California’s Fraud “Epicenter” & Guthrie Search Continues | 2.4.26

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: California’s Fraud “Epicenter” & Guthrie Search Continues | 2.4.26
Date: February 4, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howell
Guests/Reporters: Dr. Mehmet Oz, Amanda Giacomo, Lyndon Blake, Luke Rosiak, Joshua Sherrard

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Overview

This episode examines two major stories gripping the nation:

1. Massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud in California, particularly Los Angeles County, sparking a confrontation between the Trump administration and Governor Gavin Newsom.
2. The ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of TV host Savannah Guthrie, following her disappearance amid troubling circumstances in Tucson, Arizona. Additionally, an investigative segment exposes federal aid corruption through the African Development Foundation, ending with a guilty plea from a key official.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Massive Health Care Fraud in California

(Segment starts around 02:09)

• Scope of the Fraud

  • Billions in alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud in California, focusing on hospice and home care services.
  • Fraudsters sign up vulnerable people, especially seniors, for unnecessary (or entirely unprovided) services, billing the government.
  • Los Angeles County particularly targeted; some schemes are tied to organized crime (including the Russian Armenian mafia).

• Notable Quotes

  • Dr. Mehmet Oz [03:35]:
    "We have about 1 in $10 spent in America in home health care just in Los Angeles... There was an increase, about a seven-fold increase in the available hospice in California. This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t have seven times more people dying."
  • Dr. Mehmet Oz, on human impact [04:36]:
    "[A man] was approached by a young woman who said, hey listen, I got some things I can bring you to help you out if you just sign this document... What the document said was that you’re giving up all your health care to go into hospice... Lo and behold, he has a health problem. He doesn’t have access to care because he gave up his insurance and he died. He died."

• Political Fallout

  • Dr. Oz (now CMS Administrator) issued California a “corrective action plan” with a 21-day deadline.
  • Governor Newsom replied with a civil rights complaint, accusing Oz of racially charged allegations for singling out the Armenian community.

• Memorable Moment

  • Dr. Mehmet Oz [06:09]:
    "I wrote a letter and I visited because I care. I want him to care as much as I do about the most vulnerable people in California. I do think political patronage might be part of this."

• Actions Taken

  • Oz refers cases to federal attorneys and urges accountability for the massive taxpayer loss and harm to seniors.

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2. The Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie

(Segment starts 07:39)

• Case Details

  • Nancy, 84, disappears from Tucson, Arizona home.
  • Friends noticed her absence at church and alerted family.
  • Authorities say time is critical due to health concerns (medication needed within 24 hours).

• Crime Scene & Investigation

  • Authorities remain tight-lipped about key details to avoid compromising leads.
  • Reports (from LA Times, CBS) mention blood and signs of forced entry, but the sheriff refuses to confirm specifics.
  • Joshua Sherrard, former police captain [10:32]:
    "To clear a crime scene in the matter of, you know, 24 hours or less tells me that there’s a little bit more targeted search than they’re letting on. Either that or there just is nothing to process there, which is kind of hard to believe at this point."

• Emerging Leads

  • A possible ransom note demanding millions in bitcoin received by TMZ; authorities are investigating its validity.
  • Awaiting further press briefings unless a major break occurs.

• Family’s Response

  • Savannah Guthrie posts a moving plea [11:09]:
    “We believe in prayer. We believe in voices being raised in unison and love and hope. We believe in goodness. We believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in Him... bring her mom home.”

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3. Federal Aid Corruption: African Development Foundation

(Segment starts 12:26)

• Expose Summary

  • The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), a little-known federal agency, is caught up in a bribery and kickback scandal.
  • Reporter Luke Rosiak’s investigation found that foreign aid funds were being funneled back to U.S. insiders and friends.
  • CFO Matthew Zehu admits to taking bribes and lying to law enforcement; pleads guilty.

• Example of Fraud

  • No-bid contracts (e.g., Ganium Limited, owned by Zehu’s friend) issued during COVID for unnecessary services.
  • Over $100,000 paid for work never performed, with $12,000 in kickbacks.

