The Biden administration strongly denied claims that a senior Treasury Department official was quitting because he disagreed with the White House’s plan to crack down on fraud involving Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community. The story began when The Washington Post reported that John Hurley, who holds the job of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, was planning to leave his post. According to the Post’s report, Hurley was unhappy with a new initiative aimed at tightening federal oversight of money transfers coming out of the Minneapolis area, where there have been allegations of widespread fraud.
But top officials pushed back hard against that narrative. They dismissed the idea that Hurley was quitting because of disagreements over policy, calling that version of events “fake news” and blaming “uninformed leakers” for spreading it. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department said Hurley and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have a strong working relationship and are aligned on enforcing the federal government’s fraud-fighting goals.
Hurley himself also rejected the suggestion that he opposed the administration’s anti-fraud efforts. In a statement reported by Newsmax, he said that under Secretary Bessent’s leadership, his office has been “at the tip of the spear” pushing back on what he and others in the administration describe as “Somalia fraud” in Minnesota. He described the efforts by his team at the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence as part of the broader goal of stopping financial crime and protecting American taxpayers.
He also explained that his office is working on ways to collect better information about international money transfers, including requiring banks and money-transfer firms to record details such as addresses, email addresses and birth dates for payments over certain amounts. The idea, he said, is that more accurate data will help law enforcement identify fraud schemes and prosecute those responsible more effectively.
Treasury officials emphasized that cracking down on fraud — wherever it happens — is a key part of President Donald Trump’s agenda. A Treasury spokesperson told Newsmax that Secretary Bessent is focused on executing the president’s priorities and protecting taxpayers from crime and corruption that they describe as enabled by political opponents. The spokesperson also reiterated that the Treasury is committed to fighting what they call “rampant Somali fraud” in Minnesota and financial fraud elsewhere in the country.
In his recent State of the Union address, President Trump singled out Minnesota as an example of corruption that he believes is draining federal resources. Trump claimed that members of the Somali community in Minnesota were involved in taking billions of dollars from government programs. Trump’s rhetoric has drawn fierce criticism from many who say his comments unfairly target an ethnic group, but members of his administration have defended the focus on fraud as necessary to protect U.S. taxpayers.
The Washington Post story that sparked the controversy said that Hurley had told colleagues he did not agree with how the fraud crackdown was being planned and implemented, and that this disagreement was behind his decision to step down. That account also said some people within the department saw the plans as inefficient or politically motivated rather than effective. But Treasury officials and Hurley himself have disputed that portrayal.
Instead, officials say Hurley will not be leaving the administration entirely but may take on another senior role. They told Newsmax that he is in discussions with the White House about “an important new role” where they expect he will continue to support the administration’s work. This, they argued, shows that Hurley’s departure from his current job is not about a policy dispute but is instead part of a broader personnel shift.
Overall, the Treasury Department’s message to the public, as reported in the Newsmax article, is that there is broad agreement within the administration on the need for tougher fraud enforcement and that any reports of internal disagreement are inaccurate. Officials insist that cracking down on fraud and protecting taxpayers remain priorities, and that Hurley’s work on those issues is far from over.
