Flanagan says fraud response was outside her assigned duties
Peggy FlanaganMinnesota lieutenant governor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate
Flanagan told MinnPost that fraud response was outside her assigned duties as lieutenant governor. She said her job is to lean on the issues she has focused on for a long time, which is children and families.
“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.”
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
Reporting
About this source
MinnPost article by Ana Radelat and Forrest Peterson, published October 1, 2026, on the closing weeks of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. It quotes Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan saying she was not tasked with the fraud response and reports that Tafoya has pressed the fraud issue.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
MinnPost reported that Tafoya has been hammering Flanagan on the fraud issue and has not provided evidence that the lieutenant governor knew of any swindles in state agencies.
After the quotation
MinnPost reported that Flanagan said she was assigned those issues because of her time with the Children's Defense Fund and her work as a member of the state House.
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 tells MinnPost "I was not tasked with the fraud response" and says her job as lieutenant governor was to focus on children and families. That disputes that her assigned role made her responsible for the fraud response without expressly denouncing or endorsing the accusation. The closest competing label is Condemned; it loses because she does not expressly reject the accusation or say she knew nothing of the fraud.
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- Michele Tafoya
More from this case
Read the full caseNRSC 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
Flanagan says the governor “took the lead on fraud” and she “did not lead in this area of work”
“I certainly was part of conversations, but I did not lead in this area of work.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Flanagan says fraud response was outside her assigned duties". First published: 2026-10-11. Last updated: 2026-10-11. https://disputeindex.com/events/5230-flanagan-told-minnpost-that-fraud-response-was-outside