Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez on Tuesday joined attorneys general from California, New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin — all states with Democrat governors — to accuse Vice President JD Vance of partisan political grandstanding with his anti-fraud roundtable.

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Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez on Tuesday joined attorneys general from California, New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin — all states with Democrat governors — to accuse Vice President JD Vance of partisan political grandstanding with his anti-fraud roundtable.

The four were among the 24 Democratic attorneys general who sent a letter dated Tuesday to Vance — who heads President Donald Trump’s new Task Force to Eliminate Fraud — declining his invitation to Tuesday’s event, noting it was Friday when they received their invitation to attend, more than a week after he invited Republican attorneys general to participate.

“I chose not to send anybody,” Lopez said during a Zoom press conference hosted by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “We received the invitation on Friday afternoon at 4:30. To fly from Hawaii to Washington, D.C., is about a 12-hour flight. It would’ve cost a few thousand dollars for a one-hour meeting that didn’t include an agenda and was simply called ‘fraud.’

“I wasn’t going to waste our money and our resources and our time to attend that meeting.”

Lopez noted that two weeks ago, Vance “explicitly called out Hawaii as not caring about fraud in our state” and added “nothing could be further from the truth.”

“We take the investigation, prosecution and recovery of fraudulently obtained state and federal funds seriously,” she said.

The data used by Vance, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, show investigations by the state’s Medicare Fraud Control Unit produced no criminal indictments or convictions between 2022 and 2025 — making Hawaii the only state with that distinction.

According to Lopez, since 2021 civil cases brought by the state’s MFCU have resulted in “over $14 million in judgments, settlements and recoveries in 25 separate cases.” She also noted there were criminal charges filed against two individuals this year, with one defendant entering a no-contest plea.

“These are not symbolic efforts. These investigations are producing real results for the people of Hawaii,” Lopez said.

The federal government pays 75% of the operating costs of Hawaii’s MFCU, which is budgeted for $3.9 million this year. Understaffing has been an issue, with three positions out of 18 currently authorized vacant and under recruitment. The unit has, however, been recertified yearly after an annual review by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

At least four Democratic-controlled states did send representatives to the Vance’s roundtable — California, New York, New Jersey and Minnesota — but those representatives were denied admittance at the door, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Real collaboration between states and the federal government is critical to addressing fraud and waste, but that partnership requires proper notice, sincere engagement, and a genuine opportunity for productive discussion,” James said. ”But we are very concerned that Medicaid cuts weaken the very oversight that helps prevent fraud.”

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Also on Tuesday, Vance lauded fraud prevention actions by the administration, which include the creation of a new division within the Department of Justice for federal fraud enforcement.

“In just two months, we exposed billions of dollars in benefits that had been stolen from the American people,” Vance said. “We referred over $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans back to the Treasury for collection. We deferred more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements that were coming from various states, particularly California.

“We put a six-month hold on enrollments for new hospice and home health care providers, because so many of the newer hospice providers were not actually providing hospice services, but were just focused on fraud.”

Bonta described Vance’s roundtable — which included Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz, and White House advisor Stephen Miller — as a “political stunt from the White House aimed to divide our nation and pit our parties and states against one another on an issue that isn’t, and shouldn’t be partisan.”

“While the president and Dr. Oz spread lies and stage stunts to stoke the flames of distrust, the truth is Democratic AGs have recovered billions of taxpayer dollars, secured criminal convictions and implemented reforms to strengthen the security of our programs,” Bonta said.

“In fact, last month we took down a hospice fraud ring in Los Angeles County responsible for defrauding (Medicaid) and the state of California of $267 million. We arrested five individuals and filed felony criminal charges against 21 suspects. It’s the largest hospice fraud bust in state history. And my office handled it, soup to nuts.”

Bonta said he and the other attorneys general are “not here to claim our states are immune to fraud.”

“Just like Texas, Florida, Ohio and every other state, our states have been preyed upon by fraudsters and scam artists looking to make an easy buck off taxpayers’ backs,” he said. “The problem is, that instead of working with us to actually root out fraud and protect taxpayers, Trump, Vance and Oz are politicizing the problem and gaslighting the people.

“If the federal government ever decides to quit playing games, we’ll be here, ready and willing to join forces to tackle fraud.”

Lopez said she wants politics “to be removed from the process.”

“I want the public to understand that fraud enforcement is not about headlines or politics,” she said. “It’s about protecting public funds, preserving the integrity of central healthcare programs and ensuring accountability when people attempt to exploit systems designed to help vulnerable residents.

“We welcome a constructive partnership and serious discussion about improving fraud prevention and enforcement. At the end of the day, our commitment remains the same — protecting the integrity of the Medicaid program and protecting taxpayer resources.”

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].