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Cooper
So Ted Cruz and Nick Fuentes finally found something that they could agree on. And all it took was Nick Shirley and his camera to bring together the right against a common enemy once again. And that would be the fraudulent Somalis in Minnesota. But now the huge question is, what is the admin actually going to do about it? All right, so in case you have sugar induced brain fog from all of the holidays, by the way, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. So happy to be back with you guys, but in case we need a refresher, exactly one month ago, I broke down the alleged fraud that was happening in Minnesota. I pulled out the whiteboard. It was a whole thing. But as a recap, all of this started many years ago with an organization called Feeding Our Future, which is now known to be the biggest scam at this point in Minnesota. It was the largest nonprofit recipient of government funds in Minneapolis during the pandemic. And over the last three years, starting under the Biden administration, over 78 people have been charged after pocketing $250 million. And they were not using that money to feed people. No, they were using that money to line their own pocket, to buy mansions and to send it back to terrorist groups and in Somalia. So that was obviously a shocking revelation, especially for the people of Minnesota, especially for the people in Minnesota who had been funding that with their tax dollars. And all of this blew up and it started to be a broader conversation specifically about immigration, because almost all of the people involved who were specifically charged in that feeding or future scheme were Somali. But Feeding Our Future was not the only scheme that was uncovered, because Minnesota's tax dollars were also being funneled through nonprofits that were supposed to be helping homeless people and autistic children. And my friends, that was not happening. And all of this is now just the tip of the iceberg, because what was at one point just a $1 billion fraud scheme is now estimated to be at over $10 billion, which is almost more than the GDP of Somalia itself. Now, before we dive into the story and everything that has come out since the last episode. If you want behind the scenes content, ad free episodes, farm vlogs, updates on pee pants and his testicles, because we do talk about that, make sure you go to cooper confidential.com you can check it out. It is my subscription platform that we build from the ground up just for you guys and all of right there for you. So now that we have refreshed our memories, the brain fog from Christmas has been cleared. Let's discuss everything that has happened over the last week. So the day after Christmas, independent journalist Nick Shirley dropped a 42 minute expose where he was going door to door exposing different daycare and healthcare centers run by the Somali community in Minnesota. These are services and quote unquote, businesses and nonprofits that receive millions upon millions of tax dollars every single year. And what Nick found was basically nothing. No children, no patients, barely functioning businesses that somehow still receive massive payouts from the Minnesota government. Here's just a tease of that video, in case you missed it.
Nick Shirley
Hello, we'd like to ask where the money's going. What do you guys think about the fraud that's taking place here in Minnesota?
Cooper
I don't think anybody is enabling fraud to happen. I don't hold Governor Walls accountable for this.
Tim Walz
What was this money spent on? 1.26 million. What was that money spent? Is there any.
Nick Shirley
Answer the question, are there children? There's no children inside this building.
