Vance Speech Uses Milwaukee Case To Sell Trump’s Fraud Agenda

Vice President JD Vance at the 128th Air Refueling Wing. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Vice President JD Vance arrived in Milwaukee on Wednesday with a message that the Trump administration is focused on cleaning up rampant fraud in federal programs and that voters should reward Republicans with their votes in the fall.

He was also visiting to raise thousands of dollars for the Republican Party.

“We have a party that is fighting for fraud and a party fighting against fraud,” said Vance, claiming that any Democratic vote against a Republican proposal related to fraud prevention is a vote in favor of fraud.

The vice president, who was appointed in March to lead the Trump administration’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, highlighted multiple programs in which cases of fraud have been identified, including a Medicare program to perform skin transplants for which the federal government began denying 96% of claims after they surged by 7,100% in a six-year period.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees,” said Vance. He said he was focused on eliminating fraud to ensure funding for those who need it.

Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, spoke before Vance and also highlighted the issue with a poster board graph he presented.

Vance spoke in a hangar at the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing on the west side of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. But while people waited more than an hour after the pre-program lineup in the non-air-conditioned hangar for Vance, he was attending a Republican National Committee fundraiser at the Pfister Hotel. The event had a $10,000-per-couple entry fee, a $35,000 price for a photo and $100,000 to be labeled a host.

Vance, in his remarks, singled out Reps. Bryan Steil, Derrick Van Orden, Tom Tiffany, Glenn Grothman and Tony Wied, as well as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy‘s son-in-law Michael Alfonso, who is running to replace Tiffany.

Vance said an investigation was underway by the U.S. Department of Labor into the use of H-1B visas, which provide a pathway for companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers.

“American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters and the Department of Labor is fighting back against them,” he said.

Several speakers at the event, including Vance, referenced the case of Markita Barnes. But Barnes was indicted by the administration of President Joe Biden nearly three years before Vance’s task force was created.

Barnes was the owner and operator of Milwaukee-based Here For You Prenatal Care Coordination Services LLC, which she used to bill Wisconsin’s Medicaid program for prenatal care services to at-risk pregnant women and mothers that were minimally provided or not provided at all, stealing $2.3 million, prosecutors said.

She was first indicted in June 2023 by a Biden appointee. Prosecutors said she advertised the scheme on Facebook and offered kickbacks to enrollees starting in October 2020, running through at least December 2021. Following a two-week trial last November, a federal jury convicted Barnes on 10 counts of health care fraud, three counts of false statements related to health care matters, three counts of anti-kickback violations, one count of attempting to obstruct a health care fraud investigation, one count of money laundering and two counts of aggravated identity theft. In March, Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper sentenced her to more than 10 years in prison, plus forfeiture and restitution of $2.4 million. Barnes, as several speakers noted, spent her illegitimate gains on luxury items, like purses and a car. Vance stood next to a picture of her.

In response to a question, Vance said he supported the joint state-federal investigation that brought down Barnes, but he also said the Trump administration would go after states that do not provide data it wants.

Gov. Tony Evers is one of several governors who have refused to provide the SNAP food assistance and voter data rolls requested by Trump. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul joined a lawsuit suing the Trump administration over the demand.

A June 2026 pardon and clemency tracker, led by the State of California, lists President Donald Trump as having granted clemency to individuals convicted of more than $1.6 billion in Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Vance on Iran, elections

Vance, during his speech, did not mention the war in Iran, which Trump previously appointed him to help negotiate a peace settlement. Trump, earlier Wednesday, said a cease-fire was “over” and attacks could restart.

But it was the first question reporters asked of Vance. The vice president said the United States would attack Iran “until they open up that lane and stop shooting at ships, it’s that simple.”

Vance was also asked about the Trump administration’s claim of election fraud in Wisconsin and Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s invitation to tour the city’s election operation and meet with the city’s election administrators.

“He’s welcome to come to Washington, D.C. I’ll sit down and meet with him,” said Vance. “I will say, it was a little bit of ‘he doth protest too much.'” He said his son recently said that he didn’t steal cookies without being questioned, which Vance said was a giveaway that he had.

Numerous investigations found no evidence of appreciable election fraud in the 2020 election.

“If Democrats want us to stop talking about election fraud, I will make them a simple deal: pass the SAVE America Act and give us voter ID,” said Vance. Wisconsin already has a voter ID requirement.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany spoke during a pre-program lineup. He said as governor he would audit all of state government. “We need the Democrats to stop turning that blind eye to fraud, but the main reason we need to root out fraud is we are generous people here in Wisconsin. … That is why we need to protect taxpayer dollars, that’s why we need to root out that fraud, is to make sure that those who truly deserve to be on these programs benefit from those programs,” he said.

Additional pre-program speeches were given by congressional representatives Van Orden and Steil and state senator Julian Bradley.

Spotted in the crowd were Reps. Wied and Grothman, Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Brian Schimming, Alfonso, state Sens. Dan Feyen and Rob Hutton, state Reps. Chuck Wichgers and Robert Wittke, the Republican designee to the Milwaukee Election Commission Doug Haag, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Will Martin, Milwaukee County Republican Party Chair Hilario Deleon, perennial congressional candidate Tim Rogers, one-time East Side aldermanic candidate Bryant Junco and Republican activist Chris Lawrence.

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