction of the office entrusted to you by Minnesotans, I implore you to resign and make way for more capable leadership,” she wrote.

The letter zeroes in on Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal, which has drawn national attention after nonprofits such as Feeding Our Future, largely tied to the state’s Somali community, were accused of stealing at least $1 billion in taxpayer funds during Walz’s tenure.

McMahon also pointed to what her department says is widespread fraud in Minnesota’s higher education system.

Last week, the Department of Education announced it had blocked more than $1 billion in student aid fraud during Donald Trump’s first year back in office, cracking down on suspected bots and so-called “ghost students” seeking taxpayer-funded loans.

One of those schemes allegedly hit Minnesota especially hard. Riverland Community College averaged more than 100 potentially fraudulent applications a year, according to Fox News Digital.

McMahon said her department uncovered nearly 2,000 ghost students tied to Minnesota schools.

“We call these fraudsters ‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist,” McMahon wrote. “In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest without attending the college at all.”

She noted the department has since rolled out tougher measures nationwide, including mandatory identity verification for certain first-time applicants.

The letter also took aim at Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, accusing her of exploiting the system.

McMahon wrote that Omar borrowed “tens of thousands” in student loans and “now does not think she should have to repay, despite her generous, taxpayer-funded salary.”

A conservative watchdog group last month urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to garnish Omar’s congressional wages over her student loan debt, citing her $174,000 annual salary, Alpha News reported. McMahon’s letter accused Omar of having “taken advantage” of federal taxpayers.

Beyond education, McMahon accused Walz of presiding over what federal officials describe as a “massive scandal of welfare fraud” that spread across nearly every major assistance program, from housing benefits and food stamps to small-business relief and services for seniors and children with autism.

According to the letter, scammers enriched themselves while the governor “did absolutely nothing” to stop it.

“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen and for benefiting from it,” McMahon wrote. “Stop defrauding American taxpayers. No politician is above the law, and my department, alongside every other agency under the leadership of President Trump, will continue to ensure that you will not be able to dodge accountability for your actions.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment.

Tim Walz announced last week that he is launching a new statewide fraud-prevention program and hiring a private forensic auditing firm. He said Minnesota’s systems were “taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters and criminals.”

“I take full responsibility for it,” Walz said. “I think, and I will acknowledge certainly to Minnesotans and to the press here, I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of communicating the hard work that’s being done.”

That response failed to satisfy critics.

Conservative commentator Dustin Grage said Walz’s words rang hollow without consequences.

“He threw out a quote that said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take accountability,’ and people will run with that quote,” Grage told Fox News Digital. “But at the end of the day, not a single bureaucrat in this state in regard to the fraud has been fired. Not a single one.”

“So, that ultimately means, at the end of the day, if he’s to blame, the only one at this point who should be held accountable is himself,” Grage added. “He puts it on himself and nobody has been fired. So, ultimately, at the end of the day, Minnesotans, the voters of this state, are going to have to make a decision.”

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