• Notable Quotes

  • Luke Rosiak [15:06]:
    "Because they didn't do like $800,000 worth of work."
  • Dr. Mehmet Oz quoting Sen. Mike Lee [16:33]:
    "Republicans acting alone could have, would have and should have defunded this today. But instead... All Democrats voted to table it. And they were joined by just enough Republicans..."

• Political Aftermath

  • Sen. Mike Lee’s amendment to abolish the agency fails in the Senate (58–42).
  • Eleven Republicans joined Democrats to save the agency; none provided statements despite inquiries.

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Timestamps & Notable Moments

| Timestamp | Segment | Key Moment/Quote | |------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 02:09 | Medicare Fraud in California | Dr. Oz describes fraud magnitude | | 03:35 | LA County as Fraud Epicenter | “Chill you... 1 in $10 spent in America in home health care just in Los Angeles.” – Dr. Oz | | 04:36 | Human cost of fraud | Patient lost insurance, died due to scam | | 06:09 | Newsom’s pushback | Dr. Oz’s response to civil rights complaint | | 07:39 | Guthrie disappearance | Case overview by Lyndon Blake | | 10:32 | Crime scene cleared quickly, expert opinion | “To clear a crime scene... in 24 hours or less tells me...” – Joshua Sherrard | | 11:09 | Savannah Guthrie’s Instagram plea | Family’s emotional message to public | | 12:26 | U.S. African Development Foundation fraud | Bickley, Rosiak, and Dr. Oz discuss indictment | | 15:06 | Exposing “work” not performed | “They didn’t do like $800,000 worth of work.” – Luke Rosiak | | 16:33 | Senate amendment fails | Sen. Mike Lee on failed defunding |

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Conclusion

This Morning Wire episode underscores two urgent issues:

• California’s status as a flashpoint for health care fraud, with billions lost and vulnerable populations directly harmed, and the ensuing political battle between state and federal authorities.
• The mysterious, troubling disappearance of Nancy Guthrie and the efforts underway to find her. It closes by exposing a case of federal aid corruption that resulted in rare, swift legal and political action, though reform efforts stall in the Senate.

The episode mixes hard investigation, human interest, and political accountability, reflecting Morning Wire’s “news you need to know” ethos with clarity, depth, and a call for responsive action.

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For listeners:
This episode provides in-depth updates on national stories both financial and human, calling attention to fraud, government misconduct, and instances where justice is still being sought.

Transcript

[John Bickley]

The Trump administration is cracking down on California, tying billions in alleged Medicare fraud to crime networks in the state.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

What we've really witnessed is a weaponization of this criminal effort that has been tolerated. And the key question we should all be asking ourselves is why?

[Georgia Howell]

How are state officials reacting?

[John Bickley]

I'm Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Wednesday, February 4th. This is Morning Wire.

[Georgia Howell]

The frantic search for Nancy Guthrie continues amid fears she was abducted from her Arizona home.

[Joshua Sherrard]

We do believe that Nancy was taken.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

From her home against her will, and that's where we're at.

[John Bickley]

And a Daily Wire investigation leads to a guilty plea on bribery charges and calls to shut down a federal aid.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

Agency because as he put it, it's trash.

[Luke Rosiak]

And as he put it, it's a.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

Corrupt culture of waste, fraud, and abuse.

[Georgia Howell]

Thanks for waking up with MORNING wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

[Luke Rosiak]

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[Georgia Howell]

Today, that's balanceofnature.com CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz says Los Angeles county has become an epicenter for health care fraud, sparking a battle with California Governor Gavin Newsom.

[John Bickley]

Here with the details is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Press's Giacomo. Morning, Amanda. So let's start with these allegations of Fraud, billions of dollars we're talking about here, what is going on in California.