Cooper
There are no children inside of this building. And that is probably the common thread of that entire 42 minute video. Now the entire episode is so well done. So after this video, you need to go watch it. It's on Nick Shirley's YouTube. We will have it linked below. It is essential viewing. Nick also posted the entire video on X and it freaking blew up almost instantaneously. It racked up more than 77 billion impressions I think within like 24 hours of it being posted. And now it is sitting at 134. So needless to say, it was a busy Christmas and holiday season and New Year for Nick, who by the way, has been hustling for years. I know that this might be the first time that you guys have encountered his videos. It'll be the first time that he's come across your feed. But I think Nick started back on YouTube when he was 15 years old. He's Mormon, so he took a two year break when he went on his mission and he came back and he immediately dove into independent grassroots political journalism. He spent basically the entirety of 2024 leading up to the election traveling around the country, livestreaming every single day. He was Also at like 22 years old, the first journalist to go inside of CCOP, the mega prison in El Salvador. He did a ton of videos at the border when nobody else was reporting on the realities of immigration under the Biden administration. Like he did all of this as a 21 to 23 year old with no backing, no big media company driving him, nobody interviewing him. He hadn't been on Fox, he hadn't done any big interviews. It was just him his camera and a mic and his mother, because his mom has been his cameraman throughout all of this. I think that that fact is why my own mom became so obsessed with him a couple of years ago. I remember her sending me his videos back when I was still a Daily Wire and she was like, this is like the most adorable young mom is his camera. And he's out there just doing all of this himself. Anyway, all of this to say none of this happened for Nick overnight or accidentally. He has been working so hard. He is a great person, genuinely. Alex and I both know him personally. This is a wonderful person to support. So I just wanted to include all of that in there. Anyway, back to the point and back to this expose. So Nick went to Minnesota. He works with a Minnesota man who you saw in the video, that older gentleman, his name was David, who has been researching and documenting all of this fraud for years. And in this one video, as they were going door to door to all of these different businesses, they allegedly uncovered over $110 billion of FRAU. And now the most viral moment in the video, as I'm sure you guys have seen, is them visiting the Quality Layering center learning. But they didn't spell it correctly. They dropped the N. It's a daycare and after school program in Minneapolis that could not even spell learning correctly. I mean the jokes just write themselves at this point. Now because of how massive this video and this story became, the left immediately started freaking out because all of this was being exposed. And unsurprisingly, rather than looking into the fraud, rather than looking into the upwards of $10 billion that has now been funneled through the Minnesota community, the Somali community, they have been spend trying to shift the blame away from the smaller community and running hit pieces on Nick Shirley himself. I mean the response is like laughably predictable at this point because just listen to what Governor Tim Wall's tampon Tim had to say at his press conference after Nick's video went viral. I mean again, it is so incredibly predictable.
Tim Walz
It's not law abiding citizens. If that were the case, there's a lot of white men should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the, for the crimes that they have committed. I think for the community to maybe educate their population. Because I think what you're seeing here is there are secondary victims in this, that there's, there's providers inside the community that are then victimizing the community themselves by signing them up. Because when we're going to some of these people, they're like I had no idea I was in this program. So I think it's. It's asking us then, you know, for every crime, which of course, the majority being committed by white men, asking us to do more about that.
Cooper
Yes. Let's not focus on the community at hand. Let's not focus on the huge population of Somalis that you have in your own state, who, by the way, are the majority of arrests in the Feeding Our Future scam. No, let's not focus on them. Let's focus on the white man. Let's blame everything on the white man, because that is more comfortable, that is more inclusive and politically correct in Tim Walls framework. So good. I'm so glad that your priorities are aligned. I'm so glad that you have your priorities straight. That really what we need to be thinking about is straight white men. And of course, because, I mean, what's new? Trump is also at fault, obviously.
Left-wing critic
So let's be honest about how we really got here. Our president decided he doesn't like the Somali community and he wants to destroy them. Speaker DeMuth and the GOP caucus sent a YouTuber out to create the narrative they want out there, not the truth, what they want you to believe.
