Walz says he will not resign over Minnesota fraud scandal: 'Over my dead body'

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz remained adamant Tuesday against resigning his post over the handling of fraud in his state, which he has admitted is a serious problem but has vowed to fix.

Walz said Monday that he was not seeking reelection in November in order to focus on the large-scale fraud scandals that have dominated the state in recent months. Minnesota has been accused of allowing widespread fraud schemes to infiltrate publicly funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, stealing millions of taxpayer dollars.

The governor told reporters at an unrelated news conference that Republicans in his state "want to do nothing to improve this state," and that "their idea of improving this state is being a parrot for Donald Trump," who has predicted Walz will resign soon.

“Well here’s what I’m going to tell you: It ain’t happening,” Walz said. “I’m not going anywhere and you can make all your requests for me to resign. Over my dead body will that happen.”

Walz also warned Republicans in the state legislature that he will "ride" them for the last 11 months that he's in office in order to ensure that they are doing their jobs. 

"Expect for the next 11 months for me to ride you like you've never been ridden, to make sure that you're doing your job," Walz said. "We are under assault like no other time in our state's history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn't care about the well-being of Minnesotans. My job is to protect the well-being of Minnesotans."

The Trump administration is investigating the fraud allegations in Minnesota, including the Small Business Administration, which is investigating alleged fraud in the state's Payment Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans program.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.