Democrats Claim They Were Shut Out of Fraud Event After Vance Says Crackdown Should Not Be Partisan | US News
Three Democratic state attorneys general said their offices were excluded from a White House roundtable hosted by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, creating a dispute over whether the event was truly bipartisan or a politically driven fraud crackdown.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said they declined a last-minute invitation to attend the meeting in person because it was issued with less than one business day’s notice and no agenda. They said staff from their offices traveled to Washington, D.C., anyway, but were turned away. James said her deputy attorney general was not allowed into the meeting.
Vance, who chairs the White House task force to eliminate fraud, told attendees that representatives from the offices of Democratic attorneys general in Oregon and Connecticut were present. He said the effort should not be partisan and argued that the task force had uncovered billions of dollars in stolen government benefits since it began in March.
But the Democrats pushed back, saying the federal government had not made a real effort to collaborate. In a letter signed by 24 state attorneys general, they said they are committed to stopping fraud, waste and abuse in government programs, but said the invitation came too late for meaningful participation. They said real partnership requires proper notice, sincere engagement and a genuine opportunity for discussion.
James said her office has been a major player in Medicaid fraud enforcement and argued that the Trump administration has weakened the very oversight systems needed to detect fraud. She cited Medicaid cuts and efforts to dismantle parts of the Department of Health and Human Services as examples of reduced federal oversight.
Davenport said she was concerned the administration was using fraud allegations to justify freezing or cutting funding for essential public programs. She said the administration has weakened federal agencies that are supposed to root out fraud, even as it claims to prioritize the issue.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul also criticized the administration, saying it cannot claim to take fraud seriously while removing inspectors general and excluding experts from the discussion. He argued that shutting out state officials who work on fraud cases will not solve the problem.
Bonta said the White House task force highlighted federal fraud victories without acknowledging joint state-federal investigations or California’s role in several cases. He said his office has pursued major fraud prosecutions on its own, including what he described as the largest hospice fraud bust in California history. He accused the administration of misrepresenting those efforts and politicizing the issue.
A spokesperson for first assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli did not address the omission directly, but said California and federal officials often cooperate on fraud cases while criticizing how federal funds are distributed.
The clash underscored growing tension between Democratic state prosecutors and the Trump administration over how to combat fraud, with Democrats accusing the White House of using the issue as a political tool rather than a genuine public integrity effort.
