White House. President Trump and Vice President JD Vance Participate in Signing Time, Mar. 16, 2026
This video features President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announcing a major executive order aimed at rooting out fraud within federally funded programs (0:04). The administration estimates that billions to hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost to fraudulent activity, particularly mentioning issues in Minnesota and California (0:46).Key Highlights of the Initiative:
- Task Force Creation: An executive order establishes a new task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance, with Andrew Ferguson (FTC) serving as vice chairman (0:41 – 0:58).
- Whole-of-Government Approach: The initiative forces different federal agencies, such as the Treasury and Health and Human Services, to share data to detect financial and Medicaid fraud (7:46).
- Combating Fraud in Minnesota: Specific attention is paid to fraud involving Medicaid programs meant for autistic children in Minneapolis (6:41).
- Targeting Illegal Immigration: The administration connects widespread fraud to illegal immigrants receiving benefits like Medicaid and free hospital care (4:12 – 5:07).
- Drug Price Reduction: President Trump highlights the success of his Most Favored Nations policy in significantly lowering prescription drug prices (9:14 – 10:10).Following the signing of the executive order, the President takes questions covering the war in Iran (21:01), the potential for future foreign policy actions in Cuba (48:24), and domestic issues like the Save America Act (39:28).
Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it.
This is a very big thing that we’re doing. It’s about fraud — all the fraud that’s taking place in our country. We have two people who are extremely brilliant and very talented, and they’re going to be put in charge.
I’d like to ask Will to give a brief description of what we’re signing in this executive order, and then I’ll ask JD to speak.
Will said that, as stated in the State of the Union address, in light of widespread revelations of fraud in federally funded programs in states like Minnesota and California, this executive order will establish a new task force aimed at rooting out that fraud and returning potentially billions, tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions of dollars to the American taxpayer.
The task force will be chaired by the vice president. The vice chair will be FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. According to Will, this will launch a whole-of-government approach to deal with what he described as a very serious problem in federally funded programs around the country.
Trump then said that in Minnesota alone there was $19 billion connected to one aspect of fraud, and that California was supposedly much worse. He said this is not a Republican or Democrat issue in theory, but claimed it appears to happen most heavily in blue states. He added that if it is happening in red states, his administration will go there too.
He then moved into accusations involving Minnesota, Somalia, Governor Tim Walz, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and the state attorney general, saying he believed they were complicit and that investigators should look into it.
Trump argued that if even half of the fraud taking place in the country were uncovered, the federal budget could be more than balanced. He described the theft as incredible and suggested the federal government should not be deeply involved in many domestic service areas such as nursing homes.
He also complained about federal spending connected to illegal immigration, saying the federal government had been paying out money in ways it should not, and said, “We’re not paying them anymore.”
Trump then joked that JD Vance would actually do the job and that this would not be like Kamala Harris being put in charge of the border and, in his telling, never really handling it. He then invited Stephen Miller to speak.
Stephen Miller said that while the illegal flow across the southern border had been stopped under Trump, Democrats had set up a system that funneled hundreds of billions — and ultimately trillions — of dollars to migrants in the country, often mentioning Somalia. He gave an example involving illegal immigrants in detention who, he claimed, admitted they were receiving Medicaid or free hospital care billed to taxpayers.
Miller said this was only one example of broader abuse and argued that, under Trump’s leadership and with JD Vance and Andrew Ferguson involved, this would be the first serious effort in American history to reclaim massive sums stolen from taxpayers. He claimed that stopping this theft could be enough to balance the budget and called it a primary cause of the national debt.
Trump followed by saying this kind of cheating had been going on for years and had to stop. He made further harsh comments about Somalia, described it as one of the worst and most dangerous countries, and alleged that billions of dollars had been stolen by people coming from there. He also repeated allegations about Ilhan Omar, including the old claim that she married her brother, and said he hoped someone would investigate that too.
JD Vance then spoke and described the executive order as a whole-of-government approach to tackle fraud. He told a story about supposed fraud in Minneapolis involving Somali immigrants and a Medicaid program meant for autistic children. He said children were being falsely labeled autistic so that benefits could be claimed, which in his telling enriched fraudsters while depriving American children of services they needed.
