Medicaid Abuse Abounds & Spanberger Ally Raided | 5.7.26

Summary

Morning Wire – May 7, 2026
Episode: Medicaid Abuse Abounds & Spanberger Ally Raided

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on three major current-affairs stories:

1. The explosion of Medicaid fraud in Ohio and the investigation it prompted.
2. An FBI raid on a top Virginia Democrat crucial to a controversial redistricting initiative.
3. LIV Golf’s uncertain future as Saudi funding dries up.

Morning Wire hosts John Bickley and Georgia Howe, joined by investigative reporters and guest analysts, break down allegations of rampant government waste and corruption, partisan transformations in state politics, and upheaval in professional golf.

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Segment 1: Medicaid Fraud Exposed in Ohio

[02:56 – 07:20]

Key Points:

• Vice President J.D. Vance orders a new fraud task force to investigate sweeping claims of Medicaid abuse in Ohio.
• The catalyst is a Daily Wire multi-part investigation by Luke Rosiak.
• The “personal services waiver” scheme enables people to get paid to “take care of their own family members” or allegedly non-existent clients, with little oversight.

Notable Insights:

• Fraud is enabled by the “honor system,” lack of verification, and a proliferation of shell companies.
• Some Medicaid billing companies are run by individuals with criminal records, often as a side business.
• One landlord alone has seven buildings with 300 Medicaid-related companies, billing a quarter-billion dollars.

Speaker Highlights:

• Luke Rosiak describes the ease of finding fraud:

  “We had let fraud become so rampant in this country that people were able to get rich by defrauding every single person in this room. Finding fraud in the federal government, it’s kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite.” (01:06, Luke Rosiak)

• On demographic patterns:

  “It’s 99% plus foreign names. I mean, everyone I spoke to really had an accent… African immigrants… A couple, husband and wife… from Sierra Leone… both have been convicted of theft and assault and fraud…” (05:18, Luke Rosiak)

• Rosiak explains criminal records aren’t a barrier to entry and provides a case of companies registered to “the teenage son of a convicted money-launderer,” stating, “It’s madness.” (06:15, Luke Rosiak)

Political Reaction:

• JD Vance responded to the reports, launching a rapid investigation:

  “I’m directing the task force to look into it and to take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and to stop all further payments as appropriate…” (06:34, paraphrased by Rosiak)

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Segment 2: FBI Raids Virginia Democrat’s Office amid Redistricting Controversy

[08:16 – 13:24]

Key Points:

• FBI raids the office of Virginia State Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, a leader in the state’s redistricting and an ally of Governor Abigail Spanberger.
• Raids are believed to focus on allegations of corruption; proximity to a cannabis dispensary is also mentioned.
• Democrats claim the raids are “political retribution” for their redistricting efforts.

Guest Analysis:

• Katie Pavlich (Host, Katie Pavlich Tonight) weighs in on Lucas’s reputation and Spanberger’s political stance:

  “Democrats, of course, are crying foul, saying that this is political retribution, especially in the wake of Democrats voting in Virginia to take away the representation of basically 90% of the state by allowing, you know, the Northern Virginia bureaucrats to control the rest of Virginia.” (08:57, Katie Pavlich)

• On the transformation of Spanberger's political persona:

  “I did never buy this idea that Abigail Spanberger was a moderate… She campaigned as a moderate, despite her record in the House of Representatives being very extreme, including being a big advocate for men in women’s sports, for men to use women’s restrooms, including in a number of schools in Virginia…” (10:26, Katie Pavlich)

• Broader trends in Democratic politics observed:

  “Americans still are very skeptical of Democratic governance. They’re still very skeptical of these far left shifts. They do not want something like in California or New York City … to become the mainstream.” (12:13, Katie Pavlich)

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Segment 3: LIV Golf in Crisis as Saudi Funding Ends

[13:28 – 17:24]

Key Points:

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to cease financial support for LIV Golf after the 2026 season.
• The league, originally seen as a threat to the PGA, now faces existential uncertainty.
• LIV CEO Scott O’Neill remains publicly optimistic while seeking new investors.

