YouTuber Behind Controversial Minnesota Fraud Video To Speak At CPAC | EUROtoday

Far-right influencer Nick Shirley has accepted an invite from the Conservative Political Action Conference to talk on the group’s 2026 occasion in Grapevine, Texas, later this month.

“CPAC is proud to announce that independent journalist and conservative influencer Nick Shirley is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28,” CPAC wrote in a publish to X on Monday.

Shirley didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The 23-year-old influencer gained recognition in conservative circles late final 12 months following a viral YouTube video of his that made doubtful claims about alleged fraud involving Minnesota’s Somali group.

“This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes,” Vice President JD Vance wrote of Shirley in a publish on X on the time.

“MINNESOTA FRAUDSTERS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! The videos from Nick Shirley have shed tremendous light on the situation in Minnesota, and the Department of Justice will continue to lead the effort to identify and prosecute fraud,” the official White House X account posted in January.

The video reveals Shirley making an attempt to go to what he claims are largely empty daycare amenities within the better Minneapolis space, claiming he needed to enroll a baby for daycare. He then lobs questions at alleged workers about failing to offer daycare companies regardless of receiving federal funds to take action. Shirley later claimed to have uncovered $110 million in fraud.

Following Shirley’s questionable investigation, the Trump administration froze federal funding for little one care in Minnesota and deployed 2,000 federal troops to the state as a part of its immigration crackdown, CNN reported in January.

However, most of the amenities featured in Shirley’s video had been audited, in keeping with Tikki Brown, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

“Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the last six months as part of our typical licensing process,” Brown stated throughout a digital press convention addressing Shirley’s claims. “There have been ongoing investigations with several of those centers. None of those investigations uncovered findings of fraud.”

Brown questioned the timeframe of Shirley’s visits to the daycare amenities and whether or not he did so throughout regular working hours.

Additionally, impartial information outlet The nineteenth reported the workplace of the Minnesota Inspector General carried out unannounced compliance visits to 9 of the ten daycare facilities featured in Shirley’s video, discovering all however one had been working usually, with kids in attendance.

As for the opposite two amenities proven within the video, one had not but opened for enterprise that day when state inspectors visited, and the opposite had been closed for a number of years and hadn’t acquired any federal cash throughout that point, in keeping with The nineteenth.

Since the video, Shirley has testified earlier than Congress and launched one other “investigation” into voter fraud in California. He was additionally introduced as a visitor to the State of the Union by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.)