Honest media would try to emulate independent journalist Nick Shirley, instead of try to silence him, Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday, following Shirley’s latest expose’ of potential Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
“Our administration owes a debt of gratitude to Nick Shirley for exposing one of the most egregious cases of fraud this country has ever seen,” the vice president wrote in a social media post after Shirley reported that he had uncovered $190 million of healthcare fraud in New York City.
“If the media was worth their salt, they would take notes from Nick and other citizen journalists who care about investigating stories that affect the American people instead of trying to silence them,” Vance added.
Shirley replied to V.P. Vance’s post by recalling an inaccurate hit piece on him by National Public Radio (NPR) Reporter Rachel Treisman and referencing his viral report of a potential daycare fraudster’s misspelled “Quality Learing Center” sign:
“Remember when instead of investigating the fraud the mainstream media decided to investigate the person who exposed the fraud? Why? Because they were complicit in the cover up I was right, they were wrong I work for you, they work against you The media is full of learers.”
The post included a correction NPR had to make to the story because it grossly understated the amount of potential fraud Shirley had uncovered. “Previously posted Dec. 31, 2025: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Nick Shirley and his colleague claimed to have uncovered $110,000 in fraud. In fact, it was $110 million in fraud,” the correction acknowledged.
While that error might be interpreted as a typo, rather than an effort to diminish Shirley’s work, another correction to the same article admits the story falsely attributed a comment to Shirley:
“An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Nick Shirley as the person at a White House event on antifa who said he was attacked ‘every time I do my job’ and who accused mainstream media of downplaying violence at local protests during President Trump's second term. Shirley participated in the event, but the statements were made by a different speaker.”
“This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes,” Vice President Vance wrote at the time, praising Shirley’s identification of $110 million of potential fraud in Minnesota and reposting video of Shirley’s report.
This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes. https://t.co/Ip6f9IedjL
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 27, 2025
