Democratic AGs snub Vance’s White House anti-fraud roundtable

Democratic state attorneys general declined an invitation to Vice President JD Vance‘s anti-fraud initiatives roundtable at the White House on Tuesday, citing the fact that they were only invited on Friday, days after their Republican counterparts were asked to attend.

“While we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in serious discussions, the invitation was provided with less than one business day’s notice with no agenda,” the 24 AGs wrote Vance in a letter dated Tuesday.

“This short notice does not match the spirit of collaboration that has long defined our joint efforts with federal partners,” the letter said. “Accordingly, we respectfully decline to attend at this time.”

Among the AGs who declined to attend is Keith Ellison of Minnesota, whose state has been the focus of Trump administration actions targeting alleged Medicaid fraud schemes involving day care centers.

Some of the Democratic AGs scheduled a press conference about the situation for 4:15 p.m. ET, Tuesday, about two hours after the roundtable is scheduled to begin at the White House.

A person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk about non-public details of the event, told CNBC that Tuesday’s event was originally planned only for Republican AGs, but that Vance personally said it would be a shame if Democrats did not participate. That person said the offices of multiple Democratic AGs would be represented at the event by their chiefs of staff or principal deputy AGs.

“This should not be a partisan effort,” Vance said at the beginning of the event.

“Everybody should care about fraud. Everybody should care about rooting out fraud,” Vance said. “Everybody should care about saving the American taxpayers money, and importantly, everybody should care about actually protecting the programs that only work and are only properly funded.”

The vice president also said that representatives from office of the AGs of Connecticut and Oregon were in attendance.

Politico first reported the decision by the Democratic AGs not to attend and their letter to Vance, who President Donald Trump in March appointed as chairman of the new Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

In addition to Vance, the event is expected to include Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who is vice chair of the task force.

As of Monday, 16 Republican AGs had said they would attend.

In their letter to Vance, the Democratic AGs said, “We are committed to stopping fraud, waste, and abuse in all government programs across our states, and are proud of our continued partnership with the federal government in this mission.”

“The social safety net is critical — especially given today’s affordability crisis — and we are dedicated to ensuring these crucial programs operate with integrity and…