President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has asked Vice President JD Vance to direct his "complete and total attention" to what he described as massive corruption and crime in Democrat-run cities and states across the country, accusing blue state leaders of allowing billions of dollars to be stolen every month.
In a Truth Social post, Trump named Minnesota, California and Illinois as examples of states he said are beset by corruption and mismanagement. "The Blue States, such as Minnesota, California, Illinois, and many more, are all poorly run, corrupt disasters," he wrote, adding, "Billions of Dollars is being stolen each and every month." He offered no specific examples in the post to back up that figure.
Vance already leads the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which Trump created through a March 16 executive order aimed at combating fraud, waste and abuse in federally funded benefit programs. The task force is responsible for coordinating federal efforts to strengthen eligibility verification, prevent improper payments and identify suspected fraud in government benefit programs.
That executive order also singled out Minnesota, California and Illinois as states where the administration alleged widespread fraud or vulnerabilities in benefit programs.
In October, Fox News Digital reported that the Vance-led task force was preparing to announce criminal charges against more than 40 defendants in an alleged $40 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud scheme. At the time, the task force said it had identified $260.7 billion in suspected fraud since Trump took office and had prevented an estimated $72 billion in potentially fraudulent payments on an annualized basis. Those numbers have not been independently verified.
It was not immediately clear whether the president's latest directive would expand Vance's existing duties or simply signal a renewed emphasis on investigating alleged corruption in Democratic-led jurisdictions. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice for comment on the directive and the fraud allegations.
Trump also argued that eliminating the alleged corruption could help balance the federal budget. "Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large scale criminal activity," he wrote, before adding, "CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership's blood!" The president did not explain how curbing the alleged activity would accomplish that goal.
Trump then pivoted to Iran, declaring that the United States no longer needs to negotiate with Tehran. "We don't need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed," he wrote. "We've got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we've got their Strait!" He did not elaborate on the claims about Iranian funds or the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital waterway for global energy shipments. Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for clarification.
