Senator Schmitt Applauds President Trump’s Crackdown on Widespread Fraud
Encourages Trump Nominee to Lead National Fraud Enforcement Division at DOJ to be “Relentless” in Fraud Prosecutions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) highlighted the widespread fraud occurring in Minnesota and across the country, applauded President Trump for his efforts to go after fraud, and encouraged Colin McDonald, the nominee to lead the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, to aggressively prosecute rampant fraud anywhere it occurs.
Senator Schmitt has previously introduced the White House-endorsed Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act to denaturalize anyone who commits welfare fraud, other serious felonies, or joins a terrorist organization after taking the oath of citizenship.
Watch the full line of Senator Schmitt’s questioning HERE
“I do think that this issue of fraud, and the epidemic [of fraud] is one of the most pressing issues we can face as a country. Luckily, we have a president who agrees with that, who didn’t just identify the problem last night. He declared war on fraud, and I think that’s exactly what this moment demands. What we’re facing and you’ll be tackling is not just scattered misconduct. It’s not bureaucratic inefficiency in the terms that have been used in the past. It’s not an accounting error. It’s organized theft on a national scale. People scam the system, they saw vulnerabilities. They took advantage of it to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. And I think about the guy swinging the hammer, driving the truck, who works his tail off and sends his money to Washington, DC, that goes out the door. And you have this situation like Minneapolis, where the Somali community figured out a way to [defraud] to the tune of billions…It could be that the federal government loses a trillion dollars a year in fraud. And if you think about if we got that under control for like a decade, that will make a big difference [on the national debt]…This is money taken away, as I mentioned, from American workers. In a normal country, losing a trillion dollars’ worth to fraud would trigger an emergency action. But in this town, it may trigger a hearing…I think President Trump is changing the structure of Article II to go after fraud and not a moment too soon. Fraud today is industrial. It’s coordinated. It exploits federal grants, welfare programs, immigration systems, Medicare, Medicaid, tax credits, subsidies, donor platforms, and nonprofit pipelines. It’s sophisticated. Its data driven. It moves faster than any bureaucracy that has been established. And for far too long, enforcing that has been reactive, fragmented, hesitant. I can just tell you, as a former prosecutor, former Attorney General, this sort of pay and chase model doesn’t work. I think that unfortunately — and I don’t know why — only one party in this town seems to be concerned about [fraud]. This should be a bipartisan issue.”
###
