The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is demanding accountability for anyone who was involved in or aware of the growing social services fraud scandal in the Gopher State.

‘I think as they start to peel this onion back, which just seems to be getting deeper and deeper and broader and broader, whoever was responsible needs to be held accountable,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, told Fox News Digital.

It comes after U.S. attorneys suggested that Minnesota social services programs could have seen potentially billions of dollars’ worth of fraud and abuse since 2018.

Top state officials like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have heaped doubt on the size and scope floated by federal authorities, though Walz has said he has been working to crack down on the millions of dollars’ worth of fraud that has been detected.

Emmer stopped short of calling for Walz to resign when asked by Fox News Digital, stating, ‘I don’t think that’s my call,’ but said anyone found to be culpable in the scandal should be held accountable.

‘I would put it this way — everyone is entitled to due process, and we need all the facts. But if someone knowingly and willingly allowed people to steal the taxpayers’ money and send it back to terrorists in Somalia, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,’ he said.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple people with stealing more than $240 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

The nonprofit’s founder, Aimee Bock, was found guilty of multiple counts related to fraud in a trial earlier this year.

The probe has since widened to multiple state-run programs being investigated for potential fraud, however.

‘This thing is mushrooming into a much bigger fraud issue spanning over several different programs and potentially different jurisdictions,’ Emmer said. ‘As this thing mushrooms, number one, let’s make sure we hold the people accountable. I will tell you what I believe. My personal opinion is there is no way that a billion dollars-plus got its way out of the Walz administration without someone in the administration being aware and/or complicit.’

‘That’s what we need to find out — how high does that go? According to our U.S. attorney, it goes to the highest level of Minnesota government. He didn’t use names, but I know what the highest level is. We’ll see. Let’s see the proof.’

Walz, who is running for a third term, took accountability in remarks to reporters on Friday: ‘This is on my watch. I am accountable for this. And more importantly, I am the one that will fix it.’

But he questioned whether federal prosecutors’ accusations that the fraud could have totaled in the billions were politically motivated.

‘You should be equally outraged about $1 or whatever that number is, but they’re using that number without the proof behind it,’ Walz said. ‘But to extrapolate what that number is for sensationalism, or to make statements about it, it doesn’t really help us.’

The Trump administration is recalling about 30 ambassadors from around the world to align U.S. representation with President Donald Trump’s America First agenda, Fox News learned on Monday.

The recalled diplomats are not being fired, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News, but rather will be reassigned elsewhere at the State Department.

‘This is a standard process in any administration,’ a senior State Department official told Fox News in a statement. ‘An ambassador is a personal representative of the President, and it is the President’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.’

‘We encourage returning ambassadors to continue serving their country by finding new opportunities within the Department to advance President Trump’s America First agenda,’ the statement continued.

An official told Fox News that none of those diplomats who are being recalled to Washington are being punished or otherwise retaliated against personally and that they are all welcome to apply for other assignments within the State Department.

Throughout this process, every effort was made to ‘prioritize continuity,’ with the president making decisions with an eye toward keeping continuity of operations intact and not derailing U.S. interests, according to a senior official.

This means ambassadors will not be recalled from a country at war, or a country in the middle of high-stakes negotiations with the U.S.

While it is normal for a president to recall ambassadors for various reasons, a recall in numbers as large as this does not usually happen at one time.

An official told Fox News that the recall is happening in a large number to expedite realignment.

Vice President JD Vance is amplifying his message for next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their congressional majorities.

Vance, speaking at a major conservative summit this weekend, pointed to the Democrats and predicted that Republicans ‘are gonna kick their ass next November.’

The comment from the vice president on Sunday sparked immediate chants of ‘USA’ from the crowd at the annual AmericaFest conference by Turning Point USA, the influential and politically powerful conservative group.

The annual gathering was Turning Point’s first since co-founder and conservative champion Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.

Vance and Charlie Kirk were close friends, and the vice president, who credits Kirk with his political rise, appeared to blame ‘far left’ Democrats and their agenda for his death.

‘If you miss Charlie Kirk, do you promise to fight what he died for? Do you promise to take the country back from the people who took his life?’ Vance asked the crowd.

While President Donald Trump remains the top draw, Vance is expected to play a large role on the campaign trail next year on behalf of fellow Republicans and his address at Turning Point, as well as his speech in battleground Pennsylvania a week ago on the issue of affordability, are likely to be an appetizer for things to come in 2026.

‘The VP will be playing a big role on the trail next year,’ a source close to the vice president told Fox News Digital.

But pointing to the president’s and vice president’s anything but stellar poll numbers, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) argued, ‘Here’s the reality J.D. Vance and Trump are unwilling to face: Americans give them record-low approval ratings for failed leadership that has led to massive layoffs, skyrocketing prices, and economic uncertainty.’

‘Every stop on the White House’s midterm campaign tour reminds Americans of how Republicans have made life harder. One year into the Trump-Vance administration, their 2024 coalition is unraveling because they have betrayed their own voters to give tax breaks to billionaires,’ DNC rapid response director Kendall Witmer emphasized in a statement to Fox News Digital.