Speaker Highlights:

• Lyndon Blake (Daily Wire Reporter) outlines the fallout:

  “What’s really happened right now is you had that public investment fund out of Saudi Arabia saying, hey, we’re no longer supporting this after this season. So … this once, like, cool, modern, … team-based golf league is looking for a completely new business structure.” (13:54, Lyndon Blake)

• On players possibly returning to the PGA:

  “Bryson DeChambeau … says he’s going to focus on growing his YouTube channel if LIV fails.” (15:23, Lyndon Blake)

• Donald Trump’s take:

  “He anticipates a lot of the LIV golfers to return to the PGA, but it may not be as clear-cut as that … a lot of these LIV players are locked into contracts.” (15:47, Lyndon Blake)

• Fallout in the golf world:

  “This was a soap opera in the golf world. … You had all these players jump ship and … trying to be the guy that’s like, no, we’re going to do this the right way. We’re not going to take all this money from Saudi Arabia.” (16:17, Lyndon Blake)

Upcoming Tournament:

• “The Live Golf Virginia tees off today, and that’ll last through the next several days. That’s their final US stop before they head over to Korea.” (16:59, Lyndon Blake)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Finding fraud in the federal government, it’s kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite.” (01:06, Luke Rosiak)
• “They’re billing like $500,000 a month in some cases to Medicaid. And it’s not even their full time job. So in my view, whether you call it waste or fraud, we probably should stop it now.” (04:55, Luke Rosiak)
• “Abigail Spamberger immediately got into office and, you know, considered a whole slew of new taxes…. These are taxes on everyday Virginians, everyday people.” (10:39, Katie Pavlich)
• “It was a soap opera in the golf world. … You had Liv Golf being poked at in Happy Gilmore 2 last year with Adam Sandler. So it will be interesting to see how the PGA welcomes them back.” (16:37, Lyndon Blake)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:56] Medicaid Fraud in Ohio: Beginning of segment
• [03:27] Details of the scam and participants
• [06:24] JD Vance’s response and launch of task force
• [08:16] FBI raids on Virginia Democrat’s office
• [10:26] Abigail Spanberger’s political transformation
• [13:28] LIV Golf funding crisis
• [15:42] Player and Trump responses to LIV Golf’s future
• [16:59] Upcoming LIV tournament

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Episode Summary

Morning Wire’s May 7, 2026, episode delivers a comprehensive look at government accountability and integrity—covering rampant Medicaid fraud in Ohio, major political fallout from an FBI raid linked to controversial redistricting in Virginia, and the unraveling experiment of LIV Golf as headline players consider returning to the PGA. The tone is brisk, investigative, and unsparing, providing listeners with straight facts, pointed commentary, and expert insight into three critical storylines shaping politics, policy, and the sports world.

Transcript

[Alliance Defending Freedom Representative]

Colorado is at it again, trying to silence free speech. A law in Colorado forces businesses to use customers preferred pronouns even if they're biologically inaccurate and even if using those incorrect pronouns would violate a person's religious beliefs or conscience. That's a violation of free speech. But as Colorado has proved time and time again, it has little concern for the First Amendment. At Alliance Defending Freedom, we're challenging the law on behalf of a Christian bookstore and a Colorado based sports apparel company, but a court recently ruled against them with ADF's help. They appealed the ruling and they'll continue fighting to ensure Colorado doesn't get away with this next attempt to skirt the First Amendment. Your gift helps protect free speech in cases like this all over the country. And for a limited time, your first gift ADF is doubled by a special matching grant while funds last text wire to 83848 or go to joinadf.com wired have your gift doubled.

[Georgia Howe]

Vice President JD Vance moves to crack down on Medicaid fraud in Ohio after a series series of explosive Daily Wire reports.

[Luke Rosiak]

We had let fraud become so rampant in this country that people were able to get rich by defrauding every single person in this room. Finding fraud in the federal government. It's kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite.

[Georgia Howe]

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, May 7th, and this is Morning Wire. The FBI agents arriving, SWAT teams getting out of their vehicles with weapons.

[John Bickley]

The FBI raids the offices of a powerful Virginia Democrat behind the controversial redistricting push.

[Georgia Howe]

And Liv golf may be on its last legs. Can the league survive? Saudi Arabia pulling its funding?

[John Bickley]

I do believe that all of the golfers should be playing.

