Nick Shirley fires back at CBS News reporter suggesting Minnesota daycare centers weren't 'fraudulent'
Independent journalist Nick Shirley called out CBS News reporter Jonah Kaplan over his video claiming that the Minnesota daycare centers Shirley visited were not "fraudulent."
Kaplan, who works with CBS News' Minneapolis affiliate, posted a video shared on CBS News' X account on Tuesday that offered "its own analysis" of nearly a dozen daycare centers Shirley visited in his viral video.
In his video, Kaplan reported that while the locations Shirley highlighted have received citations for issues related to safety and cleanliness, there was no evidence of fraud.
"We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months, and we found the facts on the ground tell a different story," Kaplan said. "Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent, so it's important to put all of this into context."
Kaplan's video received widespread backlash for not showing their investigation, leading Shirley himself to respond.
"Why don’t you go to a daycare yourself, and you will see it first hand. Or you can just keep yapping on selfie mode," Shirley wrote on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Kaplan and CBS News for comment.
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In a 42-minute video posted to X and YouTube over the weekend, Shirley documented visits to several daycare centers in Minnesota, many of which appeared largely inactive despite continuing to receive millions in government funding.
Kaplan's full report for "CBS Evening News" on Tuesday found that all but two of the locations Shirley visited had active licenses. However, it added that CBS News had "visited and called several of the day care centers on Monday but received no responses."
Minnesota officials have pushed back on Shirley's video with Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown similarly saying that past inspections have not uncovered any evidence of fraud.
"We are aware of a video that's being circulated that has gained local and national attention about childcare centers in Minnesota," Brown said in a news conference on Monday. "While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously."
In response to the viral video, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday that it would be halting child care payments to Minnesota.