Nick Shirley, an independent journalist whose report on fraudulent childcare and healthcare companies in Minneapolis went meg-viral over the weekend, said what he found is just the “tip of the iceberg.” “It is so obvious,” he said. “Literally, if you drive around Minneapolis, you will see daycare centers, autism centers, and transportation companies that have snow piled up as if they have not moved in months.” “You go into buildings where there will be 20 healthcare companies. It’s like a kindergartner could figure out this fraud going on,” he said.

TOMI LAHREN: You’ve done incredible work. You are an incredible investigator on the go. My question is this: how much investigating did you actually have to do to find these centers? Some have misspelled signs. Did you find them easily, or how did you go about this? It’s amazing to me that no one else besides you saw a problem here when they cannot even spell on the side of a learning center. NICK SHIRLEY, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: That is a great question. I have to give props to David, who helped me in this investigation. He’s been doing research for years — years! — trying to expose this fraud, and nobody has given him the time of day to even talk about this. With his help and my own investigation, I’ve known about this for a long time-Minnesotans have been telling me for a long time about the Somlai fraud taking place. With his help, we were able to track over $ 110 million in fraud in one day. That is just the tip. When they say tip of the iceberg, it really is. There are billions of dollars of fraud inside the state of Minnesota right now. JOEY JONES: Nick, on that topic-you said his name is David, and he’s been researching this for years. In your experience, or in your opinion, just spending the days out there, is there any way this has not reached the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz? Take aside ongoing litigation or what have you- is there any way he could claim ignorance on this, just in your experience over this investigation? NICK SHIRLEY: It is so obvious. If you are living in Minnesota, you have to raise your eyebrows and think, What is going on? Literally, if you drive around Minneapolis, you will see daycare centers, autism centers, and transportation companies that have snow piled up as if they have not moved in months. You also go into buildings where there will be 20 healthcare companies. It’s like a kindergartner could figure out this fraud going on. TOMI LAHREN: Nick, one of the most shocking things to me in the video you posted was the reaction of some of these Somalis to some of these interactions. In one clip, they called the cops on you for asking about some of the healthcare companies-the 20 healthcare companies located in one building. Tell us what your interactions were like on the ground. NICK SHIRLEY: Yes. I gave them plenty of opportunities to answer simple questions. I was not going in with crazy, hard-hitting questions. I asked exactly from the paperwork: where is the money, you have the capacity for 99 children, where are the children, and why are all the windows blacked out? These people simply could not answer the most simple question as to where the children are inside these daycare centers. JOEY JONES: Nick, when I was your age, I used to watch all the local news stations. Every local news operation had a roving reporter who would go around and find waste, fraud, and abuse. Are there local reporters like that in your area, and why do you think they weren’t doing the work that you did? NICK SHIRLEY: I don’t know. They are scared of being called names. Nowadays, because it is Spomalis doing this fraud, they are scared because it is labeled as Islamophobic or racist, which has nothing to do with what’s going on. Fraud is fraud. It doesn’t matter if it’s a white person, Mexican, Asian-fraud is fraud. We work too hard to pay taxes to be enabling fraud to be happening. TOMI LAHREN: Yes, it is sad. And congratulations again on your video-well deserved. All these people are finding it, finding you, and finding all the good work that you do. Governor Tim Walz is pushing back on investigations into the Somali community over the massive welfare fraud that’s happened under his watch. Take a look at this. GOVERNOR TIM WALZ, MINNESOTA: This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit. This is what happens when they scapegoat. This is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy. TOMI LAHREN: It sounds to me that Governor Tim Walz is saying you and others trying to expose this are doing it because you’re white supremacists. Is that his response? NICK SHIRLEY: Tim wants votes. There are entire apartment complexes where white people have been pushed out because Somalis have taken over. They’re inside towns like Minneapolis, where they can go and get votes from these people. If you have 100,000 people who will vote for you because you enable them and let these things happen, you’re going to call a white person racist for calling out facts. This is what’s going to happen to a state like Minnesota. They say Minnesota nice. People are very upset. I fully understand why they are upset-because they don’t have a governor working for them. He’s working against them. JOEY JONES: This video has been viewed 93 million times. What do you think will be the result of this? Do you think things will change by bringing attention to this, or will things stay the same? NICK SHIRLEY: There better be change. People are demanding it. Investigations have been launched from that video alone. Americans are working too hard, paying taxes too hard, not knowing where our money is going. The government works for us. We don’t work for them. It is their responsibility to hold these people accountable. If that doesn’t happen, people will be very frustrated. President Trump is watching this. It’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and make a difference in places like Minnesota, which is pretty much like a lawless land right now. TOMI LAHREN: Nick, this is such important work. Tell us what you’re doing next. What’s the next project you’ll be taking on? If you can reveal it. NICK SHIRLEY: Fraud exposing will continue. There’s lots happening here and across the world. I’m just showing people what things are. I’m not trying to make things right or left-just showing things as they are, fact-based. You can say whatever you want. You can use hate words and whatnot. But at the end of the day, my job is to show things as they are. I’m not trying to put out a right-wing twist or a left-wing twist. I’m just trying to show people things as they are in Minnesota, which is pretty much like Somaliland right now. TOMI LAHREN: Nick, I love that you are independent. This is the age of the independent journalist. Let me ask you-any job offers? Any networks want you to jump in and run their operation? NICK SHIRLEY: They might need help, a lot of them. But no-one hundred percent independent. That’s the reason I’m able to do what I do: because of people supporting me and watching my videos. Everything I do comes straight from me-my camera and the people I surround myself with. I don’t have to go through an entire editorial desk or newsroom to publish something. TOMI LAHREN: We appreciate everything you’ve done, your continued success, and of course your safety as well. All eyes are on you.

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