How Legacy Media Covered and Missed Minnesota’s Massive Fraud Scandal

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: How Legacy Media Covered and Missed Minnesota’s Massive Fraud Scandal
Date: January 10, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Guest: Bill d’Agostino, Senior Research Analyst, Media Research Center

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Overview

This episode centers on the $9 billion social services fraud scandal in Minnesota, exploring how major legacy news networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) have covered—or failed to cover—this huge story. The hosts and their guest dig into the disparities in reporting, what drives media silence or bias, and the impact of independent journalism in breaking the scandal. The episode specifically spotlights the role of media bias, the political fallout (including Governor Tim Walz dropping out of his re-election race), and varying standards of newsroom accountability.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Scandal’s Scope and Political Fallout

• The Scandal – Minnesota faces allegations of up to $9 billion in taxpayer-funded social services fraud, described as “widening” and causing political chaos.
• Political Impact – Governor Tim Walz withdraws from re-election, saying:

  “Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity…”
  (Gov. Walz, 00:18)

2. Major Networks’ Coverage Disparities

• ABC News

  • Essentially ignored the story, with only two brief mentions totaling 35 seconds.
  • First mention was “buried in the middle of a report about how ICE is sowing fear in the Somali community” (02:31).
  • Second mention did not discuss any fraud details.

• NBC News

  • Avoided the story “up until Nick Shirley started reporting on it.”
    (Bill d’Agostino, 03:25)
  • Switched from silence (bias by omission) to running “defense” for officials after the story broke.
  • “We’ve seen a decent amount of them touting Minnesota officials saying, oh well, you know, we've investigated and we haven't found anything…” (03:38)

• CBS News

  • Provided the most substantial coverage, with multiple full-length reports and 13-14 minutes total time—remarkably high for network evening news standards.
  • Demonstrated some influence from new editorial leadership, particularly Bari Weiss.
    • “As far as I know, they are the only network...that actually has somebody on the ground there digging into this.” (06:16)
  • Older anchors introduced the scandal with political bias, focusing on Trump/Somali tensions, whereas the reports themselves dug into fraud details.

3. Independent Journalism: The Role of Nick Shirley

• Catalyzing Force – NBC only covered the fraud after Nick Shirley’s investigation went viral.
• Delayed Legacy Media Response – This pattern is “incredibly common,” where networks only act when independent reporting makes silence untenable. (06:53)
• Changing Tone – After initially repeating Shirley’s findings, NBC and others began scrutinizing and attacking his credibility, “running interference for the Somalians that he's accusing.” (07:36)

4. CNN’s Approach

• Particularly Hostile – CNN reporter confronted Shirley personally rather than investigating the implicated daycare centers.
  • “They cut to the reporter actually calling some of these daycares. Six of the seven that she called did not pick up. The one that does. They have an exchange that goes, I mean, I'm paraphrasing here, but something along the lines of, hi, this is CNN. Are you doing fraud? No, we're not. Okay, thank you.”
    (Bill d’Agostino, 08:19)
  • “Very, very solid investigative work from CNN, as always, really hard hitting.” (08:37)

5. Media Bias in the Trump Era

• Broader Pattern – Scandals tied to Democratic administrations tend to get minimized, framed as partisan outrage, or outright ignored unless forced onto the air.
  • "Starts out as basically this is something that Trump is upset about, this is something that conservatives are upset about. So we'll mention it a little bit, but always frame it in that context. And then when we're forced to go further...start actually attacking the accusations themselves or the scandal itself."
    (Bill d’Agostino, 09:28)
• Possible Shift at CBS – “I would give decent amount of credit for almost getting up to 15 minutes there.” (04:50), but holds judgment pending new leadership.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Gov. Tim Walz on Withdrawing:

  “Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota…”
  (00:18)

• ABC’s Minimal Coverage:

  “Their total coverage for the last...all of December is, is 35 seconds.”
  (Bill d’Agostino, 03:21)

• NBC’s Pattern:

  “They've sort of shifted from the bias by omission track to kind of playing defense for it.”
  <br>“We've seen a decent amount of them touting Minnesota officials saying, oh well, you know, we've investigated and we haven't found anything."
  (Bill d’Agostino, 03:33, 03:38)

• CNN’s Reporting Tactics:

  “Basically getting to, well, what's, what's your problem? Why even dig into this? Why are you bothering? And of course, the obvious answer is because people like the CNN reporter are not looking into it.”
  (Bill d’Agostino, 08:13)

• Media Reluctance:

  “Basically it's a turning point where they go from, 'we think we can keep a lid on this story,' to, 'okay, now our hand is being forced.' We have to get out in front of it.”
  (Bill d’Agostino, 07:03)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:18 — Governor Walz withdraws from reelection
• 02:29-03:24 — Detailed breakdown of coverage minutes by network
• 03:38 — NBC’s shift from omission to defense
• 04:29 — CBS' increased coverage and methodology
• 06:53 — Independent journalist Nick Shirley’s impact on legacy media coverage
• 08:13 — CNN’s confrontational (and superficial) reporting
• 09:05 — Discussion on political/ideological bias in coverage

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Conclusion

The episode presents a clear portrait of how mainstream media’s handling of the Minnesota fraud scandal reflects persistent institutional bias, especially concerning stories that implicate Democratic administrations. CBS stands as a partial exception due to new leadership, but hosts and their guest remain cautious. The influence of independent journalism is underscored as a catalyst for mainstream exposure. As Minnesota’s political consequences unfold, the evolution of media coverage remains in question.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

The widening fraud scandal in Minnesota is now alleged to involve as much as $9 billion in taxpayer money, and it's begun to spark significant political fallout.