[Katie Pavlich]

The great golfers should be playing against each other. I'm not sure what's happening with it.

[John Bickley]

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

[Alliance Defending Freedom Representative (Alternate)]

The state of Colorado is at it again, trying to silence free speech. A law in Colorado forces businesses to use customers preferred pronouns even if they're biologically inaccurate and even if using those incorrect pronouns would violate a person's religious beliefs or conscience. That's a violation of free speech. But as Colorado has proven time and again, it has little concern for the First Amendment. Alliance Defending Freedom is challenging the law on behalf of a Christian bookstore and a Colorado based sports apparel company. But a court recently ruled against them with ADF's help. They appealed the ruling and they'll continue fighting to ensure Colorado doesn't get away with this next attempt to skirt the First Amendment. Your gift helps protect free speech in cases like this all over the country. And for a limited time, your first gift to ADF is doubled by a special matching grant while funds last Text Wire Wire to 83848 or go to joinadf.comwire to have your gift doubled.

[John Bickley]

Vice President J.D. vance has ordered his new fraud task force to look into claims of sweeping Medicaid abuse in Ohio. This comes in response to a Daily Wire investigative series that's shined an alarming spotlight on the issue.

[Georgia Howe]

Joining us now is Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak. Luke, thanks for coming on.

[Luke Rosiak]

Thanks for having me.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, you dropped a bombshell investigative report this week and you've just published a new installment today discussing a case study of one of these fraudsters. First, can you remind listeners about the scam that you discovered?

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah. So what we're talking about here is Medicaid waivers that allow people to do things like take care of their own family members on the honor system behind closed doors. And they're billing it to federal taxpayers. All the people, the Republican candidates in the statewide elections this week have commented on the story, saying it calls for a crackdown in fraud. And the governor has said that there is no fraud. I disagree. It is policy that you get to get paid to hang out with your family members in Ohio. They call it the personal services waiver to Medicaid. But at the same time, there are also these firms that say they've got a bunch of old ladies that they go and they cook or they clean for. It's essentially unverifiable because you don't really know whether they actually went. Or maybe they've got a network of people's Social Security numbers that they're just billing up against and maybe giving kickbacks or things like that. But this is happening at such a great scale. There's these whole buildings full of hundreds of them. One landlord alone owns seven buildings that have 300 Medicaid companies in them. Just that landlord's tenants build a quarter billion dollars. So these companies are super sketchy. You look up the people and they've got criminal records or debts or tax liens or probably the most common one. They're running other businesses on the side. And so they'll or maybe this is on the side. And so they're billing like $500,000 a month in some cases to Medicaid. And it's not even their full time job. So in my view, whether you call it waste or fraud, we probably should stop it now.

[Georgia Howe]

You said that it was predominantly Somalis that were involved in this. That of course echoes what we saw in Minnesota. When you're looking at the roles, I mean, what percentage, if you can tell by the names, are foreign born?

[Luke Rosiak]

I don't know if they're foreign born. They all, it's 99% plus foreign names. I mean, everyone I spoke to really had an accent. So I'd say they, they actually were all African immigrants. Today I had a case study demonstrating what I mean about when you walk down these hallways and there's hundreds of these weird little offices, you look behind almost any door and you'll find a crazy story. Today we've got a couple, a husband and wife who own this company that build a million dollars. They're both, they're not from Somalia, you know, we'll give them that. They're actually from Sierra Leone. But the husband has been convicted of theft and assault and fraud. The wife, similar story, arrested for malicious wounding. All kinds of like theft convictions. Apparently they disclosed all this to Medicaid, so they say. And the husband said, yeah, you know, I was just, I do have a very long record. I was just so dumb. I don't even know what the law is here. You know, apparently criminal records aren't a barrier. It doesn't have to be your full time job. Another company was registered to the address of the teenage son of a convicted money launderer. It's madness.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, earlier this week, Vice President J.D. vance actually responded specifically to your investigation and he announced that he was going to be surging some resources. What did he say he was going to do?