[Amanda Giacomo]

So Oz says they've identified billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid fraud in California and this is largely tied to claims of hospice and home care fraud. Basically scammers are signing up people for hospice care when it's unnecessary or they don't actually provide it. When it comes to home care scams, fraudsters are billing the government for services like grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning. When these aren't being provided in California, the government will actually foot the bill for these types of services for the el elderly or the needy and says that this is being exploited by fraudsters in a very big way in the state. Now as we recently saw with the multi billion dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota, there appears to be a lot of coordination in LA county specifically essentially organized crime to pull off these scams on taxpayers. Oz has suggested that this is largely tied to the Russian Armenian mafia. We were able to speak to Dr. Oz yesterday. Here's how he described the fraud in LA and in California more generally.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

Give you a number that's going to, it's going to chill you. We have about 1 in $10 spent in America in home health care just in Los Angeles. So other home health care systems around the country, they're all suffering because the money gets pulled. So we began to notice, this is before I came into the administration, but that there was an increase, about a seven fold increase in the available hospice in California. This doesn't make any sense. You don't have seven times more people dying. What's going on? Then you begin to look at the individual hospices and again it's for end of life. So not everyone should survive. 100% survival rate in these hospices.

[Amanda Giacomo]

Now Oz has previously suggested that there's potentially tens of billions of dollars in fraud statewide. Now obviously that would be theft and a huge burden on taxpayers. But Oz has really emphasized that this is extremely harmful to seniors. In California seniors are being used by scammers. They're being signed up for services that they're not actually receiving and then when they really do need care, they're not getting it at all. Being significantly delayed.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

I met many patients. One woman, I just can't forget, get her out of my mind. Had a brother that she loved dearly and he'd had some health problems but he was fine, he was living by himself. He was approached by a young woman who said, hey listen, you know, I got some things I can bring you to help you out if you want to Just sign this document. He signs a document. What the document said was that you're giving up all your health care to go into hospice, which is, by the way, that's the deal, right? If you're going to pass away anyway within a few months because you've got metastatic cancer, you don't need to have all those ICU protections and all these extra crazy things. You might happen. You just want to be able to be made comfortable. Signs the documents. And lo and behold, he has a health problem. He doesn't have access to care because he gave up his insurance and he man died. He died.

[John Bickley]

What sort of action has Oz and CMS taken so far?

[Amanda Giacomo]

He's been referring cases to the US Attorney in Los Angeles. And he spoke to Pam Bondi and Kash Patel. And this is on everyone's radar. And last week, he gave Governor Gavin Newsom a corrective action plan with a 21 day deadline to address this fraud. Now, that letter prompted Newsom to file a civil rights complaint with HHS accusing Oz of, quote, baseless and racially charged allegations. He says that in one of the videos Oz made exposing this apparent fraud, he singled out the Armenian community unfairly. The complaint asked HHS to investigate if Oz violated federal civil rights law. In that video, we asked Oz about this action from Gavin Newsom. Here's what he told us.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

I wrote a letter and I visited because I care. I want him to care as much as I do about the most vulnerable people in California. I do think political patronage might be part of this. These are issues that he should deal with internally. Frankly, all I care about is stopping the hemorrhage of money into this area and making sure people aren't hurt.

[John Bickley]

Well, the amounts of defrauded taxpayer money, tens of billions as you've outlined, is just truly outrageous. Let's hope we do see some real consequences for those involved. Amanda, thank you so much for reporting.

[Luke Rosiak]

You're welcome.

[Georgia Howell]

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[John Bickley]

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona over the weekend with investigators fearing the worst.

[Georgia Howell]

Joining us now with the latest is Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake. So Lyndon, this case has gripped the nation. It's absolutely terrifying. What's the latest?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, well, you can imagine how many people are invested in this story. We all have mothers, grandmothers. This was an 84 year old woman who went home on a Saturday night and her church friends realized she was not at church on Sunday and alerted her families. And now we're getting these details that just are shocking. Time is of the essence in this case because when Nancy Guthrie was first reported missing on Sunday, they said she had this medication that she couldn't go 24 hours without. Well, now we're entering day four of the search and that is a dire need. But we're also learning more about the crime scene and we're also getting withheld information about the crime scene that could just point to how this case is turning more from a missing person's case into something that other authorities are describing. How you would handle a homicide investigation. So the new information that's coming out Tuesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Daniels did call this a crime again, saying Nancy was taken during the night against her will. There have been reports about her Apple Watch, something disconnecting around 2am Christopher Nanos was asked on Tuesday at the press conference if he could narrow down the time frame of Nancy's disappearance and he wouldn't give any more details on that.

