Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announced Tuesday that Medicaid payments to 14 programs in Minnesota will be deferred, and that a sweeping audit of those federally funded programs is underway, as the Minnesota fraud scandal and the response from the Trump administration continue to escalate.

“The more we uncover, the more it becomes clear: It’s much worse than we were led to believe by state government officials,” he said in a video posted to X. Oz said that the “corrective action plan” provided to the federal government by the state of Minnesota on New Year’s Eve was “deeply insufficient.”

“We will begin auditing Medicaid receipts and defer paying on claims based on fraud, waste, and abuse,” he said, noting that the programs listed as vulnerable came from the Minnesota state government.

🚨Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Update: pic.twitter.com/Dk0W07P1U8

— DrOzCMS (@DrOzCMS) January 7, 2026

The Daily Wire reached out to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s office for comment on the remarks from Oz.

The announcement comes after Health and Human Services said last week that federal child care payments would be paused as well. Governor Walz opted not to seek re-election amid the intense scrutiny from fraud allegations within the Medicaid system and other federally funded, state-administered social services programs.

On Tuesday, an audit from the Office of the Legislative Auditor underscored concerns in the state with a critical look at Behavioral Health Administration Grants through the state’s Department of Human Services.

The report said that the Behavioral Health Administration “did not comply with most requirements [the audit] tested.” The report recommended that BHA “Establish sufficient internal controls to ensure compliance with grant requirements” and “conduct grant monitoring activities as required by state policies.”

Specifically, the report said that the BHA “paid almost $296,000 to 11 out of 18 grantees for: Unsupported costs [and] Reimbursement requests with errors.” It also said that BHA “overpaid” over $41,000 to two entities with grants, and gave “$915,540 to 6 grantees for work performed before BHA executed grant agreements.” In addition, over a dozen “existing grantees” received $2.5 million despite “bypassing [the] competitive grant award process.”

In response to the audit’s findings, Shireen Gandhi, the temporary commissioner for Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, said the findings are a “road map” for improvement at a legislative hearing on Tuesday.

“With respect to the audit report, while it’s upsetting that DHS has findings in areas we have placed concerted effort, the OLA’s report highlights the importance of the grant compliance work already underway at the department. And the findings provide us with a road map for our focus going forward to continue strengthening oversight and integrity of behavioral health grants,” Gandhi said. “I take the report seriously, I accept responsibility for the findings, and I will ensure DHS closes the findings.”

In Washington, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing regarding the fraud concerns.

“The breadth and depth of this fraud is breathtaking, and I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said during the hearing.

Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, took aim at the Trump administration while explaining his decision not to pursue a third term as governor.

“I won’t mince words here. Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” the Democrat stated.

“They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family. They’ve already begun by taking our tax dollars that were meant to help families afford child care. And they have no intention of stopping there,” the governor added.

Keeping in line with the Make America Healthy Again agenda, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced major changes to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) on Wednesday.

The new guidance flips the food pyramid upside down, advising Americans to eat whole foods, prioritizing healthy fats and protein, and limiting or avoiding ultra-processed foods.

Kennedy and Rollins say the war on “healthy fats” is over. Americans should prioritize high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods in every meal, including a variety of animal sources, such as eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat. Plant-sourced protein, such as beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy, is also recommended. 

The DGA also unsurprisingly advises against the consumption of ultra-processed foods. The guidance calls to “avoid highly processed, packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet” and “avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, fruit drinks, and energy drinks.”

And while fiber-rich whole grains are recommended as part of a healthy diet, the DGA emphasizes that refined carbohydrates should be avoided. 

Credit: HHS

Though the guidance is updated every five years by HHS and the USDA, there have been no major changes made to the DGA since its creation in 1980, making Kennedy and Rollins’ announcement particularly noteworthy. 

DGA guidance is extremely impactful and doesn’t just shape national messaging. It also heavily influences daycare and school lunch programs, military and hospital food, and even federal food assistance programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

The DGA has been scrutinized for years, with critics arguing that it doesn’t reflect real science and has, instead, been heavily influenced by major companies and financial interests. For example, some scientists who serve on the DGA committee have received funding from food, beverage, or agricultural companies or even conduct research sponsored by industry groups. The conflicts are disclosed, but still raise red flags for Americans. 

Some of the most frequent criticisms of the DGA concern how ultra-processed foods were deemed acceptable and how low-fat diets, which often contain ultra-processed foods, are effectively promoted. Kennedy has outright called ultra-processed foods and additives “poison” and pinpointed them as a major culprit in the childhood obesity epidemic. 

Though the public health space has been routinely critical and even adversarial toward Kennedy and his agenda, most health professionals recognize that limiting ultra-processed foods and prioritizing whole foods is beneficial to health. 

The American Medical Association (AMA), for example, said in a statement that it “applauds the Administration’s new Dietary Guidelines for spotlighting the highly processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and excess sodium that fuel heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic illnesses.”

“The Guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction patients and physicians can use to improve health,” the AMA added. 

Where the disconnect still rears its head usually centers around the consumption of red meat. For example, The New York Times highlighted that some experts claim too much red meat can cause serious health problems, and such meat should be generally substituted with more plant-based sources of protein like beans, peas, and lentils.