[John Bickley]

That includes the announcement this week from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that he's dropped out of his race for reelection.

[Minnesota Governor Tim Walz]

Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differ.

[Narrator]

Despite the magnitude of the scandal, the legacy media has attempted to downplay it and shift the blame to the people exposing it, including independent journalists.

[John Bickley]

In this episode, we speak to an analyst at the Media Research center about the role bias has played in the legacy media's coverage of the sprawling scandal. I'm Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. This is a weekend edition of MORNING wire.

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[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss how the media has covered the widespread fraud scandal in Minnesota is MRC Senior Research Analyst Bill d'. Agostino. Bill, thanks so much for joining us.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

[John Bickley]

So we have this major scandal in Minnesota dealing with massive social services fraud. Legacy media appears to have largely avoided the story, at least initially. Then there's some blame shifting that's been going on since. The response has become sort of overwhelming and they have to cover this, your team has crunched the numbers. Can you break down the coverage highlights of cbs, NBC and abc?

[Bill d'Agostino]

Yeah, when we look at the broadcast.

[Media Analyst]

Networks, we almost, almost always focus mostly on the, the evening newscast because those are the most, the most watched television shows or news shows, at least in the country. And remarkably, abc, which often actually tops, tops the list of those three, has been almost entirely absent from this story. So they, there was one mention of it on December 3rd, right around when the story was breaking that they buried in the middle of a report about how ICE is sowing fear in the, in the Somali community. Right. So that was a, that was a 25 second mention. Since then they've included one more mention of it. Not even really discussing any of the details at all, just 10 second mention. So their total coverage for the last.

[Bill d'Agostino]

I'd say yeah, last, last week, plus.

[Media Analyst]

All of December is, is 35 seconds.

[John Bickley]

It's just incredible.

[Media Analyst]

NBC primarily ignored the story up until, up until Nick Shirley started reporting on it.

[Bill d'Agostino]

And since then they've, they've sort of shifted from the bias by omission track.

[Media Analyst]

To kind of playing defense for it.

[Bill d'Agostino]

So instead they're, they're trying to go.

[Media Analyst]

On the offense against Shirley's investigation. We've, we've seen a decent amount of them touting Minnesota officials saying, oh well, you know, we've investigated and we haven't found anything. Which is, it's an entertaining kind of standard of proof for a network that back during the, the whole me too craze investigated itself and also found no evidence of rondoing. Yeah, CBS really was where the lion's share of the coverage was and they actually have been pretty reliable about this. They've been on the story basically since it started.

[Bill d'Agostino]

They were the only network that did.

[Media Analyst]

Multiple full length reports on it before Nick Shirley's investigation came out.

[Bill d'Agostino]

So full length would be about 90.

[Media Analyst]

Seconds or more for a broadcast network.

[Bill d'Agostino]

And they're up to about 13 to.

[Media Analyst]

14 minutes now as of last, last night.

[John Bickley]

Well, it's certainly substantially more. Is that in fact good?

[Bill d'Agostino]

It's hard to really contextualize broadcast network time as opposed to say like CNN.

[Media Analyst]

Or MSNBC where you've got like a.

[Bill d'Agostino]

24 hour news cycle, but 13 minutes.

[Media Analyst]

Is actually, that's, that's quite a decent chunk.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Right, because if you, if you think about the evening newscast, they're a 30 minute block, but really only about 18.

[Media Analyst]

Minutes of that is news and you got like 12, 11 minutes of commercials. So over, over a month and then an additional week I Would I would give decent amount of credit for almost getting up to 15 minutes there.

[John Bickley]

Does this seem like a shift from.

[Georgia Howe]

CBS before Barry Weiss came on board.

[John Bickley]

As editor in chief?

[Bill d'Agostino]

Yes and no. I mean it's, it's definitely, it's definitely evidence of, of some of her influence. But there has been a little bit.

[Media Analyst]

Of the, of the remaining holdover from, from the previous, I guess administration you could call it at cbs because a.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Lot of the time before Tony decouple.

[Media Analyst]

Came in and was the, was the.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Anchor a lot of the time the introduction to some of the reports on this fraud scandal were completely different from.

