JD Vance spoke out against the alleged Medicaid fraud and “theft” of federal money during a recent rally in Missouri. The vice president’s remark comes on the same day Donald Trump‘s administration announced his controversial nearly $1.8 billion ally initiative, which benefits Trump allies.
JD Vance talks about ‘theft’ amid $1.8B deal
The vice president expanded on his anti-fraud campaign, stating, “When people steal billions of dollars from the Medicare program, that is theft from you, and it’s also theft from the people who use the Medicare program to pay their bills.”
The White House announced last week that Vance’s task force had halted $1.4 billion in federal funding following “a sweeping crackdown on fraud operations in California, Minnesota, & other states.”
Vance’s recent remarks come shortly after Donald Trump’s Department of Justice announced plans to allocate around $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars as a new “anti-weaponization fund” to Trump allies who were previously prosecuted or investigated under Democratic administrations.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the initiative, saying, “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”
He added that the fund would establish a “lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
The plan soon began facing widespread criticism. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy made an X (formerly Twitter) post condemning the initiative. He said, “This is outright theft. Trump is stealing $1.7 BILLION of your money to set up a totally unprecedented, first-in-American-history political slush fund that he can use to dole out cash to win loyalty and favors for him and his family.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also took to social media, slamming the plan. “Trump didn’t just pardon his followers who stormed the U.S. Capitol. He’s now set them up for payments through a slush fund he created to reward his allies—out of your tax dollars,” she wrote on X.
Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh on Mandatory.
