This is Brian Lairer's Daily Politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Friday, January 9th.

I'm Tiffany Hanson in for Brian.

Today, we'll start in Minnesota.

The state is on edge after an ICE agent killed a woman in

Minneapolis. Protests have erupted. Politicians are swearing during press conferences, and the

governor is saying that he has plans to call in the National Guard. We'll see where things

stand with that and with Governor Walls himself, Walls, the former

Democratic running mate of Kamala Harris, announced earlier this week that he will not be running for

re-election for a third term there amid investigations into fraud in the state. On one hand,

the Department of Justice is prosecuting individuals that it claims were involved in a pandemic-era scheme to defraud the government of hundreds of millions of dollars.

While some are still facing prosecution, others have pleaded guilty, and in one case, several have pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a juror.

On the other hand, federal prosecutors are descending on the state to investigate

more recent allegations of fraud at several child care facilities in the state. And now hearings have

begun in Congress and Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

are accusing both Governor Walls and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of being, at the very least, asleep at the wheel.

In response, the Trump administration has halted billions of dollars in funding for social services programs to five states led by Democrats, including Minnesota and New York, by the way.

Joining us to discuss is Rachel Leingang, a Midwest political correspondent for The Guardian U.S.

She is based in Minneapolis. Welcome, Rachel.

Good morning.

Before we talk about all of that fraud that I was mentioning, I do think we should start here with the news from Minnesota that is on everyone's mind,

and that is the killing on Wednesday

...