[Media Analyst]

The actual report itself. So when you had for example co host John Dickerson introducing it, he would.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Introduce it in a same, in the same way that say NBC or ABC.

[Media Analyst]

Might have, which, which is to say.

[Bill d'Agostino]

It'S all about Trump is terrorizing the Somali community with fraud. He said these awful comments about Somalians.

[Media Analyst]

Anyway, here's our reporter and then the report begins with the actual fraud scandal as opposed to Trump's comments about Somalians.

[Bill d'Agostino]

So there's, there's sort of an imbalance.

[Media Analyst]

Of seriousness between the, the former co hosts and the actual reporting that's being done.

[Bill d'Agostino]

And I would got it definitely attribute.

[Media Analyst]

Some of the investigative work that's being done to Bari Weiss's influence because as.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Far as I know they are the only network of the three that actually has somebody on the ground there digging into this.

[Media Analyst]

Even, even the full length stuff that NBC has run on this has basically just been reheated. Reheated news from other sources.

[Georgia Howe]

Really remarkable considering that the allegations here are that $9 billion in fraud has been carried out in the state. You would think these networks would be very interested in this. So I wanted to talk about the role of Nick Shirley. You mentioned him. NBC waited to cover this story until Shirley's expose went viral effectively. How common is it to see this kind of delayed response from these networks?

[Bill d'Agostino]

That's incredibly common. Basically it's a turning point where they go from we think we can keep the COVID a lid on this story to okay, now our hand is being forced.

[Media Analyst]

We have to get out in front of it.

[Bill d'Agostino]

And that's very much the kind of.

[Media Analyst]

Thinking I think that went on at.

[Bill d'Agostino]

NBC based on the way that they've covered it since his report came out, because after his video came out, basically all of their coverage has been centered.

[Media Analyst]

Around the allegations that he makes and some of the conclusions that he jumps to.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Initially they were fairly, I wouldn't say credulous, but kind of just Regurgitating everything that he found since then. Anytime they've covered it since when he.

[Media Analyst]

First put his video up, they've, they've.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Taken a lot more of the fight to him and they're essentially running, I.

[Media Analyst]

Would say, interference for the Somalians that he's accusing in that video.

[Georgia Howe]

We also saw that with cnn. Can you speak to their coverage of this? They seem like they've been particularly hostile towards Shirley.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Yes, I mean, I think the most.

[Media Analyst]

Incredible report of, of all, of 2025.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Managed to come out on New Year's Eve. Somehow that was CNN sent a reporter to confront Nick Shirley in person, not confront any of the daycares in person, but confront him, grill him on how he knows what he knows, why he's making these allegations in the first place. Basically getting to, well, what's, what's your problem?

[Media Analyst]

Why even dig into this? Why are you bothering? And of course, the obvious answer is because people like the CNN reporter are.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Not looking into it. But then they, then they cut to the reporter actually calling some of these daycares. Six of the seven that she called did not pick up the one that does. They have an exchange that goes, I mean, I'm paraphrasing here, but something along the lines of, hi, this is cnn. Are you doing fraud? No, we're not.

[Media Analyst]

Okay, thank you. Right.

[Bill d'Agostino]

So very, very solid investigative work from cnn, as always, really hard hitting.

[John Bickley]

We've come to expect no less from them. Stepping back a little bit here. This entire episode, the coverage of the scandal, how does it fit into MRC's broader findings about media bias, particularly in the Trump era?

[Bill d'Agostino]

It's difficult to, to talk about this as freely as I would like to without making some kind of allegation that I can't back up. But I very much see this personally.

[Media Analyst]

As a fraud for Democrats based on the fact that it is a Democratic.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Administration running this and there is evidence that is coming out now that at least looks like there is, there is some degree of willful blindness.

[Media Analyst]

Right.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Basically deliberately turning the other cheek on.

[Media Analyst]

On the part of the waltz administration in Minnesota.

[Bill d'Agostino]

And so in that context, I would.

[Media Analyst]

Argue that this is basically part and.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Parcel of how we tend to see the broadcast networks cover this kind of thing. It's, it's starts out as basically this is something that Trump is upset about, this is something that conservatives are upset about. So we'll mention it a little bit, but always frame it in that context. And then when we're forced to go further right.

[Media Analyst]

Start actually attacking the accusations themselves or the scandal itself. Cbs, I would say, though, obviously is not a part of that general trend in this case. And hopefully that's evidence that CBS is actually improving a decent amount, although I'm.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Going to hold my judgment on that.

[Media Analyst]

Until we've given both Bari Weiss and Tony Decopol a little bit more time to cook.

[John Bickley]

Meanwhile, we have Walls pulling out of the race. We'll see how the media continues to cover even the political races in Minnesota if the fraud scandal inevitably comes up or if they figure out ways to bury that from their coverage. Bill, thank you so much for joining us.

[Bill d'Agostino]

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

[John Bickley]

That was Bill d', Agostino, senior research analyst at the Media Research Center. And this has been a WEEKEND edition of MORNING woo.