A Minnesota woman convicted in one of the state’s largest fraud schemes alleged in a jailhouse interview that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud well before federal prosecutors stepped in.

Aimee Bock, the former head of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, spoke to Fox News from Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota, claiming state officials continued approving and paying claims even after concerns were raised about potential fraud.

Bock alleged the state approved program sponsors and was responsible for monitoring claims, but officials repeatedly failed to investigate or stop suspicious companies after she flagged them. 

‘I honestly believe Keith Ellison and Gov. Walz need to be held accountable. There needs to be an investigation done. If they weren’t aware, that’s concerning,’ she told Fox News.

‘I have to believe that the governor’s office and Keith Ellison’s office were aware of this. They’ve said they were involved in helping the FBI. They’ve said they were made aware, but apparently I’m scary, so they couldn’t do anything,’ Bock added. 

In response, a spokesperson for Ellison’s office said Bock lacked credibility, pointing out her federal prison sentence. ‘She is a liar, fraudster, and manipulator of the highest order who has never acknowledged or accepted her guilt. Now, she’s on a media tour to deflect her guilt onto others instead of finally taking responsibility for the fraud scheme she ran,’ the spokesperson said.

‘Federal and state investigators meticulously examined the crimes Bock and her accomplices committed,’ the Ellison spokesperson continued. ‘Bock alone is responsible for her own actions, which was proven in court beyond a shadow of a doubt, and her claim about Attorney General Ellison is a lie without a shred of evidence behind it.’

Federal prosecutors have said the scheme involved more than $250 million in stolen taxpayer funds intended to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, with sham restaurants set up to falsely claim reimbursements.

Walz’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The House Oversight Committee said on Jan. 7 that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent. 

Sixty-four defendants have already been convicted. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the DOJ has issued more than 1,750 subpoenas, executed over 130 search warrants, and conducted more than 1,000 witness interviews in what officials describe as a sweeping federal probe.

Comer said federal prosecutors estimate at least $9 billion has been stolen across multiple fraud schemes in Minnesota.

‘The breadth and depth of this fraud is breathtaking. And I fear it is just the tip of the iceberg. Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota’s Democratic leadership have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in these crimes,’ he said. ‘They failed Minnesotans and all Americans, handing millions of taxpayers’ money to fraudsters.’

The White House on Thursday explained a visible bruise on President Donald Trump’s left hand after it drew attention during a Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Trump bruised his hand after hitting it on the corner of the signing table during the event.

A White House official added the president is more prone to bruising because he takes a daily aspirin, a regimen previously disclosed by his physicians.

The bruise prompted widespread speculation online as images from the ceremony circulated on social media.

‘They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,’ Trump told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. ‘I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?’

He admitted he takes a large dose of aspirin daily and is hesitant to take a lower amount.

‘I’m a little superstitious,’ he told the Journal.

Trump has covered up his hand at public events, with bandages or what appears to be some type of makeup.

The commander in chief previously fueled health concerns after announcing he had an MRI done in October.

The White House released a memo on Dec.1 from Sean Barbabella, the White House physician, that said Trump underwent advanced imaging at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a preventative measure.

‘The purpose of this imaging is preventive: to identify issues early, confirm overall health, and ensure he maintains long-term vitality and function,’ Barbabella said.

‘President Trump’s cardiovascular imaging is perfectly normal. There is no evidence of arterial narrowing impairing blood flow or abnormalities in the heart or major vessels,’ he added. ‘The heart chambers are normal in size, the vessel walls appear smooth and healthy, and there are no signs of inflammation, or clotting. Overall, his cardiovascular system shows excellent health.’

The White House is experiencing a baby boom. 

At least three women with close ties to the White House are pregnant, including second lady Usha Vance, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Katie Miller, who is married to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. 

The Vances announced Tuesday that they are expecting their fourth child in July. The couple share three children together: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel. 

‘Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July,’ the Vances wrote in a statement shared on social media.

‘During this exciting and hectic time, we are particularly grateful for the military doctors who take excellent care of our family and for the staff members who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children,’ they said. 

The Vances have been married since 2014, and met while they were students at Yale Law School. 

Leavitt announced Dec. 26, 2025, that she and her husband Nick were expecting their second child, who is due in May. Leavitt and her husband welcomed their first child, Niko, in July 2024.

