'STUNNING': USDA sec UNCOVERS how deep SNAP fraud really runs

Joining me now is the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollin. Secretary, great to see you. Thank you so much for being here this morning. We've got so much to get to with you. And I want to get your take first off on that prediction from the CEO of Omaha Steaks.

What is meat going for right now? $4, $5 a pound? He's talking about $10.

Well, that's right. And I sure look forward to talking to him. I saw him on your show. We had it on in the office on Friday. I thought he was very well spoken. I do believe, though, that his forecast is not going to be correct. Of course, no one knows, really. But the idea that we won't get prices down until 2027, I think there are a couple of

important factors here, Maria. The first is this, that we are suffering from the last administration's literal, literal war on cattle. If you remember, they wanted to reduce the herd sizes because they believe that cattle caused climate change. I mean, that, that wasn't that long ago that that was sort of a common narrative. So lots and lots of issues there as we rebuild, rebuild the herd based on the devastation of the last administration's policy. That's the first thing. The second thing is that there is no doubt, because of

drought and that reason and others, that we are at a low herd size. Now, you marry that to the fact that we have an 8 percent increase in protein and beef demand in the market. People want more beef. It's extremely healthy. And as Secretary Kennedy and I move toward releasing the new dietary guidelines and pivoting a lot of the food, you know, the government-run food supply, a lot through USDA,

you're going to see even more and more demand for beef. Then on top of that, we've got the screwworms south of the border. So our ports have been closed almost since the late spring where we haven't been moving about a million head of cattle across the border of Mexico, New Mexico, sorry, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico.

And again, you're in this perfect storm that we're in. But the Trump administration has released a new plan. We are moving toward opening up five million acres of grazing land. We're obviously at some point soon going to be reopening the borders. We've got screwworm under control south of the border. Still a couple more things before we get there,

but we're getting close. And the president is hyper, hyper focused on this. So our numbers and our formulas are showing that prices will start coming down as soon as next spring and certainly by summer and fall of next year.

Well, thank you for that explanation. That was very good and of course, understandable as far as what's going on here. I think meat right now is going for about $6 a pound. So we'll see about that prediction. But what about the soybean purchases, Secretary? I mean, China is now reportedly slow walking

the American soybean purchases. Look, they've done this before. But President Trump had that trade truce with Xi Jinping, and now we see USDA data shows only two purchases bought in six weeks, as China's stockpile surged to multi-year highs. Brazil now supplying nearly 80 percent of the imports. Analysts say Beijing is using soybeans as a geopolitical bargaining chip, as American farmers wait for the 12 million tons China committed to buy by year-end.

The secretary, though, told me that he's confident Beijing will honor the promise.

Watch this.

Are you expecting them to resume the purchases of soybeans, or are they going to double-cross us on that as well?

They've already started the purchases of soybeans. They've agreed for this buying season to buy 12 million tons, 25 million tons for the next three years after that, so a total of 87 million. And then we have lots of other trade agreements that call for soybean purchases. I do believe, it was very unfortunate, they made pawns out of our great soybean farmers, but we believe that we have remedied that. If you look, prices of soybeans are way up, since the meeting in Korea, and, you know, I think they will honor this.

So, Secretary Rollins, to be fair, Secretary Besson said that the deal is not done yet and that they should have a signed document by Thanksgiving. It could be that that's why we see this slow walking.

But what are your what are your thoughts on the soybean purchase? You know, I certainly listened with interest and I talked to Scott a lot. He is an incredible leader for this administration and for the president's vision. Our entire cabinet, I know you and I have talked about, is just hand in glove on all of these issues. It's such a joy to work with Scott and the entire cabinet and, of course, the president.

I believe that what Scott is saying is 100 percent right. The president has said over and over that he will not leave our soybean farmers and frankly our farmers in general out in the cold on this. He has been absolutely resolute and almost a dog on a bone making sure that our soybean farmers and other farmers are at the top of all these trade deals and certainly Secretary Bessant has as well. So I listened with interest to Scott over the weekend with you and last week saying

we're still very confident that when the Chinese committed to buying 12 metric tons that they are going to do that, 12 million. And so I see that moving forward. They have begun to buy a little. I think the nervousness comes in is that 12 million is a lot, and we've already, I think, just got about 330,000 out. But we'll get there. And I think the president has said over and over his relationship with President Xi is very strong. Secretary Besant, we're gonna get that deal signed. It's not even signed yet.

