Peggy Flanagan calls for tougher action on Minnesota fraud
Peggy FlanaganLieutenant Governor of Minnesota and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, interviewed on Lovett or Leave It
Asked about the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, Peggy Flanagan said more should have been done sooner and supported tougher penalties. Read her podcast remarks in the context of Tafoya's accusation.
“Fraud of any kind is completely unacceptable.” … “I would just say, you know, that more should have been done … sooner and more needs to be done.” … “I would say that it’s not OK for anyone, right, to commit fraud.” … “I think the difference, right, is that Minnesota is prosecuting fraudsters, including the woman who is in charge of Feeding Our Future, Aimee Bock, who received over 41 years in prison.” … “And in Washington, Donald Trump is pardoning the fraudsters who are literally stealing money from Medicaid. Like, we’re not the same. And, you know, Michelle Tafoya hasn’t said anything about that. She’s just fine with it.”
Original video
Other statements by Peggy Flanagan in this case
- Flanagan says the governor “took the lead on fraud” and she “did not lead in this area of work”Later: Challenged the characterization
- Flanagan says fraud response was outside her assigned dutiesLater: Challenged the characterization
- Flanagan says Walz had oversight of the fraud responseLater: Challenged the characterization
Where this statement fits
Michele Tafoya’s accusation that Peggy Flanagan is “hiding from” Minnesota’s welfare-fraud scandal
In a September 13, 2026 post, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya said her Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, “is hiding from the fraud” in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future scandal and “let it happen.” Feeding Our Future was a nonprofit that authorities said fraudulently obtained federal child-nutrition funds during the COVID-19 pandemic; its executive director, Aimee Bock, was convicted at trial in 2025. Flanagan was not charged and has not been accused of personally approving fraudulent payments. Asked about the scandal on the podcast Lovett or Leave It on September 20, Flanagan said fraud “is completely unacceptable,” that she supported a new independent inspector general’s office, and that Minnesota is “prosecuting fraudsters” while President Trump “is pardoning the fraudsters” who defraud Medicaid.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Weekly comedy and politics podcast, published on YouTube at 9:00 a.m. EDT on September 20, 2026. Host Jon Lovett interviews Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. No official transcript or captions were available; quotations here were checked against two independent transcriptions of the published audio.
Before the quotation
Host Jon Lovett introduced the fraud scandal as Tafoya’s “main line of attack,” noting that as lieutenant governor Flanagan was “not approving invoices” and “not in that direct line of authority,” but that Tafoya was “still trying to tag” her with it.
After the quotation
Flanagan went on to say she personally benefited as a child from public assistance programs of the kind targeted by the fraud, and that Trump’s administration should face additional regulations and policies “so people can’t do this right out of the White House,” referring to his pardons of Medicaid fraudsters.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Flanagan does not deny that fraud occurred, but she rejects the accusation as directed at her: she says fraud is unacceptable, points to steps taken since (an inspector general’s office, harsher penalties) and to Minnesota prosecuting the scheme’s leader, and contrasts that with Trump’s pardons and Tafoya’s silence about them. That answers and rejects the accusation rather than accepting it. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because she also says “more should have been done… sooner and more needs to be done”; it loses because that is a passive, impersonal statement about the state’s response generally, and she never says in the first person that she hid from or allowed the fraud.
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- People and groups discussed
- Michele Tafoya
More from this case
Read the full caseTafoya demands answers as Minnesota fraud cases continue
“Peggy Flanagan and Tim Walz are either complicit or they are clueless.”Read statement
Matthews criticizes Flanagan's answers about fraud
“has claimed she had no knowledge of anything, and has played the dodge-and-weave game when asked about it in interviews”Read statement
Curtis says Flanagan's place in the Walz administration should count against her
“voters should be aware that she was part of the administration that allowed the theft of billions of taxpayer dollars.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Peggy Flanagan calls for tougher action on Minnesota fraud". First published: 2026-09-20. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/1280-asked-about-the-feeding-our-future-fraud-scandal