What to know about Nick Shirley, the YouTuber alleging day care fraud in Minnesota 31DEZ25

 WOW, what risky stunts little fascist fotze arschlecker trunt nikki shirley pulled! He actually flew to New York City alone at 16 without telling his parents!!! Did you list yourself as a UNAM ( unaccompanied minor ) or did you do the whole flight clutching your pearls with your panties bunched up!?!?!? And man, the courage it took to sneak into Jake Paul's wedding!!! If those tiktokkers ever find you I bet they'll give you the biggest pinch!!! Riding that bike over the flaming ramp, were the training wheels still on it or did you throw all caution to the wind and go without??? Was your older man friend david with you at the U.S. Capital in D.C. on 6JAN21 and did all those angry menses in pretend uniforms inspire you to visit cecot in El Salvador? Did you get to meet Pres nayib bukkake like kkkristi noem did when she visited cecot. Did yous visit a gang or a club in Rio? Was it scary or fun or both? And then your participation in the White House round table ( did that remind you of Pres bukkake? ) and you got to meet NOT MY pres drumpf / trump and NOT MY vp vance! Did you notice how small drumpf's / trump's hands are? Did he call you piggy? Did you sit on vance's sofa? Did you stick to it? All these risky adventures video documented without being doctored ( of course ) verified you as a real life right wing propagandist unconstrained by actual journalistic ethics. Below is a report from NPR with other's views on your journalism, I can't wait for you to try nonfiction journalism!

What to know about Nick Shirley, the YouTuber alleging day care fraud in Minnesota

The Trump administration is freezing child care funding to the state of Minnesota in response to a viral video that purports to expose extensive fraud by federally funded day care centers.

Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old self-described "independent YouTube journalist," posted the 42-minute video on X and YouTube the day after Christmas.

In it, he and an older man — identified only as "David" — visit various seemingly empty day care centers, bombarding Somali employees with questions and accusing them of not providing services to any children despite receiving public funds. The pair claim to have exposed over $110 million in fraud.

National

Trump administration says it's freezing child care funds to Minnesota

Allegations of social services fraud in Minnesota have been the subject of federal investigations and mainstream media coverage for years.

In one high-profile example, more than 90 individuals have been charged since 2022 in the ongoing case of a Minnesota nonprofit that prosecutors say misappropriated some $250 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds intended to feed children in need, calling it "the largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the country."

And a federal prosecutor said earlier this month that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen.

However, Shirley's specific allegations have not been verified, with some challenging them in recent days. The manager of one Minnesota day care center has since said Shirley visited outside of its regular hours, while a CNN camera crew interviewing Shirley outside a different center filmed caregivers dropping off their kids in the background (he dismissed them as "showing face").

National

Minneapolis jury convicts nonprofit head in massive pandemic fraud case

"How do I know that [the allegations are] true?" Shirley responded when asked. "Well, we showed you guys what was happening, and then you guys can go ahead and make your own analysis."

The lack of evidence hasn't stopped a number of prominent conservatives — including Elon Musk and key members of the Trump administration — from amplifying and acting on Shirley's claims. As of Wednesday, Shirley's video has over 131 million views on X and 2.5 million on YouTube.

Vice President Vance reposted Shirley's video the day after it went live, writing, "This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 [Pulitzer] prizes." (Those prizes went to journalists who covered a range of topics, from billionaires' influence over the Supreme Court to catastrophic flooding in California and missing Black girls and women in Chicago.)

FBI Director Kash Patel also responded, writing on X that "even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs."

Politics

After losing VP bid, Walz searches for role in pushing back against Trump

Shirley, suddenly in the national spotlight, has expressed concerns about his safety and is asking supporters to donate to his security, including by selling $50 sweatshirts on his website. And he's continued to criticize Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and the mainstream media for their perceived inaction on the issue.

"Mainstream media is more mad at me then they are at the FACT that billions of YOUR dollars are being used for fraudulent business," Shirley tweeted Wednesday. "I am not an enemy of the people, they are. I'm with you, they are against you."

Shirley started out as a vlogger 

Shirley has been making shock-value YouTube videos for years, starting with pranks before wading into political exposés.

