DEI Fraud Exposed & Mamdani’s Radical Moves | 12.11.25

Summary

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Morning Wire – “DEI Fraud Exposed & Mamdani’s Radical Moves”

Date: December 11, 2025
Hosts: Jon Bickley & Georgia Howe

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Overview

This episode unpacks three main developments at the intersection of politics, government policy, and urban leadership:

• The exposure and investigation of alleged multi-billion dollar DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) program fraud in federal contracting
• Economic updates as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, with political implications
• Controversial policies and appointments by New York’s incoming Mayor Zoran Mamdani, signaling a leftward shift in city leadership
  The hosts and their guests offer analysis, context, and pointed criticisms throughout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Senate Scrutinizes DEI Fraud in Government Contracting

Guest: Cabot Phillips, Daily Wire senior editor
Main Points:

• The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, aimed at socially & economically disadvantaged businesses, has been heavily abused under DEI mandates, increasing racial and gender quotas for federal contract awards.
• Billions of taxpayer dollars flowed into these contracts; many were fraudulently administered.
• Luke Rosiak, a Daily Wire investigative reporter, testified to rampant fraud:
  • Minority-owned firms would “win” contracts then outsource work to non-minority firms, keeping profits.
  • Large corporations (e.g. Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton) would collaborate with small firms purely for access to set-aside contracts.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "[8A] creates a random group of influence peddlers who, like lobbyists, get rich by selling access to government insiders for the benefit of big business while driving up the costs for all of us. This is the kind of thing people hate about Washington. You owe it to voters to end this program." – Luke Rosiak [04:11]
  • “Wherever there’s the prospect of millions of dollars going to somebody without the usual competitive process, the free market is going to find creative ways to get that money to where it would otherwise have gone, which unfortunately often means big companies.” – Luke Rosiak [04:38]

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2. Economic Update: Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates

Details:

• The Fed lowers interest rates by a quarter point, now in the 3.5–3.75% range, the lowest in 3 years.
• Traditionally, rates are cut to boost hiring and reduce unemployment; now, the labor market’s slowdown is the central concern, even as inflation risks remain.
• Chair Jerome Powell describes the challenge of balancing inflation with employment:
  • “In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks, risks to employment to the downside. A challenging situation. There is no risk free path for policy as we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals.” – Jerome Powell [05:43]
• President Trump reportedly plans to replace Powell when his term ends in May 2026; frontrunners include Fed governors, a BlackRock executive, and Trump’s NEC director Kevin Hassett.

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3. New York’s Mayor-Elect Zoran Mamdani: Controversy Before Inauguration

Guest: Megan Basham, Daily Wire culture reporter
Highlights:

• Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, is facing scrutiny for both policy stances and personnel decisions.
• ICE Resistance Video:
  • He publicly advised immigrants on their rights to “stand up to ICE” and resist entry without a judge-signed warrant.
  • “If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right to say, ‘I do not consent to entry,’ and the right to keep your door closed.” – Zoran Mamdani [08:51]
  • Critics charge that this crosses from informing people of rights into encouraging evasion, including by those with criminal backgrounds.
• Appointment Controversies:
  • Mamdani’s justice reform team includes Myson Lennon, a former hip-hop artist convicted for armed robberies, who later became a Black Lives Matter activist.
  • Other team members have histories of opposition to law enforcement and controversial activism (e.g., Linda Sarsour, Lamubambandele, Alex Vitelli).
  • Benny Basquiat, Corrections Union head: “disheartening and deeply disturbing.” [10:41]
  • Retired NYPD John Chell notes a pattern of anti-police personnel.
• Homelessness Policy:
  • Pledges to end “encampment sweeps” unless permanent housing is available; adopts a “housing first” model.
  • Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams warns this is “idealism colliding with realism,” likely to worsen public order.

