Vice President JD Vance is heading to Milwaukee on July 8 to talk about the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud, according to the White House.
Vance is set to speak at the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing.
Here’s what we know so far about the Republican vice president’s visit.
Why is JD Vance coming to Milwaukee?
Vance’s visit comes shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice announced a nationwide, $6.5 billion healthcare fraud takedown.
The agency said in a June 23 news release that fraud and opioid abuse schemes involved people who submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other health care programs and “caused significant patient harm, including death.” Prosecutors said those charged included at least 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals.
More than 450 people across 45 states have been charged in connection with the effort, including some in Wisconsin.
Who is facing fraud charges in Wisconsin?
Jasmine Cooper, who owned and operated Bundle of Love Prenatal LLC, recently signed a plea deal that will include pleading guilty to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, both felonies, and agreeing to forfeit the money “traceable to the offense,” court records show.
Cooper is accused of submitting false claims to Medicaid for her clients and instructing her employees to falsify billing submissions to Medicaid, “knowingly misstating the duration, frequency, date and nature of the services provided,” records show.
Cooper, 37, of Brown Deer, is expected to enter a guilty plea during a July 9 hearing at the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee. Her guilty plea will bring the total to six Milwaukee-area prenatal care coordination company owners and associates who have been convicted of felonies in recent months.
Cooper’s case and others against former prenatal care coordination company owners and associates come after a 2022 Journal Sentinel investigation into the industry. The companies are meant to help connect low-income pregnant women and mothers with badly needed health, counseling and referral services, but the industry has been plagued by fraud in recent years.
Jimmy D. Davis Jr., a former Milwaukee funeral home owner who embezzled thousands of dollars from grieving families, also faces felony healthcare fraud charges. Davis and his company, JD Davis Enterprises LLC, are accused of stealing nearly $900,000 from Medicaid by making claims based on “false and fraudulent statements,” according to a federal grand jury indictment, which was filed June 3 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Davis, 43, and his company face 14 felony healthcare fraud counts.
Both Cooper and Davis were the focus of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigations in recent years.
Will Vance have other events during his visit?
Vance is also set to headline a $10,000-per-couple fundraiser for the Republican National Committee while in town, according to an invitation posted on the fundraising website WinRed.
The event will cost $35,000 per couple for a photo opportunity and $100,000 per couple for those serving on the host committee, the invitation says.
When was Vance last in Wisconsin?
Vance last came to the battleground state about four months ago, when he spoke at Pointe Precision in Plover on Feb. 26, two days after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. That visit was part of a campaign by the White House to put the president and top administration officials in front of voters in battleground districts.
In August 2025, Vance visited La Crosse to promote provisions of the Trump administration’s sweeping tax and spending law.
And he made multiple stops in Wisconsin during the 2024 campaign.
What are local leaders saying about Vance’s visit?
As Vance heads to Milwaukee, Mayor Cavalier Johnson slammed the ongoing federal probe into the 2020 presidential election.
Johnson, a Democrat, also invited the Republican vice president to talk with election officials during his July 8 stop in Milwaukee.
“Federal law enforcement agents, deployed at the direction of the President’s administration, have been present in my city, interviewing election officials,” Johnson wrote in a July 7 letter to Vance. “I know of no justification for this activity. Evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent.”
He added that Vance should “see our election operation, to talk to officials who conduct our elections, and scrutinize, firsthand, the extensive security and accuracy in place.”
Johnson’s comments come as the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought interviews with a host of Milwaukee election officials and staff who helped administer the 2020 election at a time the Trump administration is relitigating his 2020 loss in key battleground states. The FBI has also interviewed police officers as part of the probe.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, one of six Democratic candidates for governor, said working families in the area are asking, “Why isn’t the Trump administration focused on lowering costs and making life more affordable?”
“Instead of helping people get ahead, we’ve seen an administration that too often puts political gain ahead of the public interest,” Crowley said in a statement. “Recent reports have raised serious questions about President Trump and his children using their positions of power to line their own pockets. From ethics concerns and conflicts of interest to policies that undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, it’s clearer than ever that the American people deserve accountability from those in power.”
Crowley said local residents need “leaders committed to strengthening our democracy, respecting the rule of law, and delivering results that improve the lives of working families in Milwaukee County.”
What are Wisconsin Democrats saying about Vance?
In a news conference before the vice president’s visit, Democratic Party of Wisconsin members criticized the Trump administration for “devastating economic policies” they said have resulted in rising costs in health care, groceries and gas.
Democrats sought to tie the administration’s policies to Republicans on the ballot this fall, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor, and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who is seeking reelection in the 1st Congressional District.
Sen. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget law enacted last year “one of the most devastating, cost-raising” actions taken by the Trump administration with Congress’s approval.
“The reality is simple: Donald Trump and JD Vance have championed an agenda that has raised costs for working families, and Congressman Tom Tiffany and Congressman Bryan Steil have rubber-stamped it every step of the way,” Haywood said.
Haywood credited Democratic leaders in Wisconsin for their responses “when isolated cases of Medicaid fraud occurred in Wisconsin.”
“Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul investigated, the bad actors were prosecuted, and the system worked,” Haywood said. “That’s what real accountability is about.”
Haywood said Republicans are “taking the actions of a few bad actors and using them as an excuse to punish hundreds of thousands of honest Wisconsinites who rely on Medicaid for health care.”
“That’s not responsible governing; that is simply political theater,” Haywood said. “Wisconsinites deserve leaders who wake up every day asking one question: Will this make life better for the people I represent? Not asking, will this earn praise from Donald Trump?”
Streets around Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel for Vance’s visit
Streets around the Pfister Hotel were shut down for the Vance fundraiser.
Dozens of police and Secret Service agents, as well as K9s and officers on horse, could be seen surrounding the historic hotel in downtown Milwaukee on Wednesday morning.
Mason and Jefferson streets and Wisconsin Avenue outside the hotel were closed down and traffic was being rerouted.
The scene unfolded near the federal courthouse, where former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan is being sentenced July 8 on a felony charge of obstructing a federal immigration proceeding.
The group Milwaukee Riverkeeper posted on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard informed them that that a security zone is in place around the Hoan Bridge until 3 p.m.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What we know about Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milwaukee
Reporting by Mary Spicuzza and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mary Spicuzza and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