Cooper
Okay, so it's Trump's fault. Trump just decided that he hates the Somalis. Allegedly. He wants to, quote, unquote, destroy them. So he and the GOP and the Minnesota GOP speaker of the House, they all colluded together and they worked with Nick Shirley and they sent him out there to create this narrative to destroy the Somalis. No, actually that's not what happened at all. Literally, it was just Nick and his camera and his friend David and documents and web pages from the Minnesota state government website, and they went door knocking. And that's what they found. And because individuals like that lovely woman in the video, because they don't like what Nick uncovered, they are doing everything but looking inward. They are blaming the gop, they are blaming Trump, they're blaming the white man. They're attacking the one person that was willing to go door to door to cover this story. Because again, predictably, almost immediately, the hit pieces started rolling in, like this one on Nick from npr. I mean, literally, these mainstream media outlets were more concerned with running stories on Nick and diving into his background and figuring out where he came from than actually investigating the fraud. Like, they watched that 42 minute video. They saw the 135 million impressions. They weren't actually interested in the content. They just wanted to know about the person behind the microphone. Now, to be fair, the mainstream media was not the only group that was going after Nick. Others, especially those on the left, were claiming that he was some kind of plant, that he was maybe paid for by Israel because oh my gosh, he went to Israel to cover the war last year. Like this person said, fake psyop Nick Shirley being pushed by Elon Musk, yada yada yada. He just went on a paid propaganda tour to Israel. There are also folks like Sneako who got on his own livestream and said that Nick is a plant here to replace Nick Fuentes and that his rise is a bit strange and kind of feels coordinated. Like, come on. Like, this is what makes me so infuriated. Like, Nick Shirley again has been working for years. He has been hustling for years. He made a hit video after years of hard work. It does not need to be some kind of plant or thing conspiracy like Hasan. Piker even retweeted one of those posts about him being some paid Zionist plant from Israel. He made the most Israel video demanding to see children in all of these facilities. And then when they wouldn't let him in, that was enough evidence of fraud. To which Nick responded to Hasan and said, I was literally a Mormon missionary for two years. I'm not a Zionist. I went to Israel with my own money to try to figure out what was going on for myself and for my viewers so that they could see it firsthand versus from a new studio. You just seem to hate people being able to go to the location of the issue. I even tried to enter Gaza but was denied when I went to Israel. It is called journalism. I don't support the death of innocent children or our dollars funding it, whether it is Israel, Hamas, Ukraine or Al Shabaab. America first, always 100%. I absolutely love that comment. I'm so glad that Nick is just laying it all out there. He's saying, no, this is not who I am. I was not paid by anybody. I'm just here trying to uncover the truth and share information for my audience. Now, shockingly, considering the discourse that has been recently dominating the political right, that comment has not shaken things up yet. It has not started a new civil war. Because what Nick did was so important and it was so damning for the likes of Tim Walls and the left and the people who support mass immigration, thankfully on the right, are keeping their eyes on the prize. They're staying unified and they are staying focused together. Which is especially important because of all of the attacks being slung at Nick for simply being somebody who got up, who Spent his own money, who went out there to ask questions and knock on doors. So to all of the detractors out there, all I will say is find a better critique. Although I think you will be hard pressed to do so because of the way that Nick very intentionally lives his life, which he spoke about in an interview with PBD just a couple of days ago. And now he has gone viral for that as well. Just watch.
Nick Shirley
These people are like, I saw something. Someone's calling me like a PDF. They're saying all these crazy allegations. I'm like, what sucks for them is they're never going to be able to get me. I don't drink alcohol, I don't do drugs. I'm a virgin. I don't have sex with random girls. You're not going to catch me on no sexual allegation charges. I don't have any addictions. I don't have any vices. So what are these people going to get me for? They're done. I'm a really. I'm a religious. I believe in God. I'm everything they hate.
Tim Walz
I love that.
Nick Shirley
So what are they going to get me for?
