The Trump administration did pause $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota citing fraud allegations, which is confirmed by Bloomberg, NYT, and NBC. Reich's broader point is a rhetorical one: the contrast between withholding funds over unproven fraud allegations while simultaneously pardoning convicted fraudsters. Both parts of this comparison are substantiated — Trump has issued dozens of pardons and commutations to individuals convicted of fraud-related offenses, including a nursing home owner involved in a significant healthcare fraud case. The first claim about the Medicaid pause is verified; the second about the pattern of fraud-related pardons is also supported by public records and news coverage. The rhetorical tension Reich draws between these two positions — freezing funds over alleged fraud while pardoning convicted fraudsters — rests on factually solid ground.