One of President Donald Trump's large donors and the Treasury Department Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, John Hurley, is officially out, and it's over targeting a specific group of people.
The Washington Post confirmed on Wednesday that he was leaving after a huge conflict with Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over targeting the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota.
Hurley began telling some of his colleagues last week that he was leaving, as Bloomberg reported, but the reason wasn't clear.
According to those who spoke to the Post, Hurley was "uneasy with the extent of White House directives to deploy law enforcement tools against Minneapolis’s Somali community. Two of the people said he raised data privacy concerns over the plans in question." The Trump administration wanted to begin monitoring people's financial transactions and demanded its top financial terrorist lead the mission.
Many of the Somali people in Minnesota are documented immigrants and refugees, and are here legally.
Hurley denied the premise of the article when the Post called for comment.
In a statement, Hurley promoted his team as “the tip of the spear pushing back to stop Somalia fraud in Minnesota.”
“Anyone who has told you I do not proudly support these 'America First' efforts is either uninformed or malicious,” he said.
The so-called "Somalia fraud" goes back to an investigation that began four years ago under President Joe Biden's administration and continues today.
"The White House had issued 'marching orders' on cracking down in Minnesota as part of an 'admin-wide priority,'" one official told the Post. Top Homeland Security Official Tom Homan announced that the federal agents were leaving Minneapolis, however.
"The official emphasized that the disagreement over the Minnesota initiative was not the only reason Hurley was leaving the job, that he had mutually agreed with Bessent that the role was not the right fit for him, and that Hurley is still in good standing with the White House for other potential administration roles," claimed the report.
A Trump ally said that Bessent is under a lot of pressure from the White House to show results.
“Trump needs something for 2026 on Somalia," they said.
They didn't clarify why.