[Joshua Sherrard]

I really don't want to get into narrowing down the time because narrowing it down means we could miss some tips and leads. We're working to see if that time can be tightened up.

[Lyndon Blake]

Other things that he wouldn't give details on which other outlets have reported. Chris Daniels wouldn't say if there was blood found at the scene, but the LA Times and CBS reported that there was blood at the scene and there were signs of forced entry into her home. So there was blood that was found Inside the house, near testing it for DNA. How much blood and where was it?

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

I'm not saying there's blood inside that house or outside that house. What I'm saying is our team processed a scene like you would think of any crime scene. We go in and we process it.

[Lyndon Blake]

Another thing that he wouldn't confirm, giving limited information on is, is what the crime scene looked like. He wouldn't give details on the suspicious circumstances that led to believe that a crime happened. Something else that right now we don't have. Camera footage, ring camera footage, any footage from that neighborhood in Catalina Hills outside of Tucson is being withheld. Nano said that stuff is being processed right now, but at the press conference on Tuesday, he said he doesn't know if that was going to be released. They're also processing possible DNA samples at the scene, but that could take time. A reporter asked Chris Nanos about an Amazon driver that went up to the house on Monday evening. And Chris Nanios, the sheriff, said the crime scene is cleared. We've turned that over to the family. This was less than 24 hours after she was reported missing that a crime scene, which they did label a crime scene, was cleared. I spoke to a former police captain, Joshua Sherrard, director of Berner Law Enforcement, about why they might have cleared the crime scene so quickly.

[John Bickley]

I've spent multiple days, four, five, seven days in a house sized crime scene because there was just more to process and more to process and more to process. So to clear a crime scene in the matter of, you know, 24 hours or less tells me that there's a little bit more targeted search than they're letting on. Either that or there just is nothing to process there, which is kind of hard to believe at this point. So I think that moving forward, uh, we're going to see that the, that, that hopefully that they've identified at least a person of interest at this point and are trying to verify that with the physical evidence that they found on the scene.

[Georgia Howell]

So what are the next steps?

[Lyndon Blake]

Well, right now they're looking at every single lead. And Chris Nano state say unless something big breaks in the case, they wouldn't have another press conference until Thursday. So what happens right now is when they're looking at those leads, they're taking in every little thing. A big thing happened on Tuesday. TMC said they received an unverified ransom note for the return of Nancy Guthrie with million of dollars of bitcoin. They said the sender had a legit bitcoin address that was asking for the millions of dollars they've turned that over to the Pima County Sheriff's Office, and authorities at the sheriff's office are now looking into that. We haven't heard much from Savannah, but on Monday night she did send out this plea on Instagram with a quote that said, we believe in prayer. We believe in voices being raised in unison and love and hope. We believe in goodness. We believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in him. She thanked everyone for their prayers and ended it with bring her mom home. Terrible.

[Georgia Howell]

Lyndon, thanks for reporting.

[John Bickley]

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[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

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[John Bickley]

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[Georgia Howell]

50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 month or $180 for 12 month plan tap taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy See Terms the CFO of a federal agency providing aid to Africa will plead Guilty to taking bribes Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak revealed back in May that the African Development foundation was doing exactly what the Trump administration suspected its larger counterpart USAID, of doing, using foreign aid to enrich D.C. insiders.

[John Bickley]

On Friday, the U.S. attorney for D.C. announced that Matthew Zahu would plead guilty to one of the actions laid out in Luke's story, admitting to accepting bribes and lying to law enforcement. Luke joins us now to discuss. So, Luke, first remind us what exactly this agency is.

