Attorneys general criticized the vice president for reaching out to their Republican colleagues days before their “afterthought” invitations.
MANHATTAN (CN) – More than two dozen Democratic attorneys general skipped Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud roundtable on Tuesday after claiming they were invited at the last minute and days later than their Republican counterparts.
In one paper to Vance provided by Courthouse News, the states said they have a “strong and ongoing commitment to fighting fraud in all its forms,” but that their invitations, which came Friday, were simply too late.
“While we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in serious discussions, the invitation was issued with less than one business day’s notice without an agenda,” the state Attorney General wrote. “This short notice is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that has long defined our joint efforts with federal partners. Therefore, we respectfully decline to participate at this time.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the state leaders who signed Tuesday’s letter, blasted Vance’s last-minute roundtable invitations as a “political stunt by the White House intended to divide our nation and pit our parties and states against each other.”
“The short notice we were given sends a clear message that we were either an afterthought or we weren’t really welcome,” Bonta said.
He added that an official from the California Department of Justice was “literally turned in the door” after she “changed her schedule and gave up her holiday weekend” to make the trip to Washington, DC.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who also signed the letter, said at the joint press conference that her deputy attorney general was also denied access to the meeting.
“Stopping fraud and abuse is not a political issue,” she said, complaining that Republican state attorneys general were the only ones to receive the initial invitations.
Only 15 state attorneys general attended Tuesday’s meeting hosted by Vance, who has become a key figure in the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud.
President Donald Trump appointed Vance to lead those efforts in March after signing an executive order creating a federal task force specifically aimed at targeting fraud. But that order has been criticized for targeting immigrant communities — especially amid the administration’s apology. some high profile fraudsters.
Despite arguments from the 24 Democratic attorneys general outlined in the letter, Vance defended bipartisanship during his opening remarks.
“We will work together, the state and federal governments, to try to combat fraud,” the vice president said. “I’m especially pleased here that this is not a partisan effort. I believe we have some representation from the attorney generals in Connecticut and Oregon.”
The meeting focused on curbing Medicaid fraud, an effort that state Democrats say has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services. Those cuts, the states claim, “risk exacerbating the very challenges” Vance claims to combat with his task force.
“Our states currently lack the HHS inspectors general to meet our efforts,” the states wrote in the letter. “A strong federal-state partnership, supported by adequate and consistent resources and coordination, has helped to effectively prevent, detect and prosecute fraud.”
James said that between 2019 and 2025, New York recovered more than $627 million by stopping Medicaid fraud in the state. That effort has been made more difficult by federal funding cuts, she said.
“We cannot fight Medicaid fraud with one arm tied behind our backs while at the same time the federal government is cutting Medicaid and weakening oversight and lowering standards,” James said at the press conference.
Bonta and James were joined at the press conference by the attorneys general of Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Wisconsin — all of whom also signed the letter.
Other signatories included the attorneys general of Arizona, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
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