This July, a video appeared on the influencer Nick Shirley’s YouTube channel with Dr. Mehmet Oz outlining a supposed “Billion Dollar Fraud Scheme.” It was a strange choice for the head of U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The video features Oz roaming around Queens with the self-described “independent citizen journalist” claiming — without a formal investigation or inspection — that “Korean and Chinese mafias” are stealing American taxpayer dollars by opening businesses that bill Medicaid for nonexistent services. “These guys grow like vermin,” Oz says at one point, standing outside an apartment complex in Flushing, where he alleges immigrant-run fake-medical-supply companies are housed. Outside an adult-day-care center, where the pair loiter, Oz says the business is a “clubhouse for criminals.”

In the past, such a partnership might be considered unusual. High-level bureaucrats have long peacocked by announcing major cases. But they often did so by outlining probes and police-led crackdowns that can take years to develop at press conferences. In the second Trump administration, there has been a shift. Officials like Oz have attacked fraud less like prosecutors and more like influencers — often using Shirley’s work as a model or collaborating with him outright.

A 24-year-old from suburban Utah, Shirley made his name in 2025 from a viral video. In it, he door-knocked Somali-operated day-care centers in Minneapolis attempting to enroll his fictional son, “Little Joey.” Many of the day cares did not appear to have any children; Shirley alleged Somali immigrants were lying to obtain government aid. Fraud in Minnesota’s welfare programs had been documented before. It’d been covered in the news and debated in local elections. Federal prosecutors were already in the midst of a trial. But Shirley made the ongoing scandal into content usable in modern politics.

His video was viewed millions of times, mostly on X, and enthusiastically boosted by Elon Musk. It helped back up the Trump administration’s ongoing attack on Minnesota governor Tim Walz and the state’s Somali community. Trump had called Walz “seriously retarded” and said Somalis were “garbage” that he did not want in the country. Facing criticism that the fraud had been an “open secret” in his administration, Walz called off his reelection campaign for governor. Shortly after, the Trump administration descended on Minneapolis, sending thousands of ICE agents to the city as part of Operation Metro Surge. It cited Shirley’s video in a statement where it vowed to unleash “a relentless assault to dismantle the massive fraud” in the state.

A former YouTube prankster inspired by Logan Paul, Shirley had begun making politics videos only two years earlier after he returned from a mission trip for the Church of Latter Day Saints in Santiago, Chile. But he has since become enmeshed in the right — and especially helpful as the GOP looks to talk up fraud before elections in November. This year, a Republican Congress member brought Shirley as a guest of honor to the State of the Union; another nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal. He has become a regular on Fox News, conservative podcasts, and testified before the House and Senate. To help boost candidates for the midterms, Shirley was invited to Republican state dinners (in Illinois, in New Mexico). Vice-President J.D. Vance said he had “done far more useful journalism” than any Pulitzer Prize winners that year.

“Someone like Nick Shirley, who has a background in influencing and is comfortable navigating these social-media platforms, is a really useful tool,” said Nicole Huyer, a senior research associate at the Heritage Foundation, who compared Shirley’s use of social media to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s.

The White House has paid special attention to Shirley’s rise. In November, Shirley received the Citizen Journalist of the Year award in a ceremony at Mar-a-Lago. And in March, the White House rolled out the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vance and inspired by Shirley’s work. The unit’s remit is in theory to root out “waste.” But it has also been about government officials making their own Shirley-esque content.

No one has done so more than Dr. Oz. During his tenure at CMS, the former daytime-talk-show staple has redefined the role of administrator from an unglamorous bureaucrat to a public-facing anti-fraud influencer. Oz has multiple new........

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