Vance said the administration discovered that different federal agencies were not properly sharing fraud evidence with one another. He said the executive order would force the federal government to do two things: stop fraud against taxpayers and ensure benefits intended for American citizens actually go to them rather than to fraudsters.
Andrew Ferguson then said millions of Americans pay into these programs and expect something in return, but fraud is siphoning money into fake businesses. He argued that it is unfair both to taxpayers and especially to vulnerable Americans who need those resources most. He also suggested the previous administration had been lax in enforcing anti-fraud controls.
Trump interrupted to say the previous administration was not merely lax but fraudulent. He then shifted topics to prescription drug prices, describing his “Most Favored Nations” drug pricing policy and claiming it had taken the U.S. from having the highest prescription drug prices in the world to the lowest. He argued that while his administration worked hard to save money in this way, fraud was simultaneously draining public funds.
He continued to say the fraud task force could be one of the most important initiatives his administration had launched. He repeated claims about exploding spending related to autism in Minnesota, suggesting the rise itself proved corruption.
Trump then signed the order and said they would take questions from the media.
When asked why previous leaders had not addressed systemic fraud, Trump responded that they were crooked, made money from it, and gained power from it. He alleged that Somali voters in Minnesota vote as a bloc in exchange for benefits and said officials in Minnesota and New York were corrupt.
A reporter then asked JD Vance about critics calling them “the frauds” and about Vance’s position on the war in Iran. Vance dismissed the criticism, said the administration was actually tackling real problems, and stated that Trump had consistently held that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. He said the administration had taken military action under Trump’s leadership and that Americans should pray for success and for the safety of U.S. troops.
Trump then launched into an extended defense of military action against Iran. He said he does not want wars, but insisted Iran’s leadership is violent and vicious and would use a nuclear weapon if it obtained one. He argued that anyone who believes Iran should have a nuclear weapon is either naive, evil, or stupid.
He claimed that if he had not destroyed Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and then later taken military action, Iran would already have used nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He praised U.S. military technology, especially B-2 bombers, and described the strikes as devastating and precise. He claimed Iran’s navy, air force, anti-aircraft systems, factories, drones, missiles, and leadership had been largely destroyed.
Trump also said many foreign governments should be thanking the United States, especially countries that depend heavily on Middle Eastern oil routes. He criticized allies, especially within NATO and the UK, for not stepping up quickly enough to help, and complained that America spends enormous sums defending other countries without guaranteed support in return.
He then described Iran as a sick regime with a dangerous ideology and religious fervor, and said the U.S. had done a great thing for the world by crippling it.
Later in the press conference, Trump shifted back to domestic politics. He discussed what he called the “Save America Act,” saying it must pass the Senate. He argued that Democrats stick together politically even when their policies are bad, while Republicans often split apart. He then listed policies he said should be overwhelmingly popular: voter ID with a photo, proof of citizenship, and restrictions on mail-in ballots.
He claimed that most Democrats also support voter ID and proof of citizenship, and said widespread mail voting is vulnerable to fraud because too many hands touch the ballots. He also added culture-war issues to the same legislative package, including banning transgender participation in women’s sports and ending what he called the mutilation of children through gender-related medical procedures.
Trump then attacked California Governor Gavin Newsom, mocking him and making insulting remarks about his intelligence and past public comments.
Toward the end, Trump was asked whether a ground force might be needed in Iran to secure nuclear material. He refused to answer, calling it a stupid question for any president to answer publicly. He also said a possible trip to Beijing might be delayed because of the war.
Asked about Cuba, Trump said it is a failed nation with great people and beautiful land, and suggested that he might have the honor of “taking Cuba” in some form or freeing it, though he did not explain what that meant in practical terms.
JD Vance was later asked whether halting Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns could become a broader model. He said there were two clear tools: first, stop payments when fraud is identified; second, use law enforcement to prosecute criminal conduct. He said DOJ involvement was essential because much of the fraud, in his view, is criminal and intentional.
The press conference ended with Trump taking a question about DHS funding. He blamed Democrats for refusing to provide funding and called them bad people who do not love the country. He then thanked everyone and ended the event.
Sources: WH.gov , Midtown Tribune news