House Majority Whip suggests Walz ‘do the right thing and resign’ or ‘he might be leaving office in cuffs’

Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer expressed that he believes Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz could “leave office in cuffs” amid the ongoing fraud scandals involving billions of dollars in state-administered social programs, with federal investigations underway.

Emmer (R-Minn.) made the comments during an appearance on the Republican Study Committee’s “Right to the Point” podcast, shortly after a House Oversight Committee hearing that examined an estimated $9 billion in fraud across Minnesota’s state-administered programs.

He later echoed the same remarks in interviews with Fox News and the New York Post.

During the podcast, Emmer called for Walz to resign and further declared that he wasn’t “going to be Minnesota Nice. I’m going to be Minnesota real. Tim Walz should resign, and if he doesn’t resign, he’s probably going to leave the office in cuffs.”

Emmer continued to point the finger at Walz, blaming him for failing to hold his administration accountable and for what the congressman described as blatant criminal misconduct, highlighting years of mismanagement of state social services programs and claims by whistleblowers that they were punished for speaking up about concerns under Walz.

“I think perhaps this is a lot deeper, a lot larger than we knew,” Emmer told Fox News. “Tim should do the right thing and resign. And if he doesn’t, I think he might be leaving the offices in cuffs.”

 Federal prosecutors are currently intensifying their investigation into systemic fraud within Minnesota’s social safety net, focusing on networks within the state’s Somali community, where the vast majority of these crimes have been perpetrated.

Leading government attorneys estimate that as much as $9 billion in state and federal funding has been stolen — a staggering figure that Governor Walz and Democrat leaders have dismissed as a politically motivated exaggeration.

These recent investigations, and prior related ones, have exposed a series of sophisticated schemes, most notably the “Feeding Our Future” scandal. Labeled the largest COVID-era fraud case in the nation, the $250 million scheme involved 78 defendants — the vast majority of whom are of Somali descent — who used fake child nutrition sites to fund their lifestyles.

 

In response to the growing crisis, the Trump administration has taken aggressive federal action:

• USDA Funding Freeze: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently suspended nearly $130 million in federal awards to Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis, citing “massive fraud” and a lack of local accountability.

• Treasury Task Force: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new IRS task force and enhanced reporting requirements for money transfers to Somalia to prevent stolen taxpayer dollars from reaching foreign terrorist groups like Al-Shabaab.

• Political Fallout: Amid the mounting federal pressure and the prospect of a House Oversight hearing, Walz announced on January 5, 2026, that he would not seek a third term, even as he continues to defend his administration’s response to the scandals.

“This guy has got to stop acting like a coward, and he’s got to start taking accountability for the fact that he is completely incompetent, and perhaps even complicit, in one of the most breathtaking fraud examples that we’ve ever seen,” Emmer said when questioned about Walz’s refusal to resign.

“Tim Walz, he said he was running for a third term and that he was going to fight for Minnesota. And then what he did was, he said, ‘Well, I’m not going to run for a third term anymore, but I’m going to fight for Minnesota.’ And he came out the next day, had to have a press conference to say he wasn’t resigning,” Emmer added. “It’s just wild. He’s coming unglued.”

 

As the scale of the Minnesota fraud continues to unfold, Emmer took to X on Thursday to announce a new legislative push for accountability. He explained that he is now “drafting legislation to denaturalize and deport anyone who comes to our country and commits fraud against the American taxpayer.”

I’m drafting legislation to denaturalize and deport anyone who comes to our country and commits fraud against the American taxpayer.  

It’s time to SEND. THEM. HOME. pic.twitter.com/jTvXZwbdK5

— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) January 8, 2026

During a press conference at the Coliseum Building in south Minneapolis on Tuesday last week, Walz doubled down on his record.

Speaking at an event to celebrate the launch of Minnesota’s new paid family and medical leave program, the animated Democrat defended his administration while accusing Republicans of weaponizing these investigations for partisan gain.

“Republicans want to tell you everybody with brown skin is stealing money or that they’re not welcome here. They want to do nothing to improve this state. Their idea of improving this state is being a parrot for Donald Trump, agreeing to everything that he agreed with,” Walz stated. “Right now they are hiding behind a veil of innuendo. They’re protecting the biggest fraudster in the White House.”

The next day, Walz also hosted a second press conference addressing demands for him to resign early.

“You can make all your requests for me to resign – over my dead body will that happen,” Walz added, visibly enraged.

Tim Walz has meltdown during press conference.

“Im not going anywhere. And you can make all your requests for me to resign over my dead body will that happen…when does the guy in The White House resign?”

pic.twitter.com/yS9eZsizIc

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) January 6, 2026

During the podcast, Emmer also expressed that he was completely dumbfounded by Walz’s second press conference, emphasizing that it was a “bizarre set of events.”

“How often have you seen that?” Emmer questioned. “It’s just a bizarre set of events, and he was totally coming unglued. He was spiraling out of control in that second press conference.”

Emmer further speculated that Walz’s abrupt decision to abandon his re-election bid suggests the welfare scandal is far more severe than the public realizes. He argued that the Governor’s exit was a tactical retreat, implying that the true scope of the multibillion-dollar fraud — and the potential for criminal accountability — is what ultimately forced him out of the race.

“I think it’s worse than we believe it is. And I think he knows that,” Emmer continued. “Keep in mind, we’ve been trying to sound the alarm on this for years, and nobody in the Twin Cities media would report it.”

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has invited Walz to testify at a follow-up hearing scheduled for next month.

Comer stated that while the January hearing featured state lawmakers who “sounded the alarm,” the February hearing is intended to question Walz and Ellison directly on whether they were “asleep at the wheel or complicit” in the estimated $9 billion fraud.

Minnesota’s sorry excuse for an attorney general, Keith Ellison, is now SUING the Trump admin to stop ICE operations in the state.

Bear in mind that, just this weekend, @ICEgov announced they’d arrested over a dozen murderers, rapists, and sodomizers in Minnesota that Walz and… https://t.co/xJ7TkNEA2e

— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) January 12, 2026