JD Vance Conveniently Forgets All About DOGE

The vice president made a surprising claim on Fox News Wednesday while discussing his new role leading the administration’s so-called “war on fraud.”

“I think it’s unfortunate that nobody has ever tried to take a systematic look at how much fraud there is in the federal government,” JD Vance said.

Sorry, what?

There are some of us old enough to remember Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which purported to investigate claims of fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government. The agency managed to slash thousands of federal jobs without meaningfully reducing spending—while making it easier for fraudsters to take advantage of Americans. Musk, who was appointed as head of DOGE after donating a whopping $288 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, used his position to boost his many businesses, win big off of Trump’s tariffs, and dismantle the agencies that regulate his companies.

Vance said that there was no way to know a “top-line number” on how much fraud there was, because no one had ever bothered to investigate, but still baselessly claimed that “billions and billions of dollars” in Medicaid funding were being used on undocumented immigrants.

Vance’s so-called “war on fraud” is a thinly veiled excuse to go after Trump’s political opponents and punish blue states—all while the president has already enriched himself to the tune of $1.4 billion at the taxpayer’s expense.

More than a dozen schemes have popped up in Minnesota’s safety net programs in recent years, many of them involving members of the state’s Somali population. It’s worth noting that the government had already investigated federal fraud in Minnesota. During the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were charged, at least 60 of whom were ultimately convicted. Both red and blue states have participated in benefits abuse, but not everyone has had sweeping federal cuts inflicted on them.

Senior Justice Department prosecutor Colin McDonald told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the recent crackdown on alleged fraud in Minnesota would serve a blueprint for a new DOJ office focused on protecting taxpayer dollars from scams.

Speaking to Fox News later that day, Vance claimed that the entire administration would be enlisted in the war on fraud, and would employ “a whole host of tools that we have that have never been used.”

Fed up with the Trump administration repeatedly violating court orders in immigration cases, a federal judge said Thursday that he is prepared to make officials in the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security testify under oath.

U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered the immediate release of Diana Elizabeth Cartagena Hueso, a 29-year-old immigrant from El Salvador with no criminal record. In his ruling, Quraishi pointed to several cases in his federal district in New Jersey where the government has “largely frustrated” court efforts to protect the rights of immigrant detainees. Quraishi said that earlier this month, “the U.S. Attorney’s Office conceded to violating 72 orders issued in immigration habeas cases in this district alone.”

“That number by itself is objectively appalling, but at least one judge has indicated that it was underreported,” Quaraishi wrote in his ruling. “The Government’s continued actions after being called to task can now only be deemed intentional. The undersigned will not stand idly by and allow this intentional misconduct to go on. It ends today.”

Quaraishi went even further, warning the U.S. Attorney’s Office and DHS that if any other unauthorized detentions and arrests of immigrants came before him, he would order officials to show cause and schedule hearings where they would have to testify under oath.

Such a move would be a big step, as it has rarely been done during the current Trump administration. In the few times it has happened, the government has cried “uncle” and released the immigrant in question, as was the case with Juan Tobay Robles in Minnesota last month. If more judges attempt this approach, it could compel the Trump administration to follow court orders or it would have to explain its cruel and arbitrary mass deportation procedures to federal judges. Maybe then, administration goons like Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem would actually follow the law.

The Texas Senate race is making Republicans nervous.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, and the race is so close that an expensive runoff election is possible. A runoff could draw resources away from other close elections around the country and aid Democratic efforts to flip the seat.

Republican donors have poured over $60 million into the state to defeat Paxton, who is also running against Representative Wesley Hunt. But Paxton is still the front-runner in the race despite the fact that he didn’t even air any TV ads until the middle of February, with the election on March 3. If none of the candidates get more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff would take place 10 weeks later.

Paxton has been hammered by attack ads airing his many scandals since he was first elected attorney general in 2014. In 2015, he was indicted by a grand jury on securities fraud and faced civil action from the Securities and Exchange Commission over it. Paxton also faced a whistleblower lawsuit in 2020 from seven aides in his office accusing him of abuse of office, bribery, and other crimes. He escaped trial in both cases, though he was ordered to pay a hefty settlement to his aides.

The Texas House still impeached him in 2023, only for the state Senate to acquit him of any wrongdoing. Last year, his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, filed for divorce on “biblical grounds,” referring to her husband’s extramarital affair. Many Republicans feel that all of this would be easy fodder for the Democratic challenger, whether that’s Representative Jasmine Crockett or state Representative James Talarico.