Cooper
I mean, Nick is as clean as they come. He keeps his head down. He works hard, he lives a good life. And it's also funny to me, just seeing all of this transpire, seeing that clip that we just watched rack up millions upon millions of views as his video is going viral. Like, we have spent the last four months watching all of this fighting over Charlie Kirk's legacy. There are people jumping in and clamoring for a spot at the mic. You know, you have these young people smiling on the news the day that Charlie was murdered. You have people saying, we're going to pick up the microphone. Meanwhile, you have Nick Shirley out here, who never got distracted, who never got involved with any of that fighting. He never stopped working. He is actually living a good life. He is actually a good role model for young people, especially for young men. I don't think the right ever needed to find some new young man to pick up the mantle for Charlie Kirk. There were all of those articles being like, who's the next Charlie Kirk? Whatever it is, like, we do not need to manufacture that. That should have never been a thought in anyone's mind because that was always going to happen authentically. And Nick, in his own right, has already started a domino effect of action that we have not seen in a while. I mean, young men around the country are grabbing cameras and they are investigating this fraud in Philadelphia, in Washington, in Ohio, they are uncovering massive fraud, massive Medicaid fraud, and they are doing it all independently. And that is the other thing that is so damning about this entire story. Because even though we knew about this fraud, even though Biden's administration was Investigating back in 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media had not covered it. It took viral posts on X from people like Christopher Ruffo and Nick Shirley to get the mainstream media's attention. And so now that he has made this huge video, now that he has 135 million impressions, now that all these other young men are going around and doing these types of videos around the country, CNN is finally on the case. Guys, don't worry. They're here. They're investigating. Just watch. Hi, my name's Whitney Wilde. I'm a correspondent for cnn. We reached out to several of the daycares featured in the now viral video. Only one daycare facility answered and said they are a legitimate business. Have you seen the videos purporting that some of these daycares don't have kids inside? Oh, wow, fantastic. Case closed. You sat in your office and you called some daycares and they said, oh, no, actually we're very legitimate. I'm sorry, is that really the best that you can do? That is almost as believable as one of those daycares saying that all of their important Medicaid documents were randomly stolen this week from a break in. The people online are saying mysteriously, looks like it was done for from the inside. And yes, that is actually something that happened after Nick's video. So obviously these daycares are getting a lot of press. They're doing press conferences. They're trying to say, look, we're actually a legitimate business. We're fixing the sign. We're adding an end. So it actually says learning. Here we'll show you all of our documentation that we actually have kids, except actually they were stolen. Our daycare was broken into, but the only thing that was stolen was our important government documents that show how much money we get and how many children we have. They're just gone. I'm not kidding. Watch this.
CNN Correspondent Whitney Wilde
A small hole in the utility room stemming from a larger hole in the exterior brick wall. The apparent entry point for a perplexing break in reported at a south Minneapolis daycare.
Nick Shirley
This is frightening and exhausting.
CNN Correspondent Whitney Wilde
Surveillance video outside Nakoma's daycare center captured a blurry, shadowy figure at around 3am Tuesday near the spot where the brick wall was cut through. The next door Family Dollar also shows evidence of an attempted break in at two spots. And the daycare reported theft of its records, including parent information and racist threats.
Nick Shirley
We've been receiving hateful messages through our voice notes threatening us.
Cooper
So that story in this video immediately started making the rounds. People were going, I'm sorry, that doesn't look like a normal break in. That almost looks like something was done from the inside. Like, is this just more fraud? Are they covering their tracks? Obviously that is alleged. Alleged, allegedly. But that is just what the people on the Internet are saying now. Also side note, people were quick to point out that the glasses that this humble daycare manager was wearing in that video are $2,400. Those glasses that he is wearing, just look at this, $2,400. I mean, the whole thing is just like, it's so perfect. You have four children in your daycare, whatever it is, and you're wearing glasses that cost more than most people earn in an entire month. I mean, you just can't make it up. And because of that, the memes have just been like exceptional. Tiffany Wong said, mom, how did we get so rich? Well, your father opened a Somali date in Minnesota. This was my personal favorite today on House Hunters. Her stay at home wife, him has a daycare in Minnesota and they have a $3.2 million house budget. This one was also amazing. This guy posted. Well, the