Red States and Blue States (But Mostly Blue States) Are Not Safe From Trump’s Retribution, Says Vance

The Trump administration has for months now used vague and sprawling allegations of widespread fraud, along with the feverish rumors spread by right-wing online influencers who drive these claims, as a pretext to target blue states and cities.

Following passionate opposition to the administration’s deadly immigration operation in Minnesota, the White House announced it would withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding from the state. It was an attempt to seize legitimate social services fraud investigations, ongoing for years in the state, and use them as justification for the administration’s intensified immigration enforcement. When the public rejected the aggressive and murderous tactics of federal agents, the White House found another way to punish the blue state.

In February, Vice President JD Vance – the person responsible for the fraud – announced that the administration was withholding $259 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota in order to “tighten the screws on them a little bit so that they take this fraud seriously.”

While most of these actions have since been challenged in court, the Trump administration has used vague accusations of social services and Medicaid fraud as a pretext to withhold and attempt to recoup federal funds from Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado since the beginning of this year.

These funding freezes are part of Trump’s ongoing quest to find new ways to punish blue state officials he considers political enemies, as well as residents of blue states/cities who oppose him. Its immigration enforcement operations, deployment of the National Guard to combat alleged criminality, and withholding of funds following nebulous allegations of fraud have all served as a mechanism for ideological and grievance-based retaliation.

Today, Vance argues, red states are no longer safe in Trump’s pretense war on fraud.

Vance’s comments on red states come as he announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is freezing $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to the state of California because it is apparently not taking its rampant fraud problem seriously (as was the case in Minnesota, legitimate investigations into health care fraud allegations are currently underway in the state).

“There are California and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California doesn’t take its program seriously, but there are also people who have been prescribed medications that they don’t even need,” Vance told reporters Wednesday. “They were given medications they did not need because the fraudsters actually encouraged fake prescriptions and administration of medications.”

But he also used today’s announcement to warn all 50 states that the White House could freeze funds for their Medicaid fraud control units “if they do not aggressively pursue Medicaid fraud.” Ironically, these fraud control units pursue Medicaid provider fraud cases.

“And if we continue to have problems, we may also turn off other resources within the state’s Medicaid programs,” he said. “Now we have red states and blue states that are aggressively going after fraud. But we also unfortunately have some states – mostly blue states, unfortunately – that are not taking Medicaid fraud very seriously.”

Apparently, as Dr. Mehmet Oz explained later in the press conference, part of the rationale for withholding $1.3 billion in payments to California has its roots in the administration’s anti-immigration hysteria. Per NBC News:

Addressing the delay in reimbursements to California, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the state’s Medicaid records “have generated ‘major red flags for us.’ Oz said the administration needs California to clarify $630 million in billings, $500 million in home health services and $200 million in “questionable spending” related to coverage for undocumented immigrants, he claimed. However, they are not eligible for Medicaid.

“This is the largest deferral we’ve ever made,” Oz said of the decision to pause $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments. “We’re doing this for good reason. We would at least like the state to come to the table and explain to us how these aberrant payments were generated.”

—Nicole LaFond

Republicans struggle with ballroom funding

Senate Republicans are reportedly hard-pressed to agree to the White House’s demand for an additional $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service to “beef up” security at the White House, which includes funding for security at Trump’s lavish new East Wing ballroom, something he has tried to sell to the public as a project that will be funded by private donations. The White House wants Senate Republicans to include increased security funding in the $72 billion ICE-Border Patrol reconciliation package that Congress is currently working on.

This request is causing heartburn within the Republican conference, according to Politico:

“There are still a lot of questions,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said after lunch, summarizing the sentiments of many of his Republican colleagues.

The document provided to Senate Republicans and obtained by POLITICO specifies that $220 million of the funding would go toward the ballroom project. That money, according to the document, would be used for “investments in the above- and below-ground reinforcement requirements of the East Wing Modernization Project,” including bullet-proof glass and other security improvements.

“It is important to note that, as the legislation makes clear, none of these funds will be used to support non-security enhancements at the White House,” the document adds.

—Nicole LaFond

Murkowski joins Democrats on Iran war

Senate Democrats once again forced a vote on a resolution on war powers in Iran on Thursday. Although the procedural vote failed by a vote of 49 to 50, Democrats managed to secure one additional Republican vote.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and all but one Democrat – Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) – in voting in favor of the war powers resolution.

“The president has said that hostilities have ceased, and yet it certainly doesn’t appear that hostilities have ceased. Or that anything has really changed, other than the words that are being used,” Murkowski said of his decision to change his position on the issue.

“You simply cannot say that hostilities are over because we reached 60 days and you let everything continue as before, without any additional reporting to Congress.”

-Emine Yucel

In case you missed it

NEW this afternoon from Layla A. Jones: Blacks are worse off in Trump’s economy than all other groups, Fed says

Watch Kate Riga and Khaya Himmelman’s live coverage of the race to wipe out black voting power in the South: A Gerrymandered South Carolina map could be back on the table

Morning memo: Judge Abrego Garcia criticizes Trump’s Justice Department

ICYMI this morning, from Farrell Brenner: The Cost of the GOP’s Medicaid Cuts: Emergency Bills for States and a Spiraling Oral Health Crisis

Yesterday’s most read story

Supreme Court Unblocks Alabama’s Discriminatory Racial Map, Showing Alito Was Lying

What we read

Rand Paul’s son William hurled anti-Semitic slurs at Rep. Mike Lawler

At least we know the Washington Post doesn’t buy opinions

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took a corporate-sponsored family road trip. Taxpayers paid his salary throughout the process.