Opponents point to the president’s dismissal of inspectors general and pardons of people convicted of fraud as they challenge his new program.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a new incentive for American citizens to report cases of federal fraud, declaring the whistleblower program will make them “rich.”
The Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP) is a $25 million initiative that the White House claims will reward individuals with 1% of the total fraud they uncover.
President Trump, joined by Vice President Vance, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and members of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, told reporters inside the Oval Office that the program will “expand” on the anti-fraud work Vance and the task force have been working on since March.
“They’re going to become rich,” he said of potential whistleblowers. “When you get 1% of a billion dollars, 1% of $100 billion, it’s going to be a tremendous amount of money. It’s the largest commission ever paid, probably for anything anywhere.”
The Trump administration, for nearly two years, has claimed that mostly Democratic-run states have allowed fraudsters to siphon federal dollars meant for America’s neediest for their own personal gain. The White House has particularly focused on states like Minnesota, where the administration has targeted the Somali community in Minneapolis.
“We’ve waged an unprecedented war on corruption and fraud, and will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically scum,” Trump said during the Tuesday announcement.
While there have been cases of individual Somali immigrants committing welfare and pandemic fraud, Democratic leaders like Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have condemned the Trump administration’s focus on targeting entire communities rather than the individuals charged with alleged fraud crimes, which have been fewer than 100 in the state of Minnesota.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Trump personally attacked Governor Walz and Congresswoman Omar, claiming without evidence that they were aware of the fraud taking place in their state.
“They all knew. They’re all scammers and thieves, and so bad for our country,” said the president.
Trump was also joined by Nick Shirley, a 24-year-old right-wing YouTuber whose viral videos in 2025 claimed to expose alleged fraud at Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota. The White House announced that Shirley would receive $10,000 in financial compensation for uncovering the alleged fraud.
The claims made by Shirley, who filmed himself attempting to enter daycare facilities he said were not operating, led to federal funding freezes; however, most of the daycare centers were found to have active licenses and had undergone recent unannounced state inspections. And in some cases, provided security footage proved children were actively being dropped off.
Critics of President Trump aren’t buying his new program to pay whistleblowers exposing fraud.
Iowa State Rep. Mary Madison told theGrio that she’s highly skeptical of the Trump White House’s new whistleblower fraud program.
“He creates the result he wants to get. He creates the problem, and now he’s going to fix it by creating the solution, which always involves paying people,” said Madison, seemingly pointing to Trump’s promise to issue $5,000 dividends if Republicans win the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
“So that is more of an election issue as opposed to actually trying to find fraud,” the Iowa state lawmaker argued.
Rep. Madison questioned the validity of the White House’s claims of mass fraud and called out the historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which were justified by Republicans as ridding the country of mass waste, fraud, and abuse of federal funds. She said the Republican budget and tax law were the real fraud.
“I think it’s fraud in terms of our government to do such a thing because they couldn’t get a large percentage of fraud in healthcare and in food sustainability, so they’re going to hunt for it,” said Madison. “That tells me you didn’t have it in the first place.”
Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, told theGrio, “Donald Trump spent his first months back in office firing the inspectors general who catch fraud and pardoning convicted fraudsters who funneled millions into pro-Trump committees.”
In addition to terminating the inspectors general tasked with rooting out the very waste, fraud, and abuse he claims to be targeting, the president also pardoned or commuted the sentences of several people convicted of fraud crimes, including former U.S. Congressman George Santos and Paul Walczak, who was convicted of tax crimes and was pardoned by Trump weeks after his mother paid $1 million to attend a pro-Trump MAGA Inc. dinner.
“To Trump, fraud enforcement is just another favor to sell, and if you enrich his companies or bankroll his campaigns, you get a pass. He has made his position perfectly clear: fraud is only a problem when he isn’t getting a cut,” said Weathersby. “Trump has been running this same con since he came down the golden escalator, and the only thing that has changed is how much he’s taken from taxpayers along the way.”
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