Gov. Walz Defiant Over Fraud Scandals, Refuses to Resign From Office

(KNSI) – Governor Tim Walz was defiant as he took questions Tuesday for the first time on his decision not to run for a third term.

That announcement had come the day before, but outside of reading a statement previously released on social media, Walz had declined to speak further to the press about the issue. The governor said St. Paul and his political opponents are stuck with him until January 2027. “I’m not going anywhere, and you can make all your requests for me to resign over my dead body, will that happen. I will fight this thing ’til the very end to make this state better.”

Walz took aim at Republicans in the state legislature, saying they had been dragging their feet on required reforms and disclosures in their own branch of government. He went after President Donald Trump over a recent Truth Social post about assassinated state representative Melissa Hortman. Walz even accused First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joe Thompson, of defamation, saying his statement that fraud would total $9 billion lacks a factual basis.

In the end, though, he said responsibility for the fraud scandal rested with him. Walz also said he had screwed up. “Have I been perfect in this? God dang, no. I wasn’t perfect as a teacher, I wasn’t perfect as a coach, I wasn’t perfect as a soldier, but I was pretty damn good at all those things, and I am committed to getting this right.”

State employees have claimed, anonymously, that they tried to blow the whistle on fraud but were retaliated against by the Walz Administration.

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