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4. Minnesota DEI/Fraud Scandal Expands

Guest: Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-6, House Majority Whip)
Main Points:

• Minnesota has seen massive fraud in relief programs, especially during and post-pandemic.
• Key Examples:
  • $250 million “nutritional supplement” program fraud; the largest pandemic case nationwide.
  • Medicaid housing fraud: $2 million/year in 2020 ballooned to $100+ million by 2024.
  • Allegations that funds were funneled to Somali crime rings and even terrorist groups.
• Emmer’s Criticism:
  • “First thing you do is get rid of Tim Walz and Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar. I mean, there’s your biggest structural problem right there...” [13:43]
  • Claims Attorney General Ellison blocks investigations for political reasons, relying on votes from immigrant communities.
  • “90% of the crimes we’re talking about have been committed by people that are in the Somali community. ...They have been sending millions back to Somalia into the hands of Al Shabaab, so a known terrorist group.” [15:03]
  • Cites collaboration between US Senators and activists to ramp up federal investigations, as state accountability fails.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On DEI Fraud (Luke Rosiak):
  “This is the kind of thing people hate about Washington. You owe it to voters to end this program.” [04:11]
• On Immigration Rights (Mamdani):
  “If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right to say, ‘I do not consent to entry,’ and the right to keep your door closed.” [08:51]
• On New York's Police Reform Team (Megan Basham):
  “Mom Donnie filling his team with these anti-cop firebrands—people like Black nationalist Lamubambandele and Defund the Police guru Alex Vitelli...” [11:13]
• On Minnesota Fraud (Tom Emmer):
  “90% of the crimes we’re talking about have been committed by people that are in the Somali community. ...They have been sending millions back to Somalia into the hands of Al Shabaab.” [15:03]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:47] – Senate investigates DEI fraud; Luke Rosiak’s testimony
• [05:08] – Federal Reserve interest rate update; Powell quote
• [06:09] – Trump’s anticipated replacement of Jerome Powell
• [07:59] – Zoran Mamdani, incoming NYC mayor; policy and personnel controversies
• [08:41] – Mamdani’s ICE advisory to immigrants
• [09:41] – Controversial appointments to Mamdani’s administration
• [11:17] – Homelessness policy shift in NYC
• [13:04] – Minnesota fraud: Rep. Emmer interview

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Tone & Language

The episode is brisk, pointed, and critical, adopting a skeptical and often adversarial posture toward progressive policy, urban leadership, and the federal bureaucracy.

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Summary

This episode delivers an expeditious and hard-hitting overview of major stories shaping US politics and urban life. The hosts and guests expose alleged abuses of DEI programs in federal contracting, debate the merits and fallout of the Fed’s latest interest rate changes, and dissect the high-stakes personnel and policy shifts set into motion by New York’s incoming mayor. Each story is laced with pointed commentary and direct quotes, offering listeners clear insight into why these developments matter—and why they’re so fraught with controversy.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Fraud and the economy take center stage on Capitol Hill as the Fed cuts rates and the Senate holds a key hearing on corruption.

[A]

The most openly abused and shockingly corrupt program in the federal government is so called set aside contracting.

[B]

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor Jon Bickley. It's Thursday, December 11th, and this is Morning Wire.

[C]

New York Mayor elect Zoran Mamdani has yet to take office, but critics say the storm clouds are already forming over the city. We put together a team of more than 400 New Yorkers who bring with them both a fluency of the policies and politics of the city. The places that they've succeeded, the places that they've failed.

[B]

And as new estimates put Minnesota's massive fraud scandal even higher than previously believed, lawmakers call for tougher oversight on relief programs.

[D]

We're going to have to look into this in a lot more detail because, you know, there's a lot of allegations out there and they've been out there for years.

[C]

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

[E]

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[C]

The Senate is investigating a multi billion dollar DEI fraud scheme. As the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates.

[B]

Sending markets soaring, Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down. So Cabot, let's start with the massive fraud scandal being discussed on the Hill right now. Our own Luke Rosiak testified before the Senate. Can you give a little context about what brought him there and what he discussed?

[A]

Sure. So this all centers on the small business administration's 8A program which was initially intended to offer support for those businesses that were deemed socially and economically disadvantaged. Now, under the Biden Administration, federal agencies were instructed to make sure that 15% of all government contracts were awarded to businesses operated by minorities or women, meaning billions of taxpayer dollars were given based on race and gender. So basically, this was one of the largest DEI programs in the country. Now, not only was the program intentionally excluding certain people based on race, it was also rife with fraud. Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak has documented countless cases in which minority owned businesses would win a contract and then outsource nearly all of the work to non minority owned businesses, pocketing most of the money in the process. In many other cases, large government contractors like Deloitte or Booz Allen Hamilton would seek out minority owned businesses to secure contracts on their behalf through the 8 program. And then those smaller businesses would keep a huge chunk of the money while the larger contractor would do all of the work. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Small Business held a hearing to address that fraud. And here's what Rosiak had to say about his findings. Eight creates a random group of influence peddlers who, like lobbyists, get rich by selling their access to government insiders for the benefit of big business while driving up the costs for all of us. This is the kind of thing people hate about Washington. You owe it to voters to end this program. So the process of the government insisting that certain contracts be awarded to these minority or women owned businesses is referred to as set asides. And here's Rosiak testifying about the danger that he says is inherent in these set aside programs. Wherever there's the prospect of millions of dollars going to somebody without the usual competitive process, the free market is going to find creative ways to get that money to where it would otherwise have gone, which unfortunately often means big companies.

