"From day one of my administration, we've waged an unprecedented war on corruption and fraud and will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically scum," President Donald Trump recently announced from the White House.
He unveiled a new website that features a whistleblower incentive program offering commissions to citizens and reporters who successfully expose stolen funds.
"If you, let's say, report, and you find a billion dollars, we are giving a commission to that person of 1%," the president said. "It's a lot of money."
The president praised Nick Shirley, whose undercover reporting last year brought renewed attention to suspected misuse of public funds for child care and other social services.
In late December 2025, the YouTuber published a roughly 43-minute video in which he visited Minnesota child care centers, many operated by Somali Americans, that received public funding.
Subsequent investigations uncovered substantial fraud across public programs, resulting in criminal charges and guilty pleas in some cases.
On Sept. 4, 2026, Shirley filed a federal lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D), seeking to block enforcement of AB 2624. The law expands California's existing Safe at Home privacy program to include people who provide immigration-related services, including eligible nonprofit employees and volunteers.
California Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D), who is married to the state attorney general, introduced the bill Feb. 20, 2026, shortly after Shirley's video was published, to expand address-confidentiality protections for immigration-services providers. Her office said the bill was prompted by threats and harassment against workers at immigrant-serving organizations.
Although the law itself does not name Shirley, critics have nicknamed it the "Stop Nick Shirley Act" because they say it hinders undercover reporting into organizations serving immigrants.
Shirley's lawsuit argues that the law violates the First Amendment and other constitutional protections.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump praised Shirley's undercover reporting on alleged fraud in Minnesota and announced that he would receive a $10,000 reward. Shirley then reflected on his journey from facing media scrutiny to standing in the Oval Office.
"When I exposed fraud, instead of the mainstream media investigating the fraud, they investigated me," he said. "That was the extent of their reporting. But now, finally, people have an incentive to go out and expose fraud. When you expose fraud, you help save America."
Vice President JD Vance emphasized the severe societal toll of the crimes Shirley has helped expose.
"Your tax dollars are being stolen from programs that help feed the needy," he stated. "It steals from the very social fabric of the United States of America."
Trump adviser Stephen Miller sharply criticized fraud's impact on working Americans.
"Before President Trump came along, you went to work every day ... to send your tax dollars to the state of California, to the federal government, to do what? To pay for people that are robbing us blind," he said. "This isn't going to happen anymore. We're going to protect our taxpayers. We're going to protect our citizens."
He said the looting, pillaging and robbing would stop, asserting that "it's actually happening."
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Justice Department officials also announced major funding deferrals to combat ongoing abuse in states such as California and Minnesota.
The administration says the new whistleblower program will recover trillions of dollars and help balance the federal budget.