[Luke Rosiak]

Hey, John. Absolutely. The African Development foundation is a federal agency that not many people knew existed until it became a hero to Democrat politicians and some media outlets when its staff locked the doors to prevent Doge auditors from entering. So back in May, I spoke to a number of former staff who told me the agency would send money to African groups, which made it look like it was fulfilling its mission. But then the African groups would send the money, part of the money back to the US to do things like pay staff at its DC Office and their friends. And so this agency was getting such support from Democrats in the media that when I showed up at Zehu's house in May and told him I was a journalist, he gladly spoke with me. Take a listen.

[Joshua Sherrard]

So it was one of those guys and Peter Morocco. At least we recognized those three. Yeah. So when they show Up. We didn't let them in. They eventually threatened the building security with a gentleman that present himself as a marshal. So they let them in. And the, the force that we're in.

[Luke Rosiak]

One instance involved no bid contracts to an African company called Ganium limited which was owned by a friend of Zehu's named Maina Gakur. One of those contracts was for travel during COVID when nobody was traveling.

[Joshua Sherrard]

I asked him about that Ghanaian provide basically. Services and administrative as nursery services services to U.S. logistics Administration logistics and IT.

[Luke Rosiak]

It was like 800000 total.

[Joshua Sherrard]

And then I, I can. I, I doubt the number.

[Luke Rosiak]

Did they do like.

[Joshua Sherrard]

I doubt the number very much. Oh, okay. Yeah.

[Luke Rosiak]

Because they didn't do like 800, 000 worth of work.

[Joshua Sherrard]

No, no, no, no. It's on a contract. But I. After that they had a grant. So the grant is.

[Luke Rosiak]

So Ganium did have a grant?

[Joshua Sherrard]

Yes. They gave them a grant?

[Luke Rosiak]

Yes.

[Joshua Sherrard]

Okay. That, that has nothing to do with the contract.

[Luke Rosiak]

How did you know the owners?

[Joshua Sherrard]

I would, I would. He was, he was in D.C. it was in the U. S. Then he returned home as a guys African. That's for returning home. That's it.

[John Bickley]

Okay.

[Joshua Sherrard]

So it was actually an American. No, I think he's. I don't know. Yeah, it might be an American, but I think a Kenyan. I know he's from Kenya.

[Georgia Howell]

So.

[Joshua Sherrard]

Okay, yeah.

[Luke Rosiak]

Did you know him prior to working at adf?

[Joshua Sherrard]

If I know him. Me personally? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew I didn't play. Okay, yeah.

[Luke Rosiak]

Zehu has now admitted that Gakor didn't do any work but kept more than $100,000 and paid him $12,000 in kickbacks. The rest was used to pay bills for the agency, making it look like more money was going to Africa instead of bureaucratic overhead. That was just one troubling example I found. And others involved officials beyond just Zehu.

[John Bickley]

Just really brazen levels of fraud as you've outlined. So USAID has already been abolished as we've reported. I'd imagine that this agency is next to go, you'd think.

[Luke Rosiak]

Hours after Zehu's plea deal was announced, Senator Mike Lee introduced an amendment to abolish the African Development Foundation. But it failed. Here's Lee.

[Dr. Mehmet Oz]

Republicans acting alone could have, would have and should have defunded this today. But instead, what was the result? Well, it was defeated. All Democrats voted to table it. And they were joined by just enough Republicans, just a small handful of them, to table this measure with a vote of 58 to 42. I look forward. Let's just say to hearing my colleagues explain this vote.

[Luke Rosiak]

Daily Wire Editor in Chief Brent scher asked all 11 Republicans why they voted not to defund this agency, and none replied. They were Senators Boozman, Capito, Collins, Kramer, Graham, Hoeven, McConnell, Moran, Murkowski, Tillis, and Wicker.

[John Bickley]

Well, maybe they should have all read the Daily Wire report first. Luke, excellent reporting as always. Thanks.

[Luke Rosiak]

Thank you.

[Georgia Howell]

Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're listening to the show now, you can watch for free on Daily Wire. Plus, we'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.