EXCLUSIVE — The White House anti-fraud task force is preparing to expand its investigations into additional federal agencies this fall, a move that will keep one of the Trump administration’s signature government reform efforts in the spotlight heading into the midterm elections.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who co-leads the task force with Vice President JD Vance, told the Washington Examiner that the administration will soon announce investigations and enforcement actions beyond the programs the task force has already targeted.
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“I can say that I think what you’re going to see over the coming weeks is that the fraud that we’re searching is expanding to new agencies and new issues, and that we will have big public announcements uncovering, stopping, and prosecuting fraud in programs A) that will surprise you and B) that you would not have thought of as originally part of the task force mandate,” Ferguson said.
The expansion is likely to keep the administration’s anti-fraud initiative in the public eye throughout the fall as voters head to the polls and decide which party will control Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term in office.
“There’s tremendous public interest in this, and I do think it’ll play a role in the midterms,” said Ferguson. “We’ve uncovered a ton of fraud, we’ve stopped a ton of fraud, we’ve prosecuted a ton of fraud, but you’ll see that we’ve uncovered a lot more than we stopped, and that’s because there’s a lot of work still to do to stop more of it as the agencies bring more sophisticated anti-fraud tools online, and as DOJ has picked up the rate of investigations and prosecutions as like Kash Patel has increased resources to go find the fraudsters that have fled the country.”
The broader push is already taking shape. On Thursday, the task force launched the “Fraud Ledger,” a website that allows the public to see the fraud exposed across several federal departments, including the top 10 highest-impact anti-fraud actions.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services took the top spot by withholding $2 billion in federal Medicaid funds to states like California and deferring $500 million from Minnesota.
The launch came a day after Vance said the task force has identified roughly $230 billion in fraud and prevented $56 billion in fraudulent payments since it was established in March, figures he described as conservative estimates. Vance also urged Congress to codify the task force’s work to prevent a future administration from reversing its anti-fraud efforts.
Republicans argue those findings could provide another issue to campaign on this fall as voters remain concerned about government spending and affordability. Cases such as Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future scandal, which uncovered widespread fraud in a federally funded food program, have kept the issue in the political spotlight.
“Not only do people care about it, but it’s potent enough to make them take action,” said Ohio GOP strategist Matt Dole, who added it could mobilize more voters on Election Day.
Dole pushed for Republicans to keep the work the task force is doing in the minds of voters while on the campaign trail.
“They have to follow up,” he cautioned. “The story is not that there was fraud and we created a task force. I mean, that is a story, don’t get me wrong, but that has the potential to just go away until the next big hit of fraud. But making sure voters know, ‘Hey, this wasn’t a nothing burger. We went out and found stuff, and we have gotten grand juries to indict.'”
Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist, also claimed that the task force gives the GOP a potent counterattack against Democrats who are hoping to retake control of either the House or the Senate.
“When they crack down, particularly like on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, it shifts the spotlight away from Democrats’ attacks on affordability and healthcare,” O’Connell said. “And frankly, fraud is something everyone can wrap their mind around. And this is everybody’s money. Everyone has a stake in the fraud that they find.”
A KFF Health Tracking Poll released last month showed that 55% of Republican voters said it is extremely important for candidates to discuss fraud in government health programs, while 41% of independents said the same, as did 34% of Democrats. In total, 43% of voters said it is extremely important for candidates to discuss fraud in government health programs.
“There’s no doubt that when government saves money and identifies fraud, that’s going to be popular with voters,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “The problem in the current environment, though, is that that narrative may very well be drowned out by the huge public concern over the economy right now.”
“It doesn’t affect the price of gasoline or groceries, and that’s where the voters are concerned right now,” Farnsworth added.
Ferguson argued fraud reduction is itself a cost-of-living issue, saying that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz have both tied anti-fraud efforts to lowering healthcare costs.
“I’ve heard this anecdotally from members of both chambers that when they go home and talk to their constituents, one of the first things that they hear from their constituents is, ‘What are we doing to stop the fraud?’ And so I do think that this issue breaks through in an election where a lot of it is going to be about the cost of living,” he added.
VANCE TOUTS FINDING $230 BILLION IN FRAUD AND STOPPING $56 BILLION IN FRAUD PAYMENTS FROM GOING OUT
Regardless of the political implications, Ferguson said the administration’s expansion of the task force is only beginning.
“The momentum will continue as long as we keep our pace up, and we’ll keep our pace up because there’s just so much still to do,” he said.