‘My husband and I are thrilled to grow our family and can’t wait to watch our son become a big brother,’ Leavitt told Fox News Digital. ‘My heart is overflowing with gratitude to God for the blessing of motherhood, which I truly believe is the closest thing to Heaven on Earth.’

Leavitt told Fox News Digital in December 2025 that she is ‘extremely grateful to President Trump and our amazing Chief of Staff Susie Wiles for their support, and for fostering a pro-family environment in the White House.’

‘Nearly all of my West Wing colleagues have babies and young children, so we all really support one another as we tackle raising our families while working for the greatest president ever,’ Leavitt said.

Leavitt is the first press secretary to be pregnant, and is remaining press secretary, according to a senior White House official. 

Likewise, Katie Miller, a conservative podcast host, and Stephen Miller shared a joint Instagram post Dec. 31, 2025, celebrating the new year and depicting Katie Miller holding her baby bump. The couple shares three children: Mackenzie, Jackson and Hudson.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration has ended funding for research that involves the use of aborted fetal tissue, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

The spokesperson said effective immediately, National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds ‘will no longer be used for research that involves the fetal tissue of aborted babies.’ This comes a day before the March for Life.

In an announcement of the policy change, NIH said the move was ‘a significant milestone in the Trump Administration’s efforts to modernize biomedical science and accelerate innovation.’

‘NIH is pushing American biomedical science into the 21st century,’ said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. ‘This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease. Under President Trump’s leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people.’

NIH-supported research using fetal tissue has dipped since 2019, with only 77 projects funded in Fiscal Year 2024, according to the agency. It says that advancements in organoids, tissue chips, computational biology and more have been able to support scientific research ‘while reducing ethical concerns.’

The March for Life is an annual event that gathers pro-life supporters in Washington, D.C. The gathering coincides with the anniversary of the Supreme Court issuing its ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973, though the ruling was overturned in 2022.

This year, Vice President JD Vance will address the crowd on Friday, as he did last year. Just days ago, Vance and his wife, Usha, announced that they are expecting their fourth child. When the White House posted its congratulations to the vice president and second lady, it declared the Trump administration to be ‘the most pro-family administration in history.’

In addition to Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., will also be addressing the crowd on Friday.

Former special counsel Jack Smith spent hours publicly defending the parameters of his investigation into President Donald Trump on Thursday in the face of sharp questions from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — including one lawmaker in particular who repeatedly accused Smith of ‘spying’ on certain lawmakers. 

During one of the most contentious portions of the hearing, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., pressed Smith over the so-called ‘tolling records’ Smith sought as part of the special counsel investigation, which included investigating Trump’s alleged attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election. 

Unlike wiretaps, tolling records are phone logs that reveal the phone numbers of incoming and outgoing callers, as well as the time and duration of calls. Republicans have zeroed in on the tolling records in recent months, blasting them as an aggressive tactic by Smith and an act of ‘political weaponization,’ which Smith vehemently denied.

Issa, in particular, excoriated Smith for the decision to seek the tolling records of Republicans in the House and Senate — which he said Thursday was tantamount to spying on his political ‘enemies.’

Smith, for his part, defended the tolling records as ‘common practice’ in such investigations.

‘Maybe they’re not your political enemies, but they sure as [heck] were Joe Biden’s poltiical enemies, weren’t they?’ Issa asked Smith. ‘They were Harris’s political enemies,’ he said, referring to the former vice president. ‘They were the enemies of the president — and you were their arm, weren’t you?’ 

‘No,’ Smith said. 

‘So, you spied on the speaker of the House and these other senators and so on, and informed no one — and in fact, put a gag order in — so they couldn’t discover it,’ Issa said.

Smith attempted to respond before Issa continued. 

‘Why did Congress, a separate branch that you, under the Constitution, have to respect — why is it that no one should be informed — including the judges?’ Issa pressed. ‘As you went in to spy on these people, did you mention that you were spying on, [that you were] seeking records to you could find out about when conversations occurred between the U.S. Speaker of the House and the president?’

‘Did you inform the judge?’ Issa continued. ‘Or did you hold that back?’

‘My office didn’t spy on anyone,’ Smith said, before Issa cut back in. 

‘Wait a second,’ he interjected sharply. ‘The question I asked you, Mr. Smith, was pretty straightforward.’

