As scrutiny over alleged fraud in taxpayer-funded childcare programs widens, Washington State has emerged as the latest flashpoint, with independent journalists warning that government officials’ responses could chill investigative reporting.
Investigators and reporters say patterns seen in Minnesota are now raising questions in multiple states, highlighting broader concerns about oversight, accountability and the limits of press freedom when public funds are involved.
The dispute escalated after Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, a Democrat, released a public statement on X responding to reports that home-based daycare providers were being accused of fraud.
Brown said his office had “received outreach from members of the Somali community after reports of home-based daycare providers being harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking,” and noted coordination with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Brown warned that “showing up on someone’s porch, threatening, or harassing them isn’t an investigation” and warned against recording children who may be present in private homes.
He urged individuals who feel threatened to contact law enforcement or the state’s Hate Crimes & Bias Incident Hotline, emphasizing that allegations of fraud should only be addressed once they are “substantiated and verified by law enforcement and regulatory agencies.”
Critics said the remarks amounted to a warning—and in some cases a threat—to journalists whose reporting involves visiting state-licensed, taxpayer-funded daycare facilities.
The remarks sparked immediate backlash from journalists and commentators who argued that Brown’s language risked conflating routine reporting practices with criminal behavior.
Author Jesse Tevelow pushed back on the idea that knocking on a daycare’s door constitutes harassment.
“Knocking on the door of a daycare center with intent to enter and ask about the daycare and see the facility is absolutely not harassment,” Tevelow wrote on X. “It’s the most logical possible way to see if you’d want to send your kid there. Any daycare that won’t open its doors is extremely unusual behavior. Any reasonable person would find it strange.”
The debate intensified following reporting highlighted by Townhall involving journalist Cam Higby, who conducted in-person visits to state-licensed daycare facilities.
In one case, Higby and a decoy visited Dhagash Family Childcare, a home registered with the state to care for up to nine children.
When they rang the doorbell, a person speaking through a Ring camera denied the location was a daycare. State records, however, show the center collected approximately $210,000 in childcare payments this year.
Rather than focusing on discrepancies raised by such reporting, several media outlets turned their attention toward the journalists themselves.
CNN questioned the work of Minnesota-based journalist Nick Shirley, suggesting it lacked adequate editorial “fact checks” and “guardrails.”
That response drew criticism from commentators who argued that media organizations were deflecting from serious questions involving public funds.
Author and commentator David Klinghoffer warned that the implications of Brown’s statement could extend beyond Washington.
“This is obviously a threat and intimidation directed at independent reporters by the Washington State Attorney General,” Klinghoffer wrote on X. “He is framing their on-the-street journalism, which is uncovering vast fraud, as ‘harassment’ and a potential ‘hate crime.’”
The issue has since reached the federal level.
Harmeet Dhillon of the Trump administration’s Department of Justice issued a public warning to state officials, stating, “ANY state official who chills or threatens to chill a journalist’s 1A rights will have some ‘splainin to do. @CivilRights takes potential violations of 18 USC § 242 seriously!”
As similar allegations surface in multiple states, the clash between government officials and independent journalists underscores a growing national debate over transparency, press freedom and accountability—particularly when billions in taxpayer dollars flow through systems now facing intensified scrutiny.
