00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Governor, why didn't you tell the truth?
00:04Why didn't you just tell the truth about the Feeding Our Future program?
00:08This program, my understanding, received $3 million the first year.
00:11Within a couple years, it was getting $200 million of taxpayer money.
00:17Whistleblowers raised concerns, as the chairman said.
00:19Auditors raised concerns. Everybody raised concerns.
00:22March 30, 2021, the payments are stopped.
00:26And a little over a month later, the payments are restarted.
00:30Why didn't you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?
00:36Well, Chairman, we did tell you.
00:39And Feeding Our Future grew because of the pandemic.
00:42When asked that question, I said,
00:44why didn't you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?
00:47The payments stopped because there were concerns, obviously.
00:50We wouldn't stop the payments.
00:51Then they restarted a month later.
00:53What was the reason for restarting the payments?
00:55My understanding was the agency believed that the court had required them to make those payments.
01:03And that was false, wasn't it?
01:04You repeated that.
01:05I think that is...
01:05You said that, didn't you?
01:06I don't think...
01:07You said the reason you restarted is because the court ordered you to do so.
01:10Is that right?
01:11I don't believe that is settled yet, to the best of my knowledge.
01:16Well, I think it is.
01:17Because the court did something that I just don't...
01:20I don't know if I've ever seen it.
01:21They issued a statement saying you were wrong in what you were saying.
01:26This is from the court.
01:27It says,
01:37Here's what the judge says.
01:39Governor Tim Walz told the media that the Minnesota Department of Education attempted in-payments
01:43to FOF because of possible fraud, but that Judge Guthman ordered payments to continue in
01:49April 2021.
01:50Next sentence.
01:51That is false.
01:54So you said something that wasn't true.
01:55He further states this, Judge Guthman, the court says this, Judge Guthman never ordered
02:00the Department of Education to resume payments to Feeding Our Future in April 2021 or at any
02:05other time.
02:09So I want to know, why didn't you tell the truth?
02:11Congressman, the attorneys at the Department of Education interpreted that differently.
02:15Both of those judges are no longer on the bench, and I think that interpretation...
02:19Let me just read the very first sentence, the first seven words.
02:23This is not some unnamed source talking to the New York Times.
02:26This is not some anonymous source talking to whatever your Minnesota Star Tribune or whatever
02:31your paper is.
02:32This is the court speaking.
02:35First sentence, first seven words.
02:37Due to inaccurate statements by the governor, Ramsey County District Court judge has issued
02:44and authorized that this following news released.
02:47That's pretty straightforward.
02:48So the court's lying?
02:51I can't tell you, Congressman, but the interpretation was...
02:54Well, somebody's lying.
02:54Somebody's lying.
02:55Because you can't say the court ordered you to restart the payments, and then the court says
02:59we didn't order you to restart the payments.
03:01So either you're lying or the court's lying.
03:04And I'm just asking you, which one is it?
03:06I just simply know what the attorneys at the agency believed that it was a misinterpretation.
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