Snap

Trump administration claims food aid fraud but critics say ‘there’s no evidence’

The Trump administration’s attack on the 87-year-old food aid program that supports tens of millions of low-income Americans escalated last week as the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, claimed that 14,000 Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (Snap) recipients included owners of luxury vehicles such as Ferraris, Bentleys and Teslas.Critics charge that the broadside is part of a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining a benefit relied on by some of the most vulnerable people in the US.Rollins did not cite the unnamed state or where this data and its claims came from, but it went viral among conservatives on social media with Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Tim Burchett, and actor James Woods quoting the post. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the $57bn program, would not comment on the record and would not verify Rollins’ claims, which stem from an analysis by the Foundation for Government Accountability, an organization that has long advocated for cutting and reducing Snap and other federal government benefits.The report cites its conclusions stem from 2023 data obtained by an unnamed contractor from an anonymous state. It does not provide any information on the alleged Snap recipients or how their identities were matched