Gov. Maura Healey is responding to President Trump naming Massachusetts, along with California, Maine, and Minnesota, as some of the most fraud-ridden states in the country while announcing a new “war on fraud” during his State of the Union address.

“At the end of the day, this is all about the president and the Trump administration continuing to try to deflect and distract from the reality of what’s happening. I mean, you know, people can’t pay bills, people can’t afford so many things right now. He’s driving the economy off the cliff for most everybody, save for the very, very few at the top, with tariffs and other policies or lack thereof, taking healthcare away,” Healey said after being asked about Trump’s reference to the Bay State during his speech.

“He just wants to announce things like that because it’s really just a way to distract from what’s really going on right now in this country, which is that people can’t afford living. The cost of living is too high. And that’s what the President and JD Vance and everybody in that administration should be focused on. I’m sorry that they’re not,” she said.

The governor expanded on the topic of fraud in Massachusetts, diving into her history as attorney general and how “seriously” she takes public benefits fraud, before reiterating her claims that Trump is trying to “distract” Americans from what she says are his failed policies.

“As for fraud, I mean, I take that very seriously. I prosecuted and investigated fraud cases as attorney general. We continue to do that in our offices, through our agencies. I have every interest, and we all do, in stopping fraud, detecting and stopping fraud,” Healey said. “That will continue, but make no mistake about it, this is all about trying to take people’s attention away from his failed policies and his failure of leadership.”

Trump referred to public benefits fraud in Massachusetts while promising a “war on fraud,” to be led by Vice-President JD Vance, as several SNAP fraud schemes have been uncovered in along with recent whistleblower allegations of a lackluster response by state officials.

“There’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota. Where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American tax bill, we have all the information. And in actuality, the number is much higher than that,” said Trump. “And California, Massachusetts, Maine, and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation. And we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe it.”

The governor was also asked by the Herald about its coverage of a Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) whistleblower’s allegations of “rampant” fraud within the state’s SNAP-EBT program, paired with what they call a lackluster response by the state in detecting and rooting out fraud.

The whistleblower dated an extreme uptick in fraud cases back to 2021 during the surge in illegal immigration under the Biden administration. They also noted several concerns with DTA upper management and leadership, including setting a “tone of normalcy” surrounding drastic increases in fraud throughout the state and “in spite of intermittent outcries from staff.”

They also shared internal documents, emails and other communications, including summaries of monthly and quarterly meetings where they and other mid-level staffers repeatedly tried to address and convince leadership to further pursue fraud and abuse within the program.

“I’d like to see whatever was produced, if you get to see that. Nobody’s more committed than me [in rooting out fraud]. I investigated and I prosecuted fraud. I worked with partners up and down, across the board on this, so that remains the case and we’ll do whatever we can to address and to stop fraud. I want to make sure that every single taxpayer dollar is protected,” said Healey.

“I’m going to continue to do that, but make no mistake about it, this is Donald Trump’s effort to. Distort the reality experienced by most Americans and take people’s eye off the ball and deflect from the fact that he’s not doing anything to make life more affordable for the vast majority of Americans,” she said.

State Sen. and Assistant Minority Leader Ryan Fattman (R- Worcester & Hampden) is criticizing Healey’s response to Trump’s mention of Massachusetts, pointing out what he says is the governor’s tendency to blame others for the state’s problems, especially Trump.

“I think she has a tendency to want to blame everybody else. I think that she needs to start looking in the mirror a little bit more,” Fattman told the Herald. “You know, look at your state. She just apparently decided to push out the commissioner of DTA. Is that an admission of some sort of guilt? I’d say, yeah, there probably is an admission of some kind of culpability and a problem there. But time and time again, it’s always someone else’s fault.”

Trump’s words follow several SNAP fraud busts in Massachusetts totaling tens of millions of dollars by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and state Auditor’s Office.

Earlier this month, the Feds busted a $1 million SNAP fraud scheme that was carried out by a Dominican national, two illegal immigrants and a green card holder who used stolen SNAP benefits to purchase quality meats and other foods to sell for a profit at their Leominster restaurant, El Primo. In December, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also announced the arrests of two Haitian nationals who ran a $7 million SNAP fraud scheme out of their tiny retail store in Mattapan. On top of this, the state Auditor’s Office has uncovered roughly $34 million in SNAP fraud in FY23, FY24 and FY25.

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