[B]

Now across town, also in Washington, there were some developments on the economy, something that will affect a lot of our listeners. What's the latest with the interest rate?

[A]

So on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board voted again to cut interest rates by a quarter point to the 3.5 to 3.75% range. That means the rates have now come down by almost 2% over the last year and a half. They're now at their lowest point in more than three years. So typically, rate rates are raised when inflation is high and then lowered when the labor market is cool. But ultimately, the Fed board, led by Chair Jerome Powell, viewed the labor market as a more pressing matter. And they said that these cuts would help get hiring going again and lower unemployment. Here's Powell explaining their decision and talking about those conflicting issues between the labor market and inflation. In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks, risks to employment to the downside. A challenging situation. There is no risk free path for policy as we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals.

[B]

Now, speaking of Jerome Powell, President Trump has not been secretive at all about his displeasure with him. Powell's term is coming up this spring. President Trump is going to be replacing him. How does that, how's that search going?

[A]

Yeah. Kids across America right now are counting down the days till Christmas. Donald Trump is counting down the days until May 15, 2026. That is when Jerome Powell's four year term expires and he'll get to pick his successor. The shortlist right now includes two current Fed governors, a BlackRock executive and his current National Economic Council director, Kevin Hassett, who is presumed to be the front runner. Trump has hinted that he already knows who he's going to pick. He should make that announcement shortly and we'll see who Trump has under the Christmas tree this spring. Sorry, that was bad. I'm a, I'm a dad. It's a dad joke. Come on.

[B]

Gavin, thanks for reporting.

[A]

Absolutely.

[F]

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[C]

As New York City braces for a seismic shift in leadership, with Democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani taking the helm as mayor next month, a wave of controversy is erupting over his early moves.

[B]

Joining us now with the latest is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So, Megan, a lot of political pundits, particularly those on the right, warned that Mamdani would endanger public safety with his undermining of law enforcement. And now they say there's some strong evidence that those claims are vindicated. What's the latest?

[G]

Yeah, so one of his most controversial moves, Georgia, is that he just put out this video addressed to immigrants in which he told them that they have a right to resist ice. So this is what he said.

[C]

We can all stand up to ice. If you know your rights, if you encounter ice, these are the things that every New Yorker should know. First, ICE cannot enter into private spaces like your home, school, or private area of your workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge that looks like this. If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right, right to say, I do not consent to entry, and the right to keep your door closed.

[G]

So critics argue that this goes beyond merely explaining constitutional rights. And some say that it could embolden illegal aliens, even those with criminal records, to resist or evade ICE efforts to, you know, start to deport illegal aliens. And I think we need to remember that pre election mom Donnie did call ICE reckless, and he vowed to, quote, unquote, fight back against them.

[B]

Well, and of course, the backdrop to that is Trump is continuing with this deportation push. Now pivoting specifically to Mom Donnie's transition team. A lot of people are reading the tea leaves there. What are we hearing about that?

[G]

Yeah. So this has been an explosive topic because Mom, Donnie has tapped a man name, and I'm possibly going to get the pronunciation wrong, but it's mice and linen to be a key voice on justice reform on his committee on the Criminal Legal System. Now, Lennon was once a rising hip hop star. He had a contract with Def Jam. In 1999, he was convicted of two armed robberies specifically for holding up taxi drivers with a gun. And he served seven years and was finally paroled in 2006. He then rebranded as something of a Black Lives Matter activist. And he founded this group, Until Freedom, with a woman named Linda Sarsour. And she's a controversial pro Palestinian activist. And she's also served as a Mamdani advisor. So law enforcement, as you can imagine, is pretty apoplectic about this. The corrections Officers Union head, Benny Basquiat called it, quote, disheartening and deeply disturbing. And retired NYPD brass like John Chell say that it's a pattern of Mamdani filling his team with these anti cop firebrands, people like black nationalist Lamubambandele and Defund, the police guru Alex Vitelli and others. And that includes a left wing social justice who once named a convicted cop killer as one of the people that she would like to spend an afternoon with. So, Mom, Donnie says that he just wants people on this committee on advising him who have a broad array of experiences and analysis to draw from.