The Utah native vlogged consistently throughout high school, amassing some 7,000 followers before graduating in 2020, according to a profile that year from local NBC affiliate KSL-TV.

"Some people might not know who Nick Shirley is yet, but one day, they will," it reads.

One of his earliest stunts was flying to New York City at age 16 without telling his parents. They escalated from there: sneaking into influencer Jake Paul's wedding, tricking TikTokkers into auditioning for a fake Justin Bieber music video, riding a bike over a ramp lit on fire. He also filmed himself in the crowd outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Trump's Terms

"Not a peaceful protest": Part 1 of 2

Then came a hiatus: Shirley announced in December 2021 that he would be taking a two-year break from YouTube to serve on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Santiago, Chile.

He returned to the platform in 2023 with a video interviewing undocumented immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. From that point on, his work took on a decidedly political bent, with man-on-the-street style interviews focused on topics including illegal immigration, the 2024 election, President Trump's deployment of federal troops to blue cities and the ensuing protests against them.

National

Brett Cooper says she makes up her own mind — about Trump and everything else

His two most-viewed videos are from this period, filmed from the El Salvadoran mega-prison housing deportees alleged to be gang members and another in Rio de Janeiro, titled "I Infiltrated Rio Brazil's Most Dangerous Gang."

The description of his YouTube Channel — which has 1.29 million subscribers as of Wednesday — reads: "Here to entertain and bring the truth to all."

An "independent journalist" with an agenda

Shirley's rise to prominence hit a new milestone in October, when he was invited to participate in a White House roundtable about the "antifa" movement — the far-left ideology opposed to fascism, which Trump has designated a domestic terrorist organization.

At the event, Shirley introduced himself as a "100% independent YouTube journalist" and said that while he's traveled to 15 countries for that work, "the most dangerous place I've been has been here in the United States" because of anti-Trump protests.

"I'm attacked every time I do my job," he said, without citing specifics. "When I leave my house to go to work, I'm violently assaulted. I've been bear sprayed and beaten down. I've been almost killed."

Media

The press corps at the Defense Department has been replaced by far-right outlets

According to recent research from the Harvard Kennedy School, the thousands of local protests during Trump's second term have yielded an "extremely low number of injuries, property damage or arrests."

Shirley directly accused the mainstream media — particularly broadcasters — of undercovering and downplaying the violence of those protests. Trump responded by asking him to name the worst offenders, to which Shirley replied: "I'm not talking about Fox … Newsmax or any outlet that resembles them."

Shirley is part of a broader group of right-leaning journalists and political commentators who do not work for any particular outlet. The White House has embraced what it calls "new media," giving them unprecedented levels of access at the same time as it places restrictions on established journalistic outlets.

Media

'New York Times' lawsuit creates a new headache for Pentagon chief Hegseth

University of Minnesota media law professor Jane Kirtley told member station MPR News that individuals do not necessarily need a formal affiliation to do fine journalism. But she says many of today's news influencers prioritize fearmongering over fact-checking, something she says she observes in Shirley's reporting.

"They have a narrative, and they do everything they can to advance that narrative, but they seem to spend little to no time looking for the other side of the story, and that's what good investigative journalism has to do," she added.

CorrectionDec. 31, 2025

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Nick Shirley and his colleague claimed to have uncovered $110,000 in fraud. In fact, it was $110 million in fraud.

VIDEO & TRANSCRIPTS: Federal agents probe fraud allegations targeting Somali child care providers in Minnesota & Trump administration says it's freezing child care funds to Minnesota 30DEZ25

THERE is so much misinformation, deception, manipulation as well as racism, bigotry xenophobia and flat out lying regarding the accusations of fraud of government funds by the Somali community that they have been declared guilty en masse before most investigations have even started and of those started are not yet completed. This on the latest anti-immigrant feeding frenzy encouraged by NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, fascist fotze trunt arschlecker nick shirley, Homeland Security fascist fotze trunt kkkristi noem , FBI director fascist fotze trunt kash patel ( who should soon be under investigation of misuse of govt funds benefiting his gurl fiend ) and Dep Sec of Health and Human Services fascist fotze trunt jimmy o'neil. Thank God they have Rep Ilhan Omar D-MN to stand up for and protect the innocent! From The PBS NewsHour and NPR.....

