Nick Shirley Attacked by Candace Owens

In her latest video, "Why I Don’t Trust Nick Shirley," Candace Owens has decided that Nick Shirley, the independent journalist whose investigations have triggered congressional hearings, FBI raids, and the freezing of $185 million in federal childcare funding, is a government psyop.

Owens questioned Nick's credibility. She called his reporting "stupid," described his work as a "psyop," and told her audience to watch his videos "with caution." She also speculated that the CIA was involved in his recent trip to Cuba. Owens said Nick is "being pushed upon us for some reason" and that she finds "everything about him to be suspicious."

Owens first criticized Nick in late March, after playing a clip where he explained how he gained access to Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's largest gangs, in just two days to film inside a Rio favela. If you haven’t seen the full video you should watch it below.

She said she didn't believe his story, called it "so dumb," and mocked Nick as a "nice looking white boy" who couldn't have done it. She compared him to Sean Penn and said that no one just walks into a favela with a camera and gets that kind of access. She then brought up Nick's trip to Cuba, where he reported on communist rule crisis and said Cuban agents tried to detain him, and she linked this to possible CIA involvement. Owens also got personal, saying she has "family reunions Nick Shirley couldn't infiltrate and survive" and calling him "sheltered."

Over the past six months, Nick has released investigations that have gained hundreds of millions of views, with his Minnesota daycare fraud video alone accounting for 138 million of those. He testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Federal agents have since executed search warrants at roughly 20 childcare centers in Minneapolis. California is actively trying to pass legislation that would restrict the kind of investigative work he does. He has traveled to El Salvador, Brazil, Cuba, and across the United States, under serious security threats that require a security detail. All while Owens suggests that none of Nick's work is real.

People who actually go into the field and take risks often get criticized by those who don't. Gavin Newsom has attacked Nick. Ilhan Omar has pushed back against subpoenas related to the fraud he uncovered. California lawmakers have introduced a bill targeting his style of journalism. Now, Candace Owens is suggesting he's a fed.

Her audience appears unconvinced. Nick's response post received significantly more engagement, and the comment sections across YouTube and X contained numerous criticisms of her perspective. Several commentators, including Tim Pool, also questioned Owens' statements. Maybe because, well…she’s wrong.

Nick hasn't said much about the feud besides his first tweet. He talked about it briefly on the PBD Podcast, brushed it off, and said that real journalists leave the studio and take risks.

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Vice President JD Vance held a press conference yesterday, May 13 with CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to announce the task force's strongest anti-fraud enforcement measures since its formation in March. Watch the full conference below on the White House X account.

$1.4 billion in federal funding has been withheld from home health and hospice providers nationwide after the task force suspended certain providers for suspected fraud in California, Minnesota, and other states. Of those suspended, 90% did not contact CMS to dispute the action, provide records, or seek legal counsel. Federal officials interpret this lack of response as significant.

Vance also announced that CMS is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California, marking the largest deferral to date. He stated that California "has not taken fraud very seriously" and that taxpayers are bearing the cost of the state's negligence. Oz described fraud in hospice and home health as "systemic and deeply troubling." He reported findings of Russian government involvement in Los Angeles, a Chinese government-linked fraud ring in New York, and a Cuban network in South Florida, where providers allegedly leave the country with funds when investigations begin.

CMS has implemented a six-month nationwide freeze on new hospice and home health agency enrollments in Medicare. Existing providers remain unaffected. During this period, CMS will use advanced analytics to more quickly identify and remove suspicious providers. Oz noted that a similar moratorium was previously instituted by Clinton. The task force also sent letters to all 50 states, requiring proof of active Medicaid fraud prosecution. Vance stated that states unable to demonstrate enforcement will lose federal funding for their Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

The numbers are hard to comprehend. CMS estimates that in 2025 alone, $57 billion in Medicare payments and $37 billion in Medicaid payments were classified as "improper," totaling nearly $94 billion in one year. In Los Angeles, 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies have been suspended, with estimated theft exceeding $600 million. California's attorney general recently arrested five individuals in connection with an alleged $267 million Medi-Cal hospice scheme.s' disappearance as meaningful when operations are suspended, and funding is withheld.

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David Hoch is the person who gathered the data behind Nick Shirley's Minnesota investigation. Before the videos went viral, before federal raids, and before Congress got involved, Hoch was in the Twin Cities collecting spreadsheets, following the money, and recording what he saw. This week, Anti Fraud Club interviewed him for the first edition of On the Record. Watch the full interview below.

David didn't get involved by accident. He spent years doing research before contacting Nick. When they finally spoke on the phone, David said he planned to make two videos in Minnesota and that they would be Nick's biggest yet. He was right, although even he didn't expect the videos to reach hundreds of millions of views or end up on the President's desk.

The investigation began with childcare fraud for a deliberate reason. Hoch saw that Americans paying $2,000 a month for daycare would connect with it. However, he soon shifted focus, clarifying that childcare isn't the main issue. Instead, he believes non-emergency medical transportation is central in Minnesota. He estimates more than 800 Somali-owned NEMT companies exist. With about 20 vehicles per company, each earning around $70,000 yearly, the fraudulent totals escalate quickly. Many fraudulent programs, like autism services, adult daycare, or childcare, all rely on transportation. Fake patients require fake rides.

When David spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Senator Ted Cruz, last February, Cruz asked him to estimate the total fraud. He said it was at least $30 billion, and if you go back to 1988, it could be $80 to $100 billion. Some people thought he was exaggerating. Later, Dr. Oz said he believes the fraud in Minnesota alone is $100 billion. David has offered $100,000 to anyone who can prove his data wrong. No one has claimed the reward.

David has also followed the money after it leaves the country. His research shows that wire payments go to Saudi Arabia and Kenya, not straight to Somalia. The Somali community avoids sending money directly because Somalia is not part of the international banking system. Once the money reaches these other countries, it enters the hawala banking network, making it hard to trace. After he testified in the Senate, the former U.S. ambassador to Kenya told him they are tracking the money and want it returned.

When asked what he would change to stop the fraud, David pointed to the banks. He has urged the federal government to target the financial institutions that handled these transactions, where tellers saw people withdraw $30,000 to $50,000 in cash each week without reporting it. He believes stopping the financial system is the only way to end the fraud at its source.

This work has come at a personal cost for David. He has lost friends and family members because of it. Some people he was close to for years no longer talk to him. In our conversation, he shared something publicly for the first time: he has lived with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome for almost 15 years. CRPS is considered the most painful chronic condition on the McGill Pain Scale, and there is no cure. He said he could have gone on disability years ago, but that is not his way. Instead, he uses the pain to drive his work forward.

David is not stopping. He continues to work with government agencies on active cases and plans to release his own video to show that fraud not only costs taxpayers money but also harms the communities it affects. He wants to start filming at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, where his parents are buried, to make a point he believes more Americans need to hear: this fraud dishonors everyone who came before us and built this country.