The kickoff of the president’s new task force to eliminate fraud came with shocking revelations from Vice President J.D. Vance on “a lot of fraudsters … who never get punished.”
Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump named his second-in-command to lead the team addressing rampant fraud in the United States, Vance held the first meeting, accompanied by cabinet members. While the vice president addressed the coordinated approach being taken to tackle the problem, he also addressed new lengths, as previously the Justice Department wouldn’t “prosecute fraud that’s under $1.5 million.”
Speaking with independent journalist Nick Shirley, who has been at the forefront of exposing fraud in states like Minnesota and California, Vance responded to a question on what the administration would be doing differently.
After speaking to how departments would work together as a means to root out the fraud, he revealed, “… right now we don’t even prosecute fraud that’s under $1.5 million, which means there’s a lot of fraudsters who never get caught, who never get punished. We’re changing that too.”
WOAH 🚨 JD Vance tells Nick Shirley that the policy right now is to NOT PROSECUTE FRAUD FOUND UNDER $1.5 MILLION
“Right now we don’t even prosecute fraud that’s under $1.5 million, which means there’s a lot of fraudsters who never get caught, who never get punished”
He says… pic.twitter.com/iKn6Vhg2sy
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 27, 2026
Given the trend of GOP lawmakers to investigate, refer and then move on to the next thing as constituents grow increasingly frustrated with political theater and the lack of actual justice, Shirley followed with a question on accountability.
To that, the vice president contended prosecutions need to start happening “as quickly as possible,” and he believes it could be a “matter of months” following next week’s swearing-in of new Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald to head the new National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice.
During an interview with podcaster Benny Johnson after the task force meeting, Vance touched on the threshold for investigation once more, expressing, “So think about that. Think about all the people who are — $1.5 million a year, this is not chump change. That is meaningful money. And by the way, sometimes by prosecuting the lower level people, you get to the higher level people … who have sort of the conspiracy to commit fraud against the American people.”
“So, one of the things that we’re trying to do with this task force is commit the Department of Justice to investigating all fraud, and actually going after the people who are doing it at the ‘small scale’ of $1.4 million,” he went on. “But also actually looking at the big conspiracies that are out there because, Benny, I don’t know about you, but I do not believe what happened with the Somalian immigrant community in Minnesota, I don’t think that happens without some cooperation from politicians, without others looking the other way or maybe even being in the fraud themselves.”
BREAKING: JD Vance reveals the US government doesn’t prosecute fraud that’s under $1.5M a year.
“We do not prosecute fraud in this country if it’s under $1.5 million.”
Are you serious??
pic.twitter.com/aht2JLlOH3— Jack (@jackunheard) March 27, 2026
In the same interview, Vance told Johnson of the task force’s intent to hold Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) accountable for alleged immigration fraud.
“That’s the thing that we’re trying to figure out is what are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud,” contended the vice president. “How do you go after her? How do you investigate her? How do you actually do the thing? How do you build the case necessary to get some justice for the American people?”
While fraud has long been a problem, Vance argued that it had ballooned under President Joe Biden’s administration and that Trump was the first president to take the matter seriously. During the meeting, he put the problem into perspective as he said, “This is not just theft of the American people’s money. This is also theft of critical services that the American people rely on.”
Vice President Vance at the first meeting of the Task Force on Eliminating Fraud:
“This is not just theft of the American people’s money. This is also theft of critical services that the American people rely on.”🔥 pic.twitter.com/Tn9BLkYsCp
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) March 27, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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