While Vance has yet to say anything publicly on whether he’ll launch a 2028 campaign to succeed the term-limited Trump, he is considered by many on the right to be the president’s heir apparent to eventually take over the MAGA mantle.

And the conference, which drew tens of thousands of MAGA supporters, kicked off on Thursday with Charlie Kirk’s widow backing Vance in 2028.

Ericka Kirk, who took over the reins of Turning Point after her husband’s murder, said, ‘We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,’ in 2028. ‘Forty-eight’ refers to the number of the next president.

Vance, at the top of his speech on Sunday, thanked Kirk for her ‘kind words of support for this administration and for me personally.’

The backing of the vice president by Kirk and Turning Point, which is particularly influential among younger conservatives and whose political arm has built up a powerful grassroot outreach operation, could give Vance a major boost should he decide to run for president in the 2028 election.

Vice President JD Vance is not mincing his words, telling the news outlet UnHerd during an interview that those who attack his wife Usha ‘can eat s—.’ 

He declared that ‘anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s—. That’s my official policy as vice president of the United States,’ according to an interview transcript.

Fuentes is a controversial podcaster widely described as a White nationalist with antisemitic views, while Psaki, a President Joe Biden-era White House press secretary, hosts a show on MS NOW.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fuentes on X and emailed MS Now to request a comment from Psaki.

In a November 2024 post on X, Fuentes wrote, ‘Poo-sha Vance.’ 

He has also used an ethnic slur to refer to her.

And earlier this year he wrote, ‘When conservatives attack Zohran Mamdani for being a foreigner, I just want them to keep the same energy with Vivek Ramaswamy and Usha Vance. Let’s be consistent.’  

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, while Usha Vance and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy were both born in the U.S.

UnHerd had asked Vance if he disavows Fuentes. 

‘My attitude towards anybody, again, who is calling for judging people based on their ethnic heritage, whether they’re Jewish or white or anything else, it’s disgusting,’ Vance replied. ‘We shouldn’t be doing it.’

‘[That said,] I think that Nick Fuentes, his influence within Donald Trump’s administration, and within a whole host of institutions on the Right, is vastly overstated — and frankly, it’s overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel,’ Vance continued.

Psaki made controversial comments about the second lady during an appearance on a podcast, saying she wonders what’s happening in Usha Vance’s mind, adding, ‘Are you OK? Please … blink four times … come over here … we’ll save you.’

A bipartisan bill to bolster research for kids’ cancer drugs was quietly killed on the Senate floor last week, the second year in a row the legislation was torpedoed.

The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act was primed to pass through a fast-track process with near unanimous support in the Senate on Wednesday, save for one lawmaker who sought to amend the bill: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

‘What’s happened right here in front of us? The Grinch is stealing kids’ lives, and they’re stealing hope from the families, hope from the families that might have an opportunity just to try for a political agenda,’ said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who brought the bill to the floor.

‘And I hope to God that every single family that’s going through this will hold the senator from Vermont accountable, and the state of Vermont will hold him accountable, too, because he’s playing with kids’ lives,’ he continued. ‘He’s literally killing kids in front of us because of his political movement, and it is ridiculous.’

Sanders’ move to block the bill was not a surprise. Several lawmakers who spoke in favor of the legislation urged him not to go through with the decision as pediatric cancer research advocates looked on from the viewing gallery. But doing so once again sets the bill back to square one as Congress enters a new year.

The Vermont independent explained that he had no problem with the legislation, which would have incentivized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and drug companies to encourage more relevant pediatric studies and invest in rare pediatric disease treatments, but he wanted to tack on an amendment to fund community health centers throughout the country.

‘This is not a radical amendment,’ Sanders said. ‘I’m not coming here saying, ‘Let’s do something we’ve not talked about.’ I’m not talking about passing Medicare for all here. I am talking about doing what the Republicans and Democrats agreed to a year ago but was torpedoed by some tweets from Elon Musk.’

Lawmakers already had a version of the bill teed up for passage last year, attached to the colossal, year-end temporary funding extension produced by the House.

But that package was ultimately blown apart by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who at the time was coming to Washington, D.C., to serve as President Donald Trump’s government waste attack dog at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

What eventually passed in late 2024 was a slimmed-down, three-month extension to government funding without the pediatric cancer research bill, and several other policy and funding riders eyed by both sides of the aisle.

Lawmakers who spoke in support of Mullin’s bill argued that they supported Sanders’ desire to fund community health centers, but the underlying legislation was too important to let die on the vine again.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he shared the concern for increased funding for health centers and committed to doing so when Congress returned, but that the ‘irony here is that the objection is going to come out of a genuine concern that people achieve healthcare.’

‘But there’s no one way to treat the ills, literally, the ills of the United States of America, and to think that we can do it all at once, it’s just not true,’ Cassidy said. ‘But also to say that you’re not going to give a chance for children to have a cure for cancer if you don’t get what you want, it’s just not true. It is selfish. It is tragic.’

And Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., shared Sanders’ concern, but noted that the GOP-controlled House had not committed to tackling the issue of community health center funding.