And then we're off to the races. So I think that's what we're gonna see very soon.

Yeah, I mean, look, I know President Trump loves the farmers. I love when he talks about the farmers. He really wants to ensure that they're getting a fair shot. Look, let's talk about the reopening of government. Secretary Snap benefits flowing again after the 43-day shutdown left millions waiting for their November payments.

What can you tell us about the resumption of business? The USDA said all eligible families getting their full benefits today, while the Trump administration announces an overhaul of that program, you're requiring every SNAP participant to reapply as part of a crackdown on fraud. You pointed out data from 29 states showing 186,000 deceased individuals were still receiving benefits, 120 people under arrest for fraud so far, on top of that, New York requirements,

a $186 billion budget cut also taking effect. So what, somebody died and their heirs started receiving their SNAP benefits?

Secretary, what happened? It's just incredible. And, you know, within the first hour of me being sworn in in February, this was one of my very first things that we did. We sent a letter to every state. We said business as usual is over. The status quo is no more. We know that the

SNAP program is rife with fraud, but it's all anecdotal. This was last February, that we have no data. How is it true that the taxpayers through the federal government fund this $100 billion program every single year, but we don't even know whether it's being done correctly, what the accountability looks like. We want that data ourselves. As I mentioned, 29 states complied, mostly the red states,

and what we have found since we started getting that data late spring of this year is just stunning. As you mentioned, 186,000 deceased individuals receiving benefits, 500,000 people getting more than, two times the benefit. So they're getting it in one place and then they're getting it in another place. The same person. We found

thousands of individuals that were getting benefits in three to four or five, six different states. I mean, it is one thing after another. And this is just from the red states. Can you imagine when we get through litigation and we get that data from California, New York, Oregon, we know under Biden the program increased 40 percent. Of course, we believe they were trying to buy the election by pushing more and more money out without any accountability.

So this is what we're trying to bring under control. And, listen, we always knew it was going to be a really big deal. We knew that it was stunning what was happening. But what the shutdown did, that sort of unintended consequence of the Democrats shutting down the government over the last 43, 45 days, is that one of their favored programs is now in the eye of the average everyday American who says, this

is not OK. Go fix this. My taxpayer dollars should not be spent for this sort of fraud and abuse, and taking it out of the mouths of families that really need the program. There are vulnerable families in America

that need this program that aren't getting it because of the fraud and the abuse that now we're gonna work to fix.

Unbelievable. I mean, at a minimum, it's embarrassing that nobody looked at this, and it's just like on autopilot, right? And you have to wait for the Trump administration to come in and start looking under every rock. And I would also say it's a massive dereliction of duty, not just from the last administration, but from Congress.

How does this happen? It is absolutely remarkable. And I remember, Maria, going through the confirmation process. And when I did, and I had great conversations with all the Democrats on the Senate Ag Committee. I mean, I was voted 22-0 out of committee, so had really good conversations about the importance of this program. But so many

of those Democrats in the Senate Ag Committee would say, we need more money for SNAP, we need more money for SNAP. And I remember sitting in that meeting and saying, I just can't believe that's true. The amount of money that's being spent. This is before, obviously, I'd taken the job and was sworn in and confirmed.

But even in those initial conversations, I had seen the growth in the program and knew that just couldn't be correct. But now that the hood is up on the car, the lid has been taken off, It's a whole new day. And I'm excited about it because I think we're going to be able to serve the taxpayers. We're going to be able to serve the entire country

and make the government better, but also serve those families that actually need this program. And that's what's been lost in all of this.

Well, you needed a business sentiment in there. I mean, having a businessman in the Oval Office has a lot of implications and impact. Secretary, that's great. Good to see you this morning. Thank you. Brooke Rollins, this morning.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. All right, we'll see you soon.