The Left is running out of tricks. Now they have to face the music.
And RFK Jr. just held Gavin Newsom’s feet to the fire over devastating fraud allegations.
Newsom Lashes Out After RFK Jr. Freezes $1 Billion in California Medicaid Funds Over Fraud Concerns
The Trump administration is freezing more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota over suspected fraud, with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warning Tuesday that the Democrat-led states won’t receive another taxpayer dollar until they can prove the payments were legitimate.
RFK Jr. and CMS Demand Accountability From Blue States
“If Governor Gavin Newsom or Governor Tim Walz wants this funding released, all they have to do is provide basic documentation showing that these services are legitimate and not fraudulent. And that’s common sense,” Kennedy said during a news conference Tuesday.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is withholding roughly $867.5 million from California and $199 million from Minnesota after audits flagged high-risk Medicaid claims and documentation deficiencies. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz pointed to California’s ballooning in-home care spending as a major red flag.
“So California increased spending at twice the rate of the average of the rest of the entire nation,” Oz said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Kennedy laid the blame for the alleged fraud squarely at the feet of the Biden administration and Democrat leadership in both states, saying former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra “looked the other way while fraud, waste, and abuse exploded.”
“The scammers got paid,” Kennedy said. “The taxpayers got stuck with these enormous bills.”
Officials stressed the funds are being deferred, not permanently cut, and that both states can recover the money by documenting that the claims meet federal Medicaid requirements. Minnesota has already begun submitting paperwork for CMS review, according to Oz.
Newsom Fires Back, Dismisses Fraud Concerns as Political
Newsom wasted little time firing back, dismissing the fraud concerns as a politically motivated attack rather than a legitimate compliance issue.
“Today’s announcement from Dr. Oz is the same recycled political stunt we’ve seen before. California isn’t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud,” Newsom wrote on social media. “We are being targeted for political reasons — and because Dr. Oz doesn’t understand that we are SAVING taxpayers money by keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of far more expensive nursing homes! We hate fraud.”
Newsom’s press office also took a swipe at Oz directly, writing on X, “Amazing to watch Dr. Oz cosplay as a fraud fighter,” and noting that California addressed a hospice fraud problem back in 2022, when Oz “was busy pitching ‘miracle’ horse supplements to insomniacs on late-night TV.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz offered a similar rebuttal on X, rejecting the administration’s framing entirely: “This isn’t about fraud — it’s about cutting your healthcare so that Trump can afford the tax cuts he gave to billionaires.”
Newsom’s Track Record Raises Questions About the Pushback
Despite Newsom’s denials, California’s own Medicaid spending has drawn bipartisan scrutiny in the past. CMS previously found that the state spent more than $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid dollars on non-emergency care for individuals in the country illegally, in violation of federal eligibility rules, prompting Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., to demand repayment to taxpayers.
An analysis from CBS News separately found that roughly 700 of the approximately 1,800 hospices in Los Angeles County triggered red flags for fraud under California’s own definitions, underscoring the scale of the problem CMS says it is now trying to address.
The freeze marks the second time the Trump administration has targeted Newsom and Walz over alleged Medicaid fraud in their states, part of a broader pattern of the federal government cracking down on questionable spending in blue states even as governors like Newsom continue to characterize the scrutiny as political retaliation.
