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Vice President JD Vance spelled out his role in leading the administration’s newly declared "war on fraud" Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced the effort during his State of the Union address.
"I don't know what the top line number is, and I think that's unfortunate, that nobody has ever tried to take a systematic look at how much fraud there is in the federal government," Vance said on "America's Newsroom."
"How many illegal aliens are on Medicaid? We know that it's billions and billions of dollars that should go to American citizens. It's going to illegal aliens. How many fraudulent daycare centers have been set up where that money should go to American citizens to help their kids get into childcare? Instead, it's being stolen from them by illegal aliens in our country..."
Vance raised concerns that government officials may have "gotten wealthy" or have received campaign donations from fraud benefactors by being "complicit" in the malpractice.
Vice President JD Vance speaks with Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Nov. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
He told Fox News that the president has tasked him with taking a "full, whole government approach" to investigating fraud concerns, enlisting the Justice and Treasury Departments to lead probes and locate fiscal records.
"We're going to be trying to understand how it is that the American people have been defrauded. How it is that people have used resources and programs that should go to American citizens instead have been going to fraudulent uses?" Vance said.
"There's a whole host of tools that we have that have never been used, and the president and I talked about this a couple of months ago and said, 'What if we just did everything that we could to stop the fraud that's being committed against the American taxpayer?' The president said, 'Great idea, let's do it,' and we're going to work on that very aggressively over the next year."
JD VANCE ANNOUNCES MULTI-STATE FRAUD TASK FORCE IN WAKE OF MINNESOTA SCANDAL
President Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. Seated behind him are Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (Kenny Holston /Pool via Reuters)
Vance clarified that the administration's "war on fraud" will continue beyond the next year, but that Trump officials aim to "uncover as much as possible" within the upcoming months.
While speaking on a host of subjects, the vice president also admonished congressional Democrats for their behavior during Tuesday's State of the Union, in which an overwhelming majority remained seated and refused to applaud throughout the speech, including when Trump challenged lawmakers to "stand up and show [their] support" if they agreed that American citizens' interests were more valuable than those of illegal immigrants.
"What a shame that is," Vance said of Democrats' refusal to stand.
"What a sad commentary that is on the Democratic Party that the idea that the American government should stand for American citizens, not illegal aliens. That shouldn't be controversial, but apparently it was to the Democrats."
Vance said he noticed a handful of Democrats who "politely clapped" but chose not to stand.
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"I guess maybe they were worried about being primaried by the far left fringe of their party, but they were all looking around. They weren't actually saying, 'You know what? I'm going to stand and support this because this is a common sense, obvious statement.' They were all around for cues from their colleagues because they didn't have the courage to stand on their own," he said.
"That, more than anything, Bill, is the saddest commentary on the Democratic Party."
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Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