‘As disappointed as I am that the House isn’t ready to support increased funding for community health centers, I also believe that it is important to take action on this package now to help address pediatric cancer and lower prescription drug costs,’ she said. ‘So I am disappointed that this bill will not move forward today.’

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is set to file a lawsuit Monday against Resideo, a smart home tech manufacturer, alleging the company misled consumers about the safety and privacy of its devices, Fox News Digital has learned.

Resideo may not be a household name but its security cameras are widely available and could be quietly monitoring homes across the United States.

The 33-page lawsuit, filed in Nebraska state court, alleges the company failed to disclose known security vulnerabilities and national-security risks associated with cameras made by the Chinese manufacturers Hikvision and Dahua.

According to Hilgers, the cameras are linked to Chinese manufacturers that can be compelled under Chinese law to assist the country’s intelligence services. Meanwhile, Americans can purchase the cameras through ADI, Resideo’s global distribution network, which the company has marketed as a trusted security provider for homes, businesses, schools and hospitals.

‘Nebraskans install security cameras to protect their families, homes and businesses—not to invite hidden surveillance into the most private parts of their lives,’ Hilgers told Fox News Digital.

‘Selling cameras with known security risks while marketing them as ‘secure’ is deceptive and dangerous. That kind of conduct will not be tolerated in Nebraska,’ he added.

The complaint notes that Hikvision and Dahua appear on multiple U.S. government restriction lists, including under the National Defense Authorization Act and by the Federal Communications Commission, over national-security concerns, information the company does not disclose to consumers.

In the lawsuit, Hilgers is asking a judge to require clearer warnings about the cameras, fine the company, refund customers who bought the products, and change how the cameras are advertised. 

 Hikvision and Dahua did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Hilgers isn’t alone in sounding the alarm. Others in the security space say Resideo’s products represent a broader national threat.

Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, said a win for Nebraska could send a message far beyond the state’s borders.

‘Companies that refuse to do the right thing for our country should pay the full price for any fraud they perpetuate on the American people,’ Lucci said. ‘General Hilgers’ leadership should be replicated across all 50 states.’

In a statement, Lucci added that ‘despite state and federal bans on dangerous Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surveillance technologies, some American companies relabel and continue to distribute cheap but dangerous Chinese tech to get around these bans.’

‘That is exactly what Resideo is doing at the expense of American manufacturers and our national security,’ Lucci said.

In September, Hilgers sued Lorex, a security camera maker that sells its products through retailers such as Costco and Best Buy, on similar allegations.

The company marketed its cameras as ‘private by design’ and safe for places like children’s bedrooms, while concealing that the devices rely on a Chinese firm sanctioned by the U.S. over national security and human rights violations. 

Lawmakers from both parties have long raised concerns that the Chinese government exploits educational exchanges, research partnerships and business investments in the U.S. as cover for espionage activities. These warnings have intensified in recent years amid growing scrutiny of Beijing’s influence operations on U.S. soil.

Senate Democrats are mounting a legal offensive against the Trump administration for its handling of the release of files and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has teed up the first salvo. 

Schumer on Monday announced that he would file a resolution that would compel the Senate to take legal action against the Trump administration for ‘illegally refusing to release the complete Epstein files and heavily redacting the files that are released.’ 

‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full, so Americans can see the truth,’ Schumer said in a statement. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.’

Schumer’s move comes just days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dumped several hundred thousand documents and photos from its trove of materials related to the late Epstein. Schumer and Senate Democrats warned ahead of the document dump on Friday that unless the DOJ fully complied with the recently passed law, they would seek legal action.

They argue that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ didn’t follow the law, which Congress passed nearly unanimously out of both chambers last month.

Schumer, who forced a successful vote in the Senate on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, previously argued that the ‘heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice today is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence.’

‘Simply releasing a mountain of blacked-out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law,’ Schumer said in a statement. ‘For example, all 119 pages of one document were completely blacked out. We need answers as to why.’

The law required that the DOJ release all unclassified records related to Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, known associates and entities linked to Epstein and Maxwell, internal DOJ decision-making on the Epstein case, records on destroying or tampering with documents, and all documents on his detention and death.

There were narrow exceptions to what the government could opt against releasing, including materials that reveal victims’ identities or medical files, child sex abuse materials, information that could jeopardize active investigations, images of graphic death or injury, or classified national security information.

Schumer and congressional Democrats, along with some congressional Republicans, were already peeved that the DOJ wasn’t going to dump every document in its possession by Friday’s deadline.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that day that the agency would be taking a phased approach and said he expected ‘that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks,’ as the DOJ worked to comb through every document to ensure ‘every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected.’

But it was the inclusion of several heavily redacted documents without explanation as to why they were blacked out that raised lawmakers’ eyebrows.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who also is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that Friday’s release ‘could have been a win for survivors, accountability, and transparency to the public. It wasn’t.’

He accused the Trump administration of breaking the law with how it handled the document dump and vowed that the Judiciary Committee would investigate.

‘Senate Judiciary Democrats will investigate this violation of law and make sure the American people know about it,’ Durbin said in a statement. ‘The survivors deserve better. It’s clear Donald Trump and his Republican enablers are working for the rich and powerful elites — and not you.’