Before Smith could respond again, the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, interjected to address House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan. 

‘Mr. Chairman, would you please instruct the gentleman to allow the witness to answer the question?’ he said. ‘The witness has the right to answer the question.’

Smith previously said that the Public Integrity Section had signed off on the subpoenas, a point corroborated by previously released public records. Those records also showed that the Public Integrity Section told prosecutors to be wary of concerns lawmakers could raise about the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members added protections.

The subpoenas to the phone companies were accompanied by gag orders blocking the lawmakers from learning about the existence of the subpoenas for at least one year.

Smith previously told the House lawmakers in a closed-door hearing that the D.C. federal court, which authorized the gag orders, would not have been aware that they applied to Congress members. 

‘I don’t think we identified that, because I don’t think that was Department policy at the time,’ Smith said.

Asked during the earlier deposition about who should be held accountable for lawmakers who felt that the seizure of a narrow set of their phone data was a constitutional violation, Smith said Trump should be held accountable.

‘These records are people, in the case of the Senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings,’ Smith said.

‘He chose to do that. If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,’ he said at the time.

Former special counsel Jack Smith’s hearing on Capitol Hill kicked off with a reminder from Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of the controversial 2022 raid of then-former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. 

Jordan revealed that Barron Trump’s room was among the areas searched.

Smith appeared in a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday in which he was questioned about his prosecutions of Trump. He previously testified about the investigations in a closed-door deposition.

‘And then there was the raid on President Trump’s home. You know, where they searched Barron’s room and the first lady’s closet? In our deposition with Steven D’Antuono, head of the FBI Washington field office, he told us none of the normal process, none of the normal protocol was followed in the investigation,’ Jordan said.

The chairman said that D’Antuono had relayed that the first issue with the raid was that it was run out of the FBI D.C. field office rather than the one in Miami. 

Additionally, Jordan said that D’Antuono claimed he and others in the FBI Washington field office recommended that Trump be notified before they carried out the search, ‘or at least when they got there, before they start the search, call the president’s lawyers, ask them to come there and meet them.’ According to Jordan, the Department of Justice (DOJ) rejected the recommendations.

‘On November 18th, 2022, three days after President Trump announces he’s running for president, Attorney General Garland names Jack Smith special counsel. One of the first things Mr. Smith does is put on his team the very people responsible for the raid on President Trump’s home,’ Jordan said.

The raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence sparked controversy about the handling of the search and what was found during it. At the time, Trump accused the Biden administration of using ‘Third World’ tactics.

‘The Biden administration invaded the home of their chief political opponent, who is absolutely destroying him and everybody else in the polls,’ Trump said in 2022 during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Trump continued, ‘On a phony pretext from a highly political magistrate who they hand-picked late in the evening, just days before the break-in, and trampled upon my rights and civil liberties as if our country that we love so much were a third world nation, we’re like a third world nation.’

Trump told the crowd at the rally that the FBI had gone through then-former first lady Melania Trump’s closet drawers and ‘even did a deep and ugly search of the room of my sixteen-year-old son.’

President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States should have considered testing NATO by forcing member countries to respond to America’s southern border crisis.

Trump speculated in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. could have invoked Article 5 — the alliance’s collective defense clause that deems an attack on one member as an attack on all — thereby putting NATO ‘to the test.’

‘Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks,’ he wrote.

The president’s comments came after he has recently questioned NATO’s commitment to aiding the U.S.

‘We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us,’ the president wrote on social media earlier this month.

After meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Trump announced that he had the ‘framework of a future deal regarding Greenland.’

Trump wrote on Truth Social that if finalized, the deal ‘will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations.’

Following the meeting, Trump said he would scrap a plan to impose tariffs on a group of NATO members who sent troops to Greenland amid the president’s efforts to acquire the island. Trump had asserted that those countries would be subjected to a 10% tariff on all goods beginning Feb. 1.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News this week, Rutte said Trump was ‘totally right’ about needing to shore up security in the Arctic region, noting that the chance of Russia or China becoming a threat in that region was increasing.

Rutte applauded Trump’s leadership in getting NATO countries to pay more money for the alliance’s defenses.

‘I would argue tonight with you on this program he was the one who brought a whole of Europe and Canada up to this famous 5%,’ Rutte said, ‘which is crucial for us to equalize our spending, but also protect ourselves. And this is the framework which you see in his post that we will work on.’

