MAGA influencer's viral Somali fraud claims shot down by CBS News fact check
Despite a right-leaning change in management at CBS News, the network disputed claims made by MAGA influencer Nick Shirley about alleged fraud at Somali daycare facilities in Minnesota.
Shirley's video investigation, which was viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube and X, suggested that the facilities were taking funds from the government without caring for children.
On Tuesday, CBS News posted a fact check of Shirley on X, the same platform that members of the Trump administration had used to bolster the fraud claims.
CBS News correspondent Jonah Kaplan noted that Somali businesses had been prosecuted for fraud in the past.
"Now you have this viral video getting traction online," he said. "It's from influencer Nick Shirley, and he visited several daycares, Somali-owned daycares in the Twin Cities, and basically accused them of doing the same thing. Running these sham operations where kids didn't show up but still bilked the federal government and collected millions of dollars in Medicaid funds."
"We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months," he continued. "And we found the facts on the ground tell a different story. Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent."
"So it's important to put all of this into context."