reason for the call today, John, is. Something just came across my desk, John. It is perhaps the best thing I have seen in the last six months. The company is Quality Learning Center, a cutting edge children's daycare located in the heart of Minneapolis. Yes. If you wanna go get rich, that is the way to do it, apparently. Now, obviously, I wanna be very clear here. It could very well be the case that some of these businesses are more legit. Maybe some of the employees who were talking with Nick didn't know what was going on. Even if it is fraudulent. Like, they didn't know that that was what was happening. And you know what? Other journalists can and should go in to confirm. And we should not just take Nick's video as case closed. And he's not asking people to do that. He's saying, hey, go in, see if I messed up. See if I'm confused here, but this is what I found. And I'm sorry, cnn, but that unfortunately means that you have to do a little more legwork than just calling from your hotel room and asking if they are engaging in fraud. Because maybe the people just didn't wanna let Nick in. Maybe he caught them on a lunch break innocent until proven guilty is still important, but not as innocent as the unborn lives that need our protection and that you can help with Preborn and through our partnership with Preborn, we can all help save babies and support mothers in need. Every day, Preborn's clinics rescue hundreds of babies through the power of their free ultrasounds, which doubles the chance that a mom will choose life. And when she does, Preborn is there to help her with financial support, diapers, car seats and counseling for up to two years after that baby is born. That is the type of care that makes motherhood possible. They are not just pro life, they are pro mom. And this year alone, over 38,000 babies have been saved thanks to preborn and you can play a role by donating. Today just $28 covers an ultrasound, which again doubles the chance that a mom will choose life when she hears that heartbeat on the ultrasound. Just go to preborn.com brett2give again that is preborn.com Brett and if you are a new or expecting mother, I cannot recommend Balance of Nature supplements enough. Their Whole Health System supplements make it so simple to stay on track of your health. Balance of Nature's Whole Health system includes fruits and veggies and fiber and spice packed with 47 ingredients. Whole fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers. Think mango, pineapple, wild blueberries, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, kale, cinnamon, turmeric and more. These are not synthetic powders. They are real whole foods that you can actually pronounce, designed to support your body naturally and it is so easy to fit it into your day. Mix two scoops of vibrant spice powder into your favorite drink for warm aromatic boost. Open three fruit capsules and blend the powder into a smoothie or sprinkle veggies over savory dishes. Or you can just take them like normal supplements. It is that simple. In this New Year's, you can lock in 50% off for one year when you subscribe to the Whole Health System today as a preferred customer. Just go to balanceofnature.com to get started today. Again, that's balanceofnature.com there's nothing like the.
Tim Walz
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Cooper
All right, now back to the point. Regardless of what is happening with those specific videos, we do know that fraud like this exists. Again, people have been sued. People have been arrested. We know that it is upwards of billions of Billions of dollars. Tim Walls has even admitted that. And we have to acknowledge that this entire situation is weird and suspicious because we are seeing empty daycares in all of these videos, not just in nicks. We have disconnected phone lines, missing documents. Like, listen to this tweet. The numbers don't even add up. There are 1,794 daycare centers in Minnesota. 1,235 of these list a Somali sounding name as the owner for 111,000 children. Total Somali population is only 84,000 and the percentage of them on welfare is 81%. So if the parents are not working because they're receiving welfare, why do they need childcare? Do non Somali children go to Somali speaking centers? And I think that that last point is probably the most important one. Because remember when this fraud was originally being exposed back in 2021, under the Biden administration, some of these groups literally threatened the Minnesota government by saying that they needed these very specific culturally appropriate care, whether it was, you know, autism care or daycares or healthcare for their Somali community. That the state of Minnesota would be exposed for being racist if the government came in to investigate or shut off their funding. That is literally something that we talked about last time. That is actually factually something that happened in 2021. If you cut off our funding for our culturally appropriate autism therapy because we need that, you will be called racist. So they're saying that this is specifically for their community, although on the books they have more children than are in their entire Somali population. So none of it just makes sense. And now speaking of 2021, some of these businesses that are now coming out in videos like Nick's are being exposed for actually having ties back to that original Feeding Our Future