NATO members were previously spending 2% of GDP on defense, but have now agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defense and national security infrastructure.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

— The Republican National Committee (RNC) is taking a big step toward holding its first-ever midterm convention.

The RNC on Thursday advanced a change to the party’s rules that would allow Chairman Joe Gruters ‘to convene a special ceremonial convention outside a presidential election cycle,’ according to a memo shared first with Fox News Digital.

National political conventions, where party delegates from around the country formally nominate their party’s presidential candidates, normally take place during presidential election years.

But with Republicans aiming to protect their narrow control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in this year’s elections, President Donald Trump announced in September that the GOP would hold a convention ahead of the midterms ‘in order to show the great things we have done’ since recapturing the White House.

The new memo highlights ‘the possibility of an America First midterm convention-style gathering aligned with President Trump’s vision for energizing the party this fall.’

The party in power, in this case the Republicans, normally faces stiff political headwinds in the midterms. And the hope among Trump and top Republicans is that a midterm convention would give the GOP a high-profile platform to showcase the president’s record and their congressional candidates running in the midterms.

The RNC’s rules are based on holding a convention every four years. The proposed rule change will allow the RNC to hold a midterm convention. If adopted, the rule states that the convention must be called at least 60 days in advance, and no business would be conducted during the gathering.

The proposed change was adopted Thursday evening by the RNC’s Rules Committee during the party’s winter meeting in Santa Barbara, California.

It’s unclear if the full RNC membership will vote on the rule change when it gathers Friday at the confab’s general session. If the rule isn’t adopted by the full RNC, it’s expected to be approved at the party’s spring meeting.

Gruters, in a statement to Fox News Digital, highlighted that the RNC’s winter meeting ‘shows how completely united Republicans are behind President Trump and our efforts to win the midterms. The RNC has been aggressively focused on expanding our war chest, turning out voters and protecting the ballot in this fall’s elections. We’re building the operation needed to protect our majorities and give President Trump a full four-year term with a Republican Congress.’

Details on the date and location of the midterm convention will come at a later date and will likely be announced by the president.

But a Republican source told Fox News Digital it’s probable the convention would be held at the same time as the RNC’s summer meeting, which typically occurs in August.

The rival Democratic National Committee (DNC) may also hold a midterm convention. Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last summer that DNC chair Ken Martin and other party leaders were quietly pushing the idea of a convention ahead of the midterms.

Democrats held a handful of midterm conventions in the 1970s and 1980s.

FBI Director Kash Patel shared a picture of what he said was a ‘self-awarded’ trophy made by former FBI officials to celebrate Operation Arctic Frost, an investigation launched after the 2020 election targeting President Donald Trump and his allies.

The bizarre metallic-colored, 3D-printed award featured ‘AF’ with a lightening bolt and dollar sign printed along its body and a raised map of the U.S. on its base, which also included miniature buildings and infrastructure. ‘CR-15’ was printed along the base. CR-15 is a now-disbanded FBI unit that served as a public corruption squad. 

‘People ask why I said the old FBI was a diseased temple,’ Patel wrote on X. ‘This is what corruption looks like when it thinks no one is watching.

‘I disbanded CR-15 and removed the corrupt actors involved,’ he continued. ‘So when legacy media cries that President Trump’s FBI fired people and made sweeping changes, I have one response: You’re damn right we did.’

Patel made his comments as Republican lawmakers continue to raise alarms about the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe, which later fed into former special counsel Jack Smith’s work.

In October, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., unveiled 197 subpoenas they said the Biden-era FBI used to seek testimony and documents from hundreds of Republicans and GOP entities.

Johnson called the subpoena list ‘nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list,’ arguing Arctic Frost was used to improperly investigate the Republican political apparatus.

Smith, whose team used Arctic Frost in mounting charges tied to the 2020 election that were later dismissed after Trump’s victory in 2024, has defended his work and appeared on Capitol Hill to face questions from the House Judiciary Committee.

Republicans have criticized Smith for seeking gag orders against Trump during his presidential campaign; fast-tracking court proceedings; subpoenaing records and phone data of Trump-aligned individuals and entities, including members of Congress; and approving $20,000 in payments to an FBI confidential human source to gather intelligence on Trump, a source told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.