“Honestly, if you look at the polling in a general election setting, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that the seat [flips], depending on who the Democrats nominate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Politico. Paxton, meanwhile, enjoys strong support from the MAGA right over his efforts to fight the results of the 2020 election and sue Pfizer over the Covid-19 vaccine, among other conservative credentials.

Internal polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee has Paxton losing to Talarico by three points and Cornyn defeating Paxton by the same margin. If Crockett is the Democratic nominee, she would lose to Cornyn by seven points and Paxton by one, according to the poll.

Neither fear nor polling has helped Cornyn’s standing, and President Trump hasn’t offered his help, either, saying earlier this month of the Republican candidates that “I’m friendly with all of them. I like all of them, all three.” One thing is for certain: The Republican primary is going to be close, and the winner will have a tall order: Democrats are turning out in their own Senate primary in record numbers.

Just one day after Republicans invited Nick Shirley to join them at the State of the Union address, the right-wing YouTuber endorsed a copycat of his work warning against a “Jewish invasion.”

“EXPOSE IT ALL,” Shirley wrote on X, sharing a post from fellow right-wing content creator Tyler Oliveira announcing his recent 73-minute “documentary on New Jersey’s Jewish Invasion.”

Oliveira’s portfolio includes clips titled “I Deported ILLEGAL Immigrants with ICE!” and dozens of videos dehumanizing Black people. In 2024, he published and amplified unverified (and since debunked) claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were causing “constant car crashes” and were capturing and eating local pets.

But somehow, blatantly targeting the Jewish community was a step too far for Oliveira’s far-right audience.

“The replies to this tweet show the double standards and hypocrisy of half of the ‘republican influencer’ space,” Oliveira wrote, defending his work against droves of online critics. “Does welfare abuse/fraud only suck when it’s a Somali? Ask your local ‘MAGA Republican influencer’ where he draws the line.”

Oliveira was also banned from Patreon over the video, though it wasn’t the first time he released a controversial piece about Jewish communities. In January, the 26-year-old posted a video to YouTube titled “Inside the New York Town Invaded by Welfare-Addicted Jews …”

But in a testament to the genre’s political affiliations, known white supremacist Nick Fuentes defended Oliveira’s latest doc, claiming that “when it comes to African Somali Muslims, everything is tolerated.… When another guy does the exact same thing to the Jews, ‘This is another holocaust.’”

Shirley clearly feels similarly.

Shirley gained national notoriety last year after he published a video that inspired the conservative caucus to politically scapegoat Somali immigrants. Vice President JD Vance circulated the video, positing that Shirley had “done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes.”

In his widely circulated “investigation,” Shirley door-knocked a slew of Somali-run day care centers in Minnesota, arguing that sites that did not respond or allow him—an unannounced, unknown white man—entrance into a center filled with children had fraudulently accepted federal funding.

It would later emerge that elements of Shirley’s report were incorrect or inadequately reported: At least two of the centers featured in his video had been closed for several years, according to Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. The government had already investigated federal fraud in Minnesota—during the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were charged, with at least 60 cases resulting in convictions.

Nonetheless, the report resulted in the suspension of $185 million intended for Minnesota from the Department of Health and Human Services.

It also stirred a national services controversy, in which predominantly blue states were accused of abusing federal funds for programs focused on childcare and local poverty. In truth, states of all stripes across the nation have participated in benefits abuse, but not everyone suffered the federal cuts. Instead, Donald Trump axed $10 billion from five Democratic states, including Minnesota.

The Department of Homeland Security has kidnapped yet another Columbia University student—and lied to campus public safety officers to get into her building.

Columbia neuroscience undergraduate student Ellie Aghayeva posted “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help,” on her Instagram story early Thursday morning.

Columbia University President Claire Shipman said federal agents told campus officials that they were looking for a missing person in order to gain access to the building.

“All law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” Shipman wrote in a statement. “If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait.… Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”

DHS claimed that Aghayeva is an “illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”

“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” they continued, ignoring the reports that the officers lied about why they were there.

This comes less than a year after DHS agents abducted Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. And their methods—lying—are also similar to how they detained Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi. Both Khalil and Mahdawi are Palestinian.

“ICE has no place in our schools and universities. These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger,” New York City Council members Julie Menin and Shaun Abreu wrote in a joint statement. “As Columbia College alumni, our hearts are with the community there, and we have been in contact with the University to offer our assistance.”

This story has been updated.