Vance Unveils New National Fraud Czar, Starting With Minnesota Crackdown

"We are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud," Vance told reporters at the White House on Thursday. "Now, of course, that person's efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort."

Vance said the administration is already pursuing what he described as large-scale fraud centred in Minneapolis and linked to public benefits and social services programs. "We have actually activated a major interagency task force to make it possible to get to the heart of this fraud," he said.

Citing actions already underway, Vance said the Department of Agriculture is focusing on "SNAP fraud," and added, "We have over 1,500 subpoenas that the Department of Justice has issued to get to the heart of the fraud ring." He said, "We've done almost 100 indictments, mostly Somali immigrants but also a few others."

Vance said the administration's view is that the problem extends well beyond Minnesota. "We know that the fraud isn't just happening in Minneapolis," he said. "It's also happening in states like Ohio. It's happening in states like California."

He credited Attorney General Pam Bondi with quickly standing up the initiative. "Creating a job like this often takes months, sometimes even longer," Vance said. "When we realized that we needed this associate attorney general position, Pam got this person up and running in about a week."

Vance said the White House intends to move rapidly on staffing. "We're going to make the nomination hopefully in the next few days," he said, adding that he had spoken with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who "has promised me swift confirmation for this official."

Vance framed the role as a functional substitute for a special counsel - but with oversight from the president and vice president.

"I've heard a lot of people say that we need a special council to investigate fraud in the United States of America. I actually agree, and that's what this position does," he said.

"It has all the benefits, all the resources, all the authority of a special counsel," with differences including that it will be "run out of the White House under the supervision of the president of the United States," and is, he argued, "constitutionally legitimate."

He said the new official will be embedded in what he called "a very broad interagency White House" effort, designed to "give them the resources, the access to material and information to make this person more effective."

Vance said the job will last "until we get to the bottom of what's going on," adding, "I think it's going to last for at least the remainder of the administration."

The Justice Department's assistant attorneys general lead major divisions and can be assigned specific portfolios tied to national enforcement priorities.

- IANS