Flanagan says the governor “took the lead on fraud” and she “did not lead in this area of work”
Peggy FlanaganLieutenant Governor of Minnesota and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, interviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune
Asked in a Star Tribune interview whether she bears responsibility as a member of the administration and whether she was involved in conversations about fraud, Peggy Flanagan described her focus as lieutenant governor as elsewhere and said “the governor was the one who took the lead on fraud”. She said she “certainly was, you know, part of conversations, but I did not lead in this area of work”.
“I certainly was part of conversations, but I did not lead in this area of work.”
Original video
Reporting
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
Interview with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, published by the Minnesota Star Tribune on YouTube on September 21, 2026 and released as part of its Essential Minnesota podcast. Quotations here were checked against two independent transcriptions of the published audio.
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About this source
Minnesota Star Tribune highlights from its interview with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, published September 21, 2026. The “On fraud” section quotes her answer about her role in the state’s response.
Before the quotation
The interviewer noted that Flanagan had said more should have been done sooner, and asked whether she bears responsibility as a member of the administration and whether she was involved in conversations about fraud and, if not, why not. Flanagan said her focus as lieutenant governor was elsewhere and that “the governor was the one who took the lead on fraud.”
After the quotation
The interviewer followed up by asking whether she was not necessarily in meetings where responses to fraud were discussed, which prompted the second remark quoted here. The interview then moved to immigration.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to Tafoya’s accusation that Flanagan hid from and allowed Minnesota’s fraud, Flanagan disputes that she bore responsibility, saying the governor “took the lead on fraud” and that she “did not lead in this area of work”, while acknowledging she was “part of conversations”. That contests the attribution of responsibility without expressly denouncing or endorsing the accusation. The closest competing labels are condemns, because she does not expressly reject the accusation, and “Mixed or conditional”, because she states one consistent position that limits her role.
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More from this case
Read the full caseFlanagan says fraud response was outside her assigned duties
“I was not tasked with the fraud response ... My job as lieutenant governor ... is to lean on the issues that I’ve been leaning on for a long time, which is children and families.”Read statement
NRSC cites Angie Craig’s criticism as it describes Flanagan’s “role in the $9 billion+ fraud scheme”
National Republican Senatorial Committee
“Even Angie Craig tried warning Minnesotans about Peggy Flanagan's role in the $9 billion+ fraud scheme: "She continues to take absolutely NO accountability for any of the fraud... You were the #2 elected leader in Minnesota during that period of time."”Read statement
Tafoya links Flanagan to a friend’s autism-services center and alleges it is under fraud investigation
“This is Peggy Flanagan and her best friend of 25 years. That friend runs the Milestone Development Center. It’s now under investigation for fraud. Kids with autism are not a slush fund. Minnesotans deserve so much better.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Flanagan says the governor “took the lead on fraud” and she “did not lead in this area of work”". First published: 2026-09-24. Last updated: 2026-09-24. https://disputeindex.com/events/2146-asked-in-a-star-tribune-interview-whether-she