[B]

Now, what about the homeless policy? We've seen reports that he's going to be changing course there.

[G]

Yes. So Mamdani has pledged to end this long standing practice of clearing out homeless encampments across the city. Under outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, these kinds of sweeps and cleanups were very common, a central part of maintaining what Adams called quality of life and public safety enforcement. But Mamdani said that unless the city can deliver stable, permanent housing, forcing people off the streets will not accomplish anything. Instead, he plans to shift to what he called a housing first approach. That includes things like providing housing through rental units, possibly housing vouchers to the homeless. But Adams, who we need to remember is a Democrat himself, has warned that this is, quote, idealism colliding with realism. He and other critics are warning that Mamdani's policies could very well lead to sprawling encampments, deteriorating public spaces, and overall, a loss of public safety and quality of life.

[B]

Well, he's gonna learn, just like Los Angeles learned about what happens when you don't clean up your homeless. Megan, thanks for reporting.

[G]

Yep, my pleasure.

[A]

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[B]

The sweeping fraud allegations coming out of Minnesota have sparked demands for more investigations and further action from political leaders in D.C. to protect against billions more in taxpayer dollars getting funneled into the hands of fraudsters.

[C]

Joining us now to discuss is House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota's 6th congressional district. So, first of all, Congressman, thank you so much for coming on.

[D]

Good to be with you.

[C]

So we have this massive fraud scandal continuing to unravel this week. What do you believe were the most critical oversight failures within the Walz administration? And how should Minnesota restructure its safeguards to prevent this from happening again?

[D]

Well, the first thing you do is you got to get rid of Tim Walz and Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar. I mean, there's your biggest structural problem right there. Let me put some context around this for your, your viewers, your listeners. The facts are this. Today, there are roughly, by some estimates, about 80,000 Somali immigrants that are living in Minnesota. The vast majority of them live in Minneapolis or Hennepin county, an area called Cedar Riverside. Tim Walls and Keith Ellison cannot get votes in greater Minnesota. Think about this. In the last re election, Tim Walls outspent the Republican candidates 15 million to 1.7 million. And he won with 52%, just over 52% of the vote. If you look a little deeper, we have 87 counties. Tim Walls only won the 13 metro counties. So what is this about? This is about the fact that when he and Keith Ellison took office, Keith Ellison instantly set up a policy in his attorney general's office that required his approval before any further investigations into fraud could go forward. Guess what? He's never approved one of them.

[C]

Incredible.

[D]

And it's not that all Somali immigrants are bad. It just so happens that 90% of the crimes we're talking about have been committed by people that are in the Somali community. And by the way, they have been sending millions back to Somalia into the hands of Al Shabaab, so a known terrorist group. So if you look at Keith Ellison, he won by a little less than one point in his last election. What is this all about? This is all about them getting reelected. They need that 60 to 80,000 Somali population to be voting for them. Look you had the $250 million fraud that people have heard the largest pandemic fraud case in the country. This was a nutritional supplement, I'll call it program during COVID where the states were administering money out of the Department of Agriculture, through their Department of Education to schools to try and feed children during COVID $250 million. Who in the Minnesota Department of Education has been held accountable for this? Then there was the Medicaid housing fraud they started in 2020. Program was estimated to be a little more than 2 million a year. By 2024, in four years, they'd sucked 100 million out of it. And guess what? They shut her down just last October after they sucked another 61 million out of it and they realized the fraud.

[C]

Is there any action being taken to hold people accountable if they did look the other way, knowingly? What investigations are going on with that? And what do you hope to see pursued?

[D]

Look, I think our U.S. justice Department is starting to pick up where Minnesota should have been involved investigating not only the fraud, but who might have been not just incompetent, but actively engaged in the fraud because they should be held criminally responsible. You've got Dr. Oz, who's investigating fraud in the Medicaid program. You've got Kelly Loeffler, who's investigating fraud in the SBA program. You got Cash Patel, who's busy with his team investigating Somali gangs that have frankly been running rampant in the Twin Cities, committing crimes, and no one will hold them accountable for it.

[C]

Let's hope we do see some action on this because we don't want to see billions more wasted on fraud. Congressman Emmer, thank you so much for joining us.

[D]

Yeah, thank you again for covering it. Really appreciate it.

[B]

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.

[E]

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[D]

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[A]

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