Eli Crane Says Rewarding Citizen Journalists Exposing Corruption is 'No-Brainer'

On social media, Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ) is throwing his support behind rewarding citizen journalists for exposing government corruption, admitting it's a "no-brainer."

On CNBC's Squawk Box, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced the launch of a new initiative for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), allowing whistleblowers to report on government fraud and abuse.

"We are encouraging whistleblowers who know about fraud and people who are stealing money from the American taxpayer to come forward at the Treasury," Bessent commented, adding that a reward of 10% to 30% of the fines levied against the fraudster would be offered. Bessent noted that not only does the Treasury seek to "claw this back for the American people," but "from what I saw, there was a circular system where people were stealing from the federal government then donating back to politicians."

In response, Rep. Crane expressed, "I'm a big fan of this creative strategy from @SecScottBessent to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse."

"Status-quo politicians will never get the job done," he added. "Rewarding citizen journalists and patriotic Americans for exposing corruption is a no-brainer."

Earlier in March, the Arizona congressman criticized Minnesota Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison overt the massive Minneapolis welfare fraud scandal perpetrated under his watch. Notably, Ellison said during a CNN interview that "this is a political matter. This is not a serious thing."

Although Ellison clarified that he was arguing that the matter itself had become politicized, his initial wording, in Crane's view, "adds gasoline to the fire when Americans are so frustrated with this government for their out-of-control spending and the amount of money they pay in taxes, and then to see an estimated $9 billion getting stolen of their taxpayers dollars and being used to fund cars, vacations, homes, and even terrorism."