[Luke Rosiak]

So JD Vance actually responded to just the first part of my five part series saying these shocking allegations, if true, show why the fraud task force works. ARC is so important. I'm directing the task force to look into it and to take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and to stop all further payments as appropriate. So that's great news. And obviously I think it's more oversight than they saw in Minnesota and also more oversight than they saw under Governor DeWine in Ohio. But it is an open question whether you can actually prove fraud against some of these people. J.D. vance talked about it's like shooting fish in a barrel. That is true. And I think it's just financially untenable.

[Georgia Howe]

All right, well, Luke, thank you so much for the hard work you're doing. We really appreciate it and thanks for coming on.

[Luke Rosiak]

Thank you.

[Alliance Defending Freedom Representative (Alternate)]

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[Georgia Howe]

In a dramatic sequence of events Wednesday, the FBI raided the offices of the lead Democrat in the Virginia state Senate. She was central to the Democrats controversial redistricting effort and a key ally of Governor Abigail Spanberger.

[John Bickley]

Joining us now is Katie Pavlich, host of Katie Pavlich tonight. Katie, great to have you on.

[Katie Pavlich]

Great to see you. Thanks so much for having me.

[John Bickley]

So we have a lot going on in Virginia. A massive FBI raid yesterday that really kind of shocked a lot of people, probably has shaken a lot of Democrats in the state. The Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, her office is raided. Apparently several raids went on. What do we know about that situation? Is this surprising?

[Katie Pavlich]

Well, there were multiple search warrants that were issued by a federal judge to carry out this raid. It was done by the FBI. So this is clearly something that's been in the works for a while now. Democrats, of course, are crying foul, saying that this is political retribution, especially in the wake of Democrats voting in Virginia to take away the representation of basically 90% of the state by allowing, you know, the Northern Virginia bureaucrats to control the rest of Virginia. And she was the lead on that. When Abigail Spamberger won the governorship last November, this woman, Louise Lucas, was caught on video talking all about how they were gonn to change the map from 10 to 1. So that certainly was a talking point yesterday about everything that was happening. But in terms of what the, the probe is about there, the search warrants were about corruption, potentially. Her office was next door to a cannabis dispensary, which Also has something to do with this situation. So we will certainly learn more. But just based on the way that she's conducted herself in public, I'm not surprised that this is happening.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, we looked into that some and she's, I guess you could say, really outspoken is one way to say it, but very much touting the redistricting effort. She's been very much a key ally of Spanberger. As Georgia said, a lot of attention now nationally on Spanberger. I think the way that she's embraced a lot of the radical left movement in her party has surprised some voters. What are you seeing from your perspective?

[Katie Pavlich]

Well, going into the governor's election last year and starting the year before, I did never bought this idea that Abigail Spanberger was a moderate. She took on this new strategy that Democrats are imploring all over the country, which is to say you're a moderate, moderate Democrat, because that sounds really good. And most of the country can get on board with moderate Democrats if they're actually that way. But then they get into office and they completely change their stripes. Abigail Spamberger immediately got into office and, you know, considered a whole slew of new taxes. A number of taxes she talked about just this week include taxes on gym memberships, taxes on dog walking, and these are not taxes on the rich. These are taxes on everyday Virginians, everyday people. So she campaigned as a moderate, despite her record in the House of Representatives being very extreme, including being a big advocate for men and women's sports, for men to use women's restrooms, including in a number of schools in Virginia. Of course, Fairfax county has been ground zero for a lot of the problems with these policies, including rape and assault by men claiming to be women, going into school restrooms and invading the space of female students. So she was never a moderate. She lied to everybody while she was on the campaign trail. She got into office and now she is changing her position to the far left. And one of the big things that we saw that she's been touting is of course, this redistricting, which Ms. Lucas was the advocate for as soon as she got into office.

[John Bickley]

So as for this trend from moderate to more radical policies, we've just had this gubernatorial debate in California where many of these left wing policies were on display. Which of the policies that Americans care most about will have the biggest impact come November?

[Katie Pavlich]

Americans still are very skeptical of Democratic governance. They're still very skeptical of these far left shifts. They do not want something like in California or New York City, for example, with Mayor Mamdani to become the mainstream. You are seeing a lot of attention given to these districts where the Democratic Socialists of America, who of course backed the Mom Donnie campaign, they win those primaries and they go on to win general elections in these, these blue districts, then forcing the entire Democratic Party to the left. So the Democrats have been completely co opt by this movement. That's why you see people like Abigail Spamber feel completely comfortable with engaging in these policy positions. But broadly speaking, at least we're seeing nationally that the American people are very skeptical of this, especially coming off of four years of Joe Biden who did not govern as a moderate Democrat as he campaigned. He was certainly a far left president who implemented some of the farthest left policies we've ever seen in this country. And voters are still very skeptical that Democrats can be in charge of big things like the economy.