scheme, which a News Nation reporter also covered. Colin Roog posted this here and he said News Nation reporter Rich McHugh shows up to one assisted living facility in Minnesota that receives tons of taxpayer dollars only to find that it is a normal looking single family home. The facility is one of a few facility owned by Gandhi. Mohammed Mohamed was indicted into an for allegedly laundering $1 million in the feeding or future case. Quote, these assisted living facilities received over $2.3 million in state money last year alone. A Minnesota Reformer article says that Muhammad has been paid a whopping $49 million since 2016. So this man Mohammed, possibly one of many, was not just involved in one scheme, but he was tying that scheme into another through this assisted living home. The rich McHugh from NewsNation Uncovered. So what we've learned Here is that the same people who were indicted in that massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme are still being given government funding today. Amazing. Like, you couldn't cut it off. You couldn't realize maybe that person was indicted. So maybe you shouldn't give him money for his other organizations when he is literally being indicted for fraud, when he has made almost $50 million on the backs of Minnesota taxpayers. Like, great job, Tim Walls. Good for you. Thank you, God. He is not our vice president, is all I have to say. Now, speaking of vice presidents, we need to move on to the next part of the story, which obviously is what is going to be done. All of this has been exposed again. 135 million views on Nick's video alone. All of these other investigations are taking place. It's on cnn, it's on msnbc, it's on Fox News. You have everybody from Nick Fuentes to Elon Musk to Ted Cruz to Andrew Tate talking about this and applauding Nick Shirley's journalism. So what are you going to do? JD Posted about the story and he said, what's happening in Minnesota is a microcosm of the immigration fraud in our system. Politicians like it because they get power. Welfare cheats like it because they get rich. But it is a zero sum game and they are stealing both money and political power from Minnesotans. That's a great tweet. I completely agree, but I don't want J.D. vance to just be tweeting. I want action. And I think that most people agree because every single comment underneath that post was people saying, okay, great, so what are you gonna do about it? Like, I don't really care about your thoughts. What are you actually going to do? How are you going to stop this? Which is a great question now because of the virality around the story and the pressure. Kash Patel, leader of the FBI, finally made a statement. But to a lot of people, it was just laughable. It was a nothing burger because it seemed like he was just trying to take credit for what Biden's team actually did before he came into power. In part of his tweet he wrote to date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children living during COVID 19. That was the Feed Our Future scheme. The investigation exposed sham vendors and shell companies and large scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network. The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions. Okay, well, that's great cash, but, dude, those investigations took place in 2021. The raids and the arrests happened in 2022. You were appointed director of the FBI. And wait, what year was it? 2025. Three to four years after all of those investigations took place. Now, obviously, we need to be fair here. And his team has overseen new developments, but they did not break the case. Everything that he's writing about in this huge, long tweet that he posted, that was not done by him. What we want to know is, what are you doing now? What are you doing with this new information that has been uncovered by independent journalists? Because it's making us think that you are not actually doing your job. And unfortunately, taking credit from others seems to be maybe a new GOP strategy, because the Minnesota House GOP leader and candidate for governor against Tim Walls allegedly bragged that her office had actually helped Nick with a video. This person tweeted here and said, breaking NPR News reports, that Minnesota House GOP leader Lisa DeMuth acknowledged the Republican Party's involvement in Nick Shirley's viral daycare video, saying, quote, we worked with Nick Shirley on this. And then he goes on and he says, that matters because the video has been widely framed as independent citizen journalism. And I agree that that statement is important because this was independent, citizen grassroots journalism from Nick Shirley. This GOP leader was in no way involved. Nick even responded and said, this is completely false. I have no idea who this lady is. She is trying to make herself look good for her campaign. Shame on her. And then he goes on and he leaves another comment, and he says, either way, I'm sure that this lady would make for a much better candidate than Tim Walls. Best of luck in your race. And the truth is the truth, fraud is happening, and we should celebrate that it is being exposed at a national level. Best of luck, and I hope you have a fair election. So, obviously, Nick is being a good unifier. He's trying to focus on the issues at hand. But I think a lot of us are just exhausted by this. He's trying to ride Nick Shirley's coattails and pretend like she's involved in