Federal agents probe fraud allegations targeting Somali child care providers in Minnesota

This week, the Trump administration dispatched federal officers to Minnesota amid concerns over fraud. The deployment comes after a right-wing influencer posted a video claiming, without proof, that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million. Nick Schifrin discussed more with Jeff Meitrodt of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Read the Full Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Nick Schifrin:

This week, the Trump administration dispatched federal officers to Minnesota amid renewed concerns over fraud. The deployment comes after right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a video on YouTube last week claiming without proof that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million.

In response, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X his agency was already investigating and that -- quote -- "This is just the tip of a very large iceberg." And Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted this video yesterday of agents on the ground in Minneapolis.

But state and city officials question Shirley's claims that come as the Somali community in Minneapolis was already facing the administration's immigration crackdown.

To break it all down, I'm joined by Jeff Meitrodt of The Minnesota Star Tribune, who's been covering this story.

Jeff Meitrodt, thanks very much. Welcome to the "News Hour."

Federal prosecutors said earlier this month they're investigating some $9 billion worth of fraud in more than a dozen Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota. That is much broader, much larger than anything they have announced previously. So explain, what's new here?

Jeff Meitrodt, Investigative Reporter, The Minnesota Star Tribune:

What's new here is that a fraud problem that started with a COVID era really relief program to help kids get meals when the schools were all shut down has just spiraled into this sort of giant monster that just keeps spreading from one program to another.

It seems like there's a playbook that's been passed around out there, and dozens, if not hundreds, of criminals are figuring out how to rip out the state for -- it's certainly hundreds of millions of dollars. And I think, at the $9 billion, my God, that's a huge lift.

I guess it's possible, but there's been a little bit of skepticism about that number too.

Nick Schifrin:

In the video, Nick Shirley visits several day cares. Some appear closed and some turn him away when he asks to see children. And he seems to take this as proof that the centers are fraudulent. What is he claiming and how does it square with your reporting?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Well, it's not investigative reporting by any stretch of the imagination.

I can't imagine these day care facilities letting a stranger in the door. That seems like a violation of all kinds of rules, state and federal, but it does make good theater. And it does raise actually questions about the legitimacy of some of these sites.

Some of these do not look like your standard day cares, blacked-out windows, sites that are not that family-friendly. And so it looks damning. And it may very well be that some of these sites are not taking care of children. It looks like a couple of them actually have been closed for some period of time.

So did he cherry-pick a list for sort of maximum impact visually that ultimately is going to turn out to be nothing? We don't know yet. The state hasn't shared any of their results from what they saw on the streets this week when they went and they visited those day care centers.

Nick Schifrin:

Have any of the sites themselves responded?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Yes, we have heard from several of them. We visited some of them today and yesterday. They're pushing back and saying, it's business as usual here, we're still open.

My colleague was in one today that had 50 kids present, which certainly is not the narrative that we saw in the video. And it did not look like a staged situation, like they just suddenly put in a bunch of cots for kids.

But that said, we have visited all of them. And at least one of them had quite a history of problems, including a failure to report what looks like either the death of a child or some other kind of very serious incident. So these look like some facilities that may have some issues. Whether they're committing fraud, that's a different question.

Nick Schifrin:

As you know, Republicans have put the blame on Minnesota's Democratic governor, Tim Walz.

And here's what his office told us in part -- quote -- "Fraud is unacceptable and it is appropriate that the federal government is investigating problems in federal programs. The governor has been combating this for years, and before the viral video, the state had already referred these cases to law enforcement."

What has the state and federal response been even before the latest allegations?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Very robust at the federal level, somewhat tepid at the state level.

And so I think there's legitimate questions that have been raised about whether the state did what it needed to do at the beginning to shut this thing down. Now, there certainly has been a lot of action at the state level recently to try to crack down, create new guardrails, to create new processes that would catch fraud and prevent these kind of things from happening again.

But a lot of critics are saying this is a little bit too little too late.

Nick Schifrin:

And, finally, the Somali community in Minneapolis has been demonized by the president of the United States, who has called them -- quote -- "garbage." He said: "We don't want them in our country."