[John Bickley]

And I think you're right. Spamberger and Biden are great examples of self styled moderates coming in and very rapidly going hard left with their policies. Katie, great to have you on.

[Katie Pavlich]

Great to see you. Thanks so much for having me.

[John Bickley]

Liv Golf is in limbo. Saudi Arabia's public investment fund has announced it will pull the plug on the league after the 2026 season.

[Georgia Howe]

Joining us now to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake. So Lyndon in 2022, Liv burst on the scene and a lot of people were concerned that it was going actually kill off the pga. They had unlimited money to lure away talent. But now it seems like the tables have turned. So what's happening with live golf?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, I guess the money is only as good for as long as it's coming in because that's what's really happened right now is you had that public investment fund out of Saudi Arabia saying hey, we're no longer supporting this after this season. So what's really going on is this once like cool modern 54 hole team based golf league is looking for a completely new business structure. They're looking for new investors, are looking for how to keep this thing going once the 2026 season ends. So this is going to be a full scale back as the CEO Scott o' Neill tries to continue this league and he's staying positive about it, I might add. He spoke Tuesday at Trump International in D.C. and he put a positive spin on everything he was saying. He is meant for a moment like this even under this uncertainty of where the funds are going to be from trying to keep the focus on the players. Well, but this is looking grim for Lift Golf because they're dealing with no funding. There's no captain, there's no fan base to really absorb the financial and reputational weight that the league is now dragging on through the 2026 campaign. Also this week lives big star Bryson DeChambeau has been outspoken about his future. He actually has a contract that expires at the end of this season. He's been on multiple programs throughout the week, entertaining a potential return to the PGA Tour. But now he was involved in a lawsuit with the PG PGA Tour with some other players a couple of years back. So he's saying that they may not welcome him back with open arms. And his response to well, what if live does fail? He says he's going to focus on growing his YouTube channel. You know, he's been involved with President Trump and YouTube videos and his granddaughter even joining President Trump in the White House for a lot of their health initiatives. So that's just an interesting response from a pro golfer that, yeah, we're going to focus on growing my online platform.

[Georgia Howe]

Now you mentioned President Trump. Has he weighed in on the LIV golf versus PGA dispute?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, he sold outlets that he anticipates a lot of the LIV golfers to return to the pga, but it may not be as clear cut as that. A lot of these live players are locked into contracts like Jon Rahm. But he does say that he knows the CEO Scott o' Neill and the other people involved in live have a lot of hard work to do to secure the funding that they know they are not going to have next year.

[Georgia Howe]

Now you mentioned reputational damage. Did a lot of these players burn bridges when they left to go to live or is that going to be something forgivable for them?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, I mean this was a soap opera in the golf world. It was all the biggest names. Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, who's now back with the pga, Phil Mickelson. I mentioned Bryson. You had all these players jump ship and you had a Rory McElroy, our back to back Masters champion, holding down the fort in the PGA and trying to be the guy that's like, no, we're going to do this the right way. We're not going to take all this money from Soccer Arabia. So it's one of those things that's been joked about on an international scale. You had Liv Goff being poked at and Happy Gilmore 2 last year with Adam Sandler. So we'll be interesting to see how the PGA welcomes him back. Bryson DeChambeau did say he would love to play in any tournament that he's welcomed back to.

[Georgia Howe]

Last question Any tournaments upcoming?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, there's actually one in D.C. this weekend. The Live Golf Virginia tees off today, and that'll last through the next several days. That's their final US Stop before they head over to Korea. The one big glooming spot on the schedule was a scheduled tournament in New Orleans set for June. That's been postponed.

[Georgia Howe]

All right. Well, as a brand new fledgling golfer, this is something interesting. I'll keep track of. Lyndon, thanks for reporting.

[Lyndon Blake]

Thanks.

[John Bickley]

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