The Kamala Harris vetting process is being questioned after the Walz cheating scandal

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s announcement that he is withdrawing his re-election bid amid the state’s biggest fraud scandal raises questions about the vetting process he received to become Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Following Walz Monday’s announcement that he will not run for re-election as the state faces a fraud case that prosecutors say could amount to $9 billion, many on social media on both sides of the aisle are wondering why he was nominated for the presidential ticket despite concerns about fraud dating back to at least 2019 when he was elected governor.

“What did Kamala Harris’ veep team know about Tim Walz, and when did they know it?” Conservative commentator and author Josh Hammer posted on X.

“This is going to be a dog for VP Harris and he will need to answer questions about Tim Walz and his answers need to be CLEAR.” former Jill Biden Press Secretary Michael LaRosa wrote in X. “If I were to advise the former VP, I would put this to bed NOW and issue a statement ASAP. Take off the Band-Aid and get this behind him. His judgment will be questioned and his trust in those who vetted his VP options will be questioned. How could they have missed this?”

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Harris released a statement later in the day I wished Walz well and praised his “life in public service” but did not directly address the fraud scandal or the vetting process.

“The test clearly failed,” said Lt. John Nagel, who retired from the Minnesota State Patrol, told Fox News Digital. Nagel is running for Congress as a Republican against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.

“When Governor Tim Walz was elected, the fraud scandals in Minnesota were already public, already under federal investigation, and already raising serious questions about oversight. That was not hidden information – it was an open and growing issue, despite the local media environment protecting Democrats.”

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held a news conference at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 5, 2026. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Former Obama-era attorney general Eric Holder was a key figure in the Harris campaign’s vetting process, and he defended his efforts to Walz, he told CNN that “nothing important” was missed about Walz’s record, Nagel told Fox News Digital “raised more questions than it answered” given the appearance of fraud concerns.

“Any possibility is troubling,” Nagel told Fox News Digital. “If Kamala Harris didn’t know, that points to a deeply flawed vetting process and a level of insanity. If she knew and went ahead, that suggests accountability wasn’t a priority.”

Michael Ceraso, a veteran Democrat, told Fox News Digital that the Harris campaign may have been aware of the fraud reports, but internally compared it to Trump’s arguments and concluded that it was “not that bad.”

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Gov. Tim Walz signed into law a major package of police accountability measures on Thursday, July 23, 2020, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“Maybe the level was different because they understood who they were competing against, maybe they were scared because they were looking at their opponent saying that maybe this is not like this, so we can forgive it because this boy here did X, Y, and Z,” explained Ceraso.

Going forward, Ceraso said the Democratic Party could arguably “put itself in a position to be the party of values” by placing more emphasis on issues of assessing its own merits rather than comparing records with Trump.

“The Democratic Party needs to be better because we can all be better, but I think we’re comparing ourselves to a president with whom we obviously disagree morally and saying, well, we’re not that bad, but we’ve allowed the corruption of billions to happen without accountability. That’s still very bad.”

Nagel told Fox News Digital that if Harris decides to run for political office in the future, the issue may come up.

“Voters deserve to know how decisions are made at the highest levels — and whether political considerations trump transparency and accountability,” Nagel said. “Unfortunately, if Kamala decides to run in 2028, the legacy media will likely not pressure her to pick Walz. I expect that will only be brought up in Democratic rallies during the presidential debates during the primaries.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Harris’ office for comment.

Walz has also faced criticism in recent days for comments he made at a campaign to promote child care programs in Minnesota, suggesting it should set a national example, even though the Feeding Our Future scandal is already swirling.