this, when really she's just kind of undermining his credibility and making the waters even muddier for him. Like, it's just so unhelpful. Like, I think we are all just exhausted by the fraud and the lies on the left, the inaction from the right. Like, we're just sitting here being like, can somebody please do something? Can somebody please get off their asses and help American people? Now, thankfully, again, because of everything that Nick Shirley did, it seems like this has started to spur something into gear, the Trump administration officially announced that they have halted all childcare payments to Minnesota and they are now requiring verification before sending any more AFC federal dollars to a state, which is insane to me that that was not a protocol to begin with. It is insane that this is now just being put into Place in 2025. Because what you're telling us is that before, just a few days ago, we were just sending money right and left with no receipts, no verification, no nothing. That is insane. Now they have also announced the first congressional hearing on this issue. It will take place on January 7th. I believe Tim Walz has been invited to testify at the second hearing, which will take place in February. You can see here in this tweet here, February 10th is when Tim Walls is invited to testify. So who knows what will actually happen, if anything will happen from this hearing or anything else. But the point is, Americans are watching. 135 million people are watching. Millions have seen Nick's video and even more so are watching the fallout. They are seeing that on Fox News or cnn, other posts, other investigations, we are all watching. More and more Americans are waking up to the reality that our hard earned money, whether it is from income tax or property tax or sales tax, whatever it is, that it is going to fraud and that our government barely keeps track, that there is no accountability for where our hard earned money is actually going. Americans are waking up to the reality that while they can barely afford health care because it is so insanely expensive, but they are simultaneously helping fund health care care centers with no patients, they're seeing that they can barely afford homes, while a community in Minnesota that refuses to assimilate, that often says that they hate America, is buying mansions off Americans back and then sending money home back to Somalia to terrorist groups. Americans are watching all of that. So just remember that when politicians like Tim Walls and Zoran Mamdani and Gavin Newsom promise free childcare and free housing and free health care and free transportation, whatever it is, that what they're really promising is massive government programs with no accountability, paid for by hard working Americans who do everything right, who do not get to reap the benefits of paying into those programs. And once that money is gone, once it has been sent overseas to Al Shabaab, wherever it is, buying the mansions, government and those fraudsters, they are not the ones who actually have to pay the price. It is the American families who still won't be able to afford daycare, who won't be able to afford healthcare, who still get worse services than ever before. They are who pay the price. So that's why Americans are pretty freaking fed up.
Podcast: The Brett Cooper Show
Host: Brett Cooper
Episode: Nick Shirley: The Man That Exposed a $10B Cover-Up | Episode 113
Date: January 4, 2026
Main Theme:
Brett Cooper dives into the explosive revelations uncovered by independent journalist Nick Shirley regarding massive nonprofit and transfer payment fraud in Minnesota, largely centering around Somali-run daycares, healthcare centers, and other government-funded institutions. The episode explores the origins of the scandal, Shirley’s viral investigation, the political and media fallout, and the wider implications for immigration, governance, and public trust.
Background:
The scandal began with Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit that became the largest recipient of government funds for Minneapolis during the pandemic, later discovered as the epicenter of a vast fraud operation.
Scope:
Over three years, "more than 78 people have been charged after pocketing $250 million," with funds used for luxury purchases and, reportedly, terrorist financing in Somalia. (00:37)
Broader Impact:
This fraud extended beyond one nonprofit and reached into other organizations meant to support the homeless and autistic children. The estimated fraud now surpasses "$10 billion, which is almost more than the GDP of Somalia itself." (01:44)
Shirley's Approach:
Nick Shirley, a young independent journalist, released a 42-minute expose post-Christmas, visiting Minnesota's Somali-run centers purporting to serve children or the needy. Repeatedly, he found "basically nothing. No children, no patients, barely functioning businesses that somehow still receive massive payouts from the Minnesota government." (02:22)
Sample On-the-Ground Questioning:
“Hello, we'd like to ask where the money's going. What do you guys think about the fraud that's taking place here in Minnesota?” – Nick Shirley (02:42)
Video Impact:
Shirley’s video quickly "racked up more than 77 billion impressions" (an exaggeration for effect), ultimately totaling 135 million. (03:29) The expose fostered major public debate and drew attention to irregularities and lack of accountability.
