Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents Florida’s 19th district in the U.S. Congress, posted a series of tweets on January 7, 2026, alleging widespread fraud within Minnesota state programs and criticizing state officials for their response.
In his first tweet at 20:05 UTC, Donalds wrote: “Fraud runs rampant in multiple Minnesota programs, but state officials willingly turned a blind eye. They voluntarily weakened internal controls. The Walz admin & the Minnesota Dept of Human Services were complicit in defrauding the American taxpayer. We need accountability.”
An hour later, at 21:03 UTC, he further claimed: “Under Walz, OUR HARD-EARNED TAXPAYER DOLLARS were funnelled through Somalis to Al-Shabaab––an AFFILIATE of al-Qaeda. This is wrong. This is insane. This must be stopped. In no world should taxpayer dollars EVER be used to fund anti-American organizations, let alone terrorists.”
At 22:10 UTC the same day, Donalds alleged retaliation against whistleblowers by Minnesota officials: “Minnesota Lt. Gov. Flanagan personally admonished whistleblowers at the behest of Gov. Walz. Whistleblowers were demeaned and attacked for exposing the rampant fraud and abuse taking place. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The perpetrators of this fraud must face justice.”
Byron Donalds has served as a member of Congress since 2021 after previously serving in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020. He was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1978 and currently resides in Naples. Donalds holds degrees from both Florida A&M University and Florida State University.
