Advertise on podcast: Liz Collin Reports

Send us Fan Mail Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, spoke with Liz Collin about the ongoing efforts for accountability and the fight against fraud in Minnesota and beyond. The National Fraud Enforcement Division has only been up and running for a little more than 200 days. However, McDonald explained that, “in the last about 115 days, there's been around 990 months of cumulative sentences handed out to 13 fraudsters in Minnesota from cases that the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Fraud Division have been working on for some time." Collin asked the question that so many people in the Alpha News audience have been asking: will elected officials ever be held accountable? McDonald explained that the Fraud Enforcement Division has been "building our apparatus of fraud prosecutors and agents to ensure that we are bringing accountability to the full field of culpable criminal actors there in Minnesota." Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Author Paul Wessel spoke with Liz Collin about "The Nolte 36" — the almost unbelievable story of the 36 cousins in his family who served in World War II and survived. His book, "They All Came Home," explains how they served with humility, honor, and a sense of honest values during one of the most challenging times in our nation's history. Wessel spoke about how his relatives immigrated from Germany and settled in Fairmont, Minn., in the late 1800s. Their descendants would later serve in WWII and survived more than a few harrowing moments during the war. One of his relatives flew more than 30 missions over France and Germany as a B-24 bomber pilot — and was hit with flack during his last one. “I think at this point in our country we're looking for hope. We're looking for models that we can reflect on and say, what does integrity look like? What does humility look like?" Wessel said.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Two longtime Minnesota Democrats are voting for Republicans for the very first time this election. The newfound Republican voters, Margie Simon and Anthony Walsh, joined Liz Collin on her podcast. Simon and Walsh explained their reasons for making the switch this election — and their concerns for the future of Minnesota. Simon explained that, "What we're seeing the DFL-DSA party evolve into is one that focuses on ideology rather than expertise. So we're getting a lot of people in offices who really aren't experienced and lack the expertise to do what they're doing." Meanwhile, Walsh said, "I think that we have the opportunity to really send a message to the rest of the country that fraud is unacceptable and that the buck does stop with our elected officials.” Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ten years ago, Praya Samsundar was working at Alpha News when she began investigating allegations that U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar married her brother.  Ten years have passed and an official investigation is now finally underway. However, Samsundar — who was one of the first to break the scandal — remains the only reporter to ever receive a response from Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the man at the center of the story.  Samsundar joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about the striking differences — and strange similarities — between then and now along with some of the other controversies surrounding Omar. "I believe that the reporting that we did 10 years ago was really the loose thread that once authorities started pulling on it, things started to unravel and folks realized that this was probably much bigger than anyone would have imagined,” said Samsundar. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Scott Jensen, the GOP endorsed candidate for Minnesota state auditor and a lifelong Minnesotan, joined Liz Collin on her podcast.  “Every day I make diagnoses and I make prognoses. And honestly, if I were to make a diagnosis of Minnesota's situation today, I would say we have an existential crisis in Minnesota," Dr. Jensen said. "I think most Minnesotans realize that the path forward has to look dramatically different than the last eight years," he explained.  He also highlighted some concerns in his opponent’s record and said he has “a fair amount to answer for.” "20 years of unchecked power in the state auditor's role has done nothing for Minnesota,” Jensen said. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail David Hoch, the fraud researcher featured in Nick Shirley's viral videos about suspected fraud in Minnesota, spoke with Liz Collin on her podcast. Hoch, who hasn't stopped investigating fraud in all its forms in Minnesota and beyond, says now is a pivotal time in America — especially with the midterm elections coming up. He spoke about some of the latest issues he’s investigating, how his family has disowned him, and how Minnesotans and Americans are standing "at that fork in the road." "You gotta decide ... either with me and you support what I do, or you're against me and you oppose what I do — and you support fraud and you support the destruction of our country," Hoch said. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail John Nagel, the Republican nominee who is running against Ilhan Omar for the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s Fifth District, joined Liz Collin on her podcast. In speaking about Omar's congressional record — and the controversies swirling around her and her citizenship status — Nagel did not mince words “She is the most anti-American person that I've ever met in my entire life. I can't believe that somebody like this was elected to represent Minnesota of all places. How did this happen?” he said.  He also explained how "people that have voted Democrat in the past have come out and said, I'm gonna vote for you. They want security, they want enforcement. They're tired of being lied to, they are tired of their taxes going up." However, Nagel also highlighted the need to put party politics aside. “I wish people would quit saying Democrat and Republican. I wish they'd just say Minnesotan," Nagel said. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Cristine Trooien, the executive director of Minnesota Partnership for Achievement, joined Liz Collin on her podcast. Trooien founded the Minnesota Parents Alliance and has been advocating for better public education for years. With school board candidates supporting socialism, the Pledge for Transliberation, and other "ideological priorities," Trooien explained how the future of Minnesota will be decided in the upcoming school district elections. "It is disappointing, it's stunning, and it doesn't need to be this way," Trooien said in discussing the situation before the upcoming school board elections. She also pointed out how the Minnesota Parents Alliance provides an important voting guide — available on MinnesotaParents.org. The guide can help voters choose the right school board members who can best manage "the most consequential decisions" for "students and tax dollars,” Trooien said. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Undersheriff Mike Martin of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office spoke with Liz Collin on her podcast about the undeniable problems with Somali gangs and Somali gang violence. Undersheriff Martin, who is also the Vice-President of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association and a gang expert with more than 30 years of experience, spoke about how some elected officials — including Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty — seem to be ignoring the problem instead of taking action to stop the problem.  "Mary Moriarty does not want to confront the issue and she has an agenda that's very different than the agenda that we have to assure public safety," Undersheriff Martin said. "Social media really drives a lot of the problems that we're having," Martin said, explaining how Somali gang members "taunt each other, they brag about the stuff they're doing. Within minutes of shootings and violent events, they're posting it on social media making fun of the victim side." Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Republican nominee for governor, spoke with Liz Collin about fighting fraud and hypocrisy, and what it takes to win in November.  Demuth pointed out that the first time her opponent, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, talked about the widespread fraud in Minnesota "was after she had entered the race.”  “Minnesotans need to take that as a warning,” Demuth said.  "Anytime Democrats here in the state of Minnesota are talking about anything other than their hand in the record fraud ... it means they're trying to grab a headline,” Demuth added. Demuth’s anti-fraud plan calls for mandatory prison time and lifetime bans on welfare benefits and overseas money transfers for fraudsters. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Weston Rolf, the mayor of Oak Grove, Minnesota, spoke with Liz Collin on her podcast about how the city recently won a "David versus Goliath" battle for election integrity to use paper voter rolls — instead of electronic ones — in the upcoming election in November. "I'm not looking for convenience as mayor, I'm looking to build trust and integrity in our election process. And if that means we have to do more work in order to do that, I'm fine doing that,” Rolf said.  Other cities and counties have reached out to Rolf about how they can also switch to paper voter rolls. Alpha News contacted the Secretary of State's Office and a representative stated that there is no "deadline for when a municipality may choose to switch from electronic rosters to paper rosters" but also "encouraged counties to connect with municipalities as soon as possible." Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Matt Schmid, the public affairs director of Rural America and Security, Midwest at the America First Policy Institute, spoke with Liz Collin about the shocking amount of fraud involving SNAP benefits. Schmid talked about some of the high-profile cases of fraudsters driving luxury cars, sending millions overseas — and still receiving food stamps.  "Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for $130 million in new state spending as part of a cost share that Minnesota and other states who are not managing their program well,” Schmid explained.  “Any given welfare program, any given public assistance program, is only as good as the folks who manage it. Leadership matters,” he added. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Bob Peterson spoke with Liz Collin about how his wife Jan was shot six times while working at Loring Towers in MInneapolis — and her miraculous survival. Peterson said there were plenty of warning signs that were ignored for months before the shooting took place. Peterson also spoke about the hypocrisy of elected officials, like Mayor Jacob Frey, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, and others who claim that Minneapolis is safe and that "crime is down." “It's just pure lies all the time. Like I said, I'll meet Mary out there and we'll go walk around about one in the morning and make sure we don't have any guards or guns with us and take a stroll around … and see how much they think it's safe, because it's just not true,” said Peterson. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Becka Thompson, a former Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner and former candidate for Minneapolis City Council, spoke with Liz Collin about the out of control problem with unlicensed food vendors in Minneapolis. Thompson also spoke about the politicians who have been apparently encouraging the problem or turning a blind eye to it. “The amount of laws that are broken ... the massive amounts of the fire codes being violated, the business codes being violated — it's obscene what's being allowed to happen,” Thompson said.  “I mean, dumping grease into our stormwater system, like I don't even know where to begin on that,” she added. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Grant Morgan, a former therapist in Minnesota’s autism program, spoke with Liz Collin about what he calls "fraudulent autism centers,” including one operated by Nimco Ahmed — a “friend” of Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. Morgan worked at both Spectrum Therapy Center and Milestone Development Center. According to state records, Ahmed is listed as the CEO of the Milestone Development Center. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) confirmed it has open investigations into both centers. DHS said it cannot provide further details on open investigations. Both centers denied any wrongdoing in interviews with Alpha News.  Morgan said he worked with "people completely unqualified to do the work." Support the show