And here's what Ahmed Samatar told our Fred de Sam Lazaro these new allegations. He's a Somali professor at Macalester College in St. Paul. He's lived in Minnesota for over 30 years.

Ahmed Samatar, Macalester College:

The consequences could be frightening for many Somalis, especially young people who would think that they were born here, they're living the life of a normal citizen, going to school and getting along with life, and, therefore, should now have to watch their back all the time because they are targeted as an unwanted foreign group of people.

That's the danger.

Nick Schifrin:

How is this renewed attention affecting the Somali community?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Absolutely.

They have been under siege now for weeks with this crackdown by ICE. And I think the recent video, I mean, based on the hate mail that I'm getting for the stories that we have done that have raised some questions about both things that the state have done, statements that the feds have made, I can't imagine what it's like to be a Somali person in our community right now.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States. Over 100,000 folks are living here. They're police officers. They're teachers. A handful of them are criminals. But it's painting the entire community with a very broad brush.

Nick Schifrin:

Jeff Meitrodt is with The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Thank you very much.

Jeff Meitrodt:

Thank you.

Trump administration says it's freezing child care funds to Minnesota

Updated December 30, 202510:46 PM ET 

By 

The Associated Press

President Trump's administration announced on Tuesday that it is freezing child care funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of fraud schemes involving government programs.

National

How Minnesota became a hub for Somali immigrants in the U.S.

Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill said on the social platform X that the move is in response to "blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back on X, saying fraudsters are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on but that this move is part of "Trump's long game."

"He's politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans," Walz said.

YouTuber's video spurs federal fraud probe. Minnesota professor explains why it went viral

MPR News

O'Neill referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video Friday claiming he found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud. O'Neill said he has demanded Walz submit an audit of these centers that includes attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.

"We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud," O'Neill said.

The announcement comes one day after U.S. Homeland Security officials were in Minneapolis conducting a fraud investigation by going to unidentified businesses and questioning workers.

There have been years of investigations that included a $300 million pandemic food fraud scheme revolving around the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, for which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the country's largest COVID-19-related fraud scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program meant to provide food for children.

A federal prosecutor alleged earlier this month that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants in the child nutrition, housing services and autism program schemes are Somali Americans, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota.

What It Takes

Policy relief for family caregivers seems stalled out. But there are signs of change

O'Neill, who is serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said in the social media post Tuesday that payments across the U.S. through the Administration for Children and Families, an agency within the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, will now require "justification and a receipt or photo evidence" before money is sent. They have also launched a fraud-reporting hotline and email address.

The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in child care funds annually to Minnesota, according to Assistant Secretary Alex Adams.

"That money should be helping 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants," he said in a video posted on X. "Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children."

Adams said he spoke Monday with the director of Minnesota's child care services office and she wasn't able to say "with confidence whether those allegations of fraud are isolated or whether there's fraud stretching statewide."

Trump has criticized Walz's administration over the fraud cases, capitalizing on them to target the Somalia diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the U.S.

Politics

Ilhan Omar says Trump attacks on Somali immigrants 'deflect attention' from scrutiny

Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has said an audit due by late January should give a better picture of the extent of the fraud. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded.

Minnesota's most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a relative few.

Related

• Dec 12

  

  After Trump's 'garbage' slur, a Vermont school building flew a Somali flag. Then came the threats

  By Amanda Swinhart, Mark Scolforo, Associated Press

• Dec 05

  Watch 7:09

  

  Fraud scandals and Trump's rhetoric escalate fears in Minnesota's Somali community

  By Fred de Sam Lazaro, Sam Lane, Simeon Lancaster

• Dec 03

  

  5 things to know about the Somali community in Minnesota after Trump's attacks

  By Steve Karnowski, Associated Press

• Dec 03

  

  Trump administration halts immigration applications for migrants from 19 travel-ban nations, including Afghanistan and Somalia

  By Rebecca Santana, Associated Press

• Dec 02

  

  WATCH: Trump says he doesn't want Somali migrants in the U.S., calls people 'garbage'

  By Associated Press

By —

Nick Schifrin

By —

Jonah Anderson