Personal Backstory:
Brett highlights Shirley’s years of grassroots journalism—starting at 15, taking a two-year Mormon mission, and then reporting solo or with his mother filming. This builds legitimacy and a sense of authenticity around Nick’s activism. (03:56)
Deflection By Authorities:
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz responded by deflecting blame:
“It's not law abiding citizens. If that were the case, there's a lot of white men should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the crimes that they have committed.” – Gov. Tim Walz (05:54)
Brett’s take: "Let's not focus on them. Let's focus on the white man. Let's blame everything on the white man, because that is more comfortable, that is more inclusive and politically correct in Tim Walls framework." (06:26)
Accusations of Partisan Targeting:
Critics on the left alleged a coordinated GOP smear:
"Our president decided he doesn't like the Somali community... they sent a YouTuber out to create the narrative they want out there, not the truth." (06:58)
Media Focus:
Instead of investigating the substance of Nick’s findings, major outlets like NPR and social media commentators attempted to paint Shirley as a plant or propagandist, with wild theories about funding from Israel or the GOP. (07:19)
Nick’s Response to Smears:
“I'm like, what sucks for them is they're never going to be able to get me. I don't drink alcohol, I don't do drugs. I'm a virgin. I don't have sex with random girls... I believe in God. I'm everything they hate.” – Nick Shirley (10:31)
Shirley as Role Model:
Brett argues the right doesn’t need to “manufacture” new leaders after the loss of Charlie Kirk:
"Nick Shirley out here... never got distracted, never got involved with fighting." (11:01)
Shirley is sparking similar investigations nationwide, revealing Medicaid fraud and other schemes. "Young men around the country are grabbing cameras and... uncovering massive fraud." (11:36)
Mainstream Media’s Slow Response:
Mainstream coverage lagged behind Shirley’s viral work, with CNN only recently contacting implicated centers. Brett mocks their "investigation": “You sat in your office and you called some daycares and they said, oh, no, actually we're very legitimate. I'm sorry, is that really the best you can do?” (13:03)
Break-Ins and Potential Cover-Ups:
Following the videos, implicated centers report break-ins and conveniently missing records.
"The only thing that was stolen was our important government documents that show how much money we get and how many children we have. They're just gone." (14:10)
Internet Satire and Public Reaction:
The luxury lifestyle of daycare operators (e.g., a manager's $2,400 glasses) and meme culture underscore public skepticism. (14:22)
Statistical Red Flags:
"1,794 daycare centers in Minnesota. 1,235 list a Somali sounding name as the owner for 111,000 children. Total Somali population is only 84,000... 81% on welfare. If the parents are not working... why do they need childcare?" (17:51)
Accusations of Playing the Race Card:
Some centers threatened to label any oversight as racist if state funding was scrutinized, highlighting cultural and bureaucratic gridlock. (18:34)
Repeat Offenders Still Funded:
People previously indicted in fraud—like Muhammad Mohamed—are still receiving massive taxpayer funds for other ventures. (19:09)
Failure of State Oversight:
"So what we've learned here is that the same people who were indicted in that massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme are still being given government funding today. Amazing." (19:51)
Frustration Over Inaction:
Brett criticizes both parties for “exhaustion” and lack of decisive reform:
“We are all just exhausted by the fraud and the lies on the left, the inaction from the right.” (23:07)
Federal Response Triggered:
Due to public outcry, the Trump administration announced a halt on all childcare payments to Minnesota pending verification, and new congressional hearings are scheduled.
Calls for Accountability:
Brett reiterates the need for both media and government to demand real accountability and oversight, so taxpayers aren’t left paying for fraud. "Americans are waking up to the reality that our hard earned money... is going to fraud and that our government barely keeps track." (24:33)
Brett Cooper’s episode offers a sweeping indictment of nonprofit sector mismanagement, state and federal government oversight failures, and media reluctance—centered around Nick Shirley's explosive on-the-ground journalism. The episode blends skepticism, satire, and frustration, amplifying the call for accountability as the scandal triggers national attention and (potentially) meaningful action. The tone is fervently anti-establishment, with an undercurrent of hope that citizen journalism can drive real reform, provided the American public remains vigilant and demanding.