Rep. Thomas Massie and journalist Nick Shirley are feuding over daycare fraud on social media, as the Trump administration expands a crackdown on taxpayer-funded daycare scams from Minnesota to New York.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and investigative journalist Nick Shirley are trading public barbs over daycare fraud, with Massie questioning Shirley's credibility and Shirley firing back that his work has exposed billion-dollar scams and produced arrests. The exchange erupted on social media Saturday, just as federal agencies expand a crackdown on taxpayer-funded daycare programs that investigators say have been drained by fraud rings from Minnesota to New York.
Massie, a libertarian Republican who lost his primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger, took aim at Shirley after the journalist released a video accusing New York officials of staying silent over alleged fraud in social adult daycare centers. Rather than engage the specific allegations, Massie turned the spotlight on Shirley himself.
"Hard to take Nick Shirley seriously until he starts calling out Johnson, Thune, and Trump for funding the daycare fraud in every Omnibus and CR bill with no guardrails," Massie wrote on X, pointing at Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate GOP leader John Thune.
Shirley did not back down. He dismissed the jab as pointless and defended his record, writing that his investigations have "exposed billion-dollar fraud industries, cut funding, stopped billions of dollars from being sent out in the future, and led to prosecutions and arrests."
The clash began after Shirley posted a video on August 13 accusing Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City officials of going silent over daycare operators who receive millions in taxpayer dollars. Shirley alleged those operators have donated to Hochul's campaigns while their Medicaid-funded businesses expanded.
Shirley's New York investigation, released in July, claimed more than $190 million in fraud tied to social adult daycare centers and home care scams in Queens. He was joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), who called the operation's billing patterns "major red flags."
The pair focused on facilities that federal payment records show bill Medicaid for thousands of members. One center, Sunrise Senior Service, appeared in CMS data with 7,899 registered members and roughly $12.9 million in Medicaid payments for 2024. When Shirley confronted staff, an employee denied having anywhere near that many members. At roughly $1,600 per patient, the numbers drew immediate scrutiny.
Queens social adult daycares generate about $2.1 billion annually, according to the investigation. Shirley's team documented kickbacks to seniors -- cash and gifts for attending centers that offered little more than ping pong, tai chi, and board games -- along with pharmacies and medical equipment suppliers operating out of residential apartments with no visible inventory.
Federal prosecutors were already working the same neighborhood. In February, the Justice Department charged Inwoo Kim, owner of Royal Adult Daycare and Happy Life Inc., and Daniel Lee, a program director, in connection with an alleged $120 million Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme. Prosecutors said Kim paid bribes -- cash and supermarket gift certificates -- to beneficiaries to fill prescriptions and accept services they did not need.
The New York fight is the latest chapter in a fraud saga Shirley first exposed in Minnesota last December. His video alleging widespread fraud at publicly funded daycare centers went viral, and the Trump administration responded swiftly. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) froze more than $185 million in child care funding until providers could prove they were legitimate businesses.
That freeze has held. As of this month, Shirley says, not a single center has been able to demonstrate legitimacy. Federal prosecutions followed: Fahima Mahamud, owner of Future Leaders Early Learning Center in Minneapolis, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and conspiracy, admitting she filed more than $4.6 million in false claims through the Child Care Assistance Program and collected another $850,000 through Feeding Our Future, the pandemic food program that bilked taxpayers out of $250 million.
Feeding Our Future's ringleader, Aimee Bock, was sentenced in May to four decades in prison for what prosecutors called one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country. More than 60 people have been convicted in Minnesota fraud cases, with over 90 facing charges and losses estimated between $250 million and $1 billion.
Massie's broader point -- that Congress keeps funding daycare programs without guardrails -- has drawn attention in both parties, even as the administration argues it is building the safeguards Massie says are missing. HHS has required states to provide payment receipts and photographic evidence before receiving child care funds, ordered audits, and stood up a fraud hotline. Attorney General Pam Bondi has warned that more prosecutions are coming.
Shirley has been pressing the New York side, questioning whether campaign contributions from daycare operators influenced the official response. State records show operators linked to the centers donated tens of thousands of dollars to Hochul's campaigns, including thousands in 2022 as their Medicaid-funded operations grew. No charges have been filed against the governor or the operators based on those contributions alone.
For Massie, the fight carries political stakes of its own. He lost the May 19 primary to Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL endorsed by President Trump, in what was the most expensive House primary in history. He has since filed paperwork for a potential 2028 run and remains one of the loudest voices in Congress pressing for spending cuts and aggressive fraud enforcement.
The feud between the congressman and the journalist is unlikely to be the last word. With frozen funds, open grand juries, and a national spotlight on daycare billing, the crackdown Massie demanded and the administration is delivering will keep producing news -- and, if Shirley's track record holds, more arrests.
Rep. Thomas Massie and journalist Nick Shirley are feuding over daycare fraud on social media, as the Trump administration expands a crackdown on taxpayer-funded daycare scams from Minnesota to New York.
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