Trump Confirms Fraud Investigation Into Newsom’s California: ‘More Corrupt Than Minnesota’

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration has launched a federal fraud investigation into the state of California, escalating his war of words with Governor Gavin Newsom and accusing the Democrat-run state of “massive corruption” that rivals or even surpasses the scandal unfolding in Minnesota.

“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible???” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The announcement, though short on specifics, sent political shockwaves across the country and intensified the already hostile feud between the President and Governor Newsom. The White House declined to elaborate, but senior officials confirmed to The Daily Wire that the probe was real — and more details would be released in the coming weeks.

The move follows mounting pressure from California Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and state controller hopeful Herb Morgan, who sounded the alarm Monday on what they claim could be up to $250 billion in annual waste, fraud, and abuse in the state’s bloated welfare system.

“This is what you get from 16 years of one-party rule,” Hilton said. “Gavin Newsom and the corrupt Democrat machine have stolen our money and handed it out to cronies and political front groups.”

The investigation is expected to follow the model of the administration’s fraud crackdown in Minnesota, where a massive daycare and welfare fraud scandal led to dozens of arrests and exposed billions in stolen taxpayer dollars — some of which allegedly flowed to overseas terror networks.

Trump’s post prompted an explosive response from Newsom’s office, which dismissed the investigation as a “lie” and resorted to personal attacks against the President. “He spends his days posting whatever garbage his shriveled little brain can cough up,” Newsom’s statement read, calling Trump a “deranged, habitual liar.”

But President Trump was undeterred, pointing to California’s growing list of scandals — from wildfire mismanagement and welfare abuse to public safety failures and Newsom’s open defiance of federal immigration law.

Trump has repeatedly clashed with Newsom throughout his second term, including over the governor’s handling of the 2025 L.A. wildfires and his refusal to cooperate with ICE. Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in June after Newsom failed to stop anti-ICE riots, and at one point even backed calls to arrest the California governor for obstructing federal law enforcement.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a federal court ruling that blocked Trump’s National Guard deployment in California. Trump responded by ordering a partial drawdown of troops from Los Angeles — while warning, “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again.”

As Trump sharpens his focus on deep blue states like Minnesota and California, the message is clear: federal oversight is coming, and no Democrat stronghold is off-limits.

With billions of taxpayer dollars at stake and a state long seen as the epicenter of progressive excess, California now finds itself under a microscope — and Governor Newsom’s rising political star may soon be dimmed by federal subpoenas and criminal referrals.