By ALI SWENSON, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A new front in the battle between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration has opened over a video in which Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz visits Los Angeles and alleges members of its Armenian community orchestrated large-scale health care fraud.
The dayslong public scuffle on social media escalated on Thursday evening, when Newsom announced his office was filing a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services accusing Oz of discrimination.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, leaves the White House campus, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Newsom’s office argued in the complaint that Oz “spewed baseless and racially charged allegations” that risked chilling participation in hospice and home care programs among the community targeted. The governor’s office noted the claims had “already caused real-world harm” by dampening business at an Armenian bakery that is shown in the video.
Oz and CMS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint or the content of the video, and they haven’t publicly shared details that confirm the fraud being alleged.
The video posted on social media earlier this week shows the CMS administrator visiting the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles and pointing to a four-block radius that he says is home to 42 hospices, suggesting potential fraud. He references a business that he says was part of a $16 million fraud scheme.
Related Articles
Trump names former Federal Reserve governor Warsh as the next Fed chair, replacing Powell Senate leaders scramble to save bipartisan deal and avert partial government shutdown at midnight FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of 2026 Jury finds Wisconsin man guilty of forging threat against Trump to get witness deported Trump threatens tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba, a move that puts pressure on MexicoThen, while standing in front of a building that includes an Armenian bakery, he alleges that roughly $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud has taken place in Los Angeles and “quite a bit of it” was run by “the Russian Armenian mafia.”
Oz, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Turkey, describes the Armenian script on the businesses’ signs while the camera pans to the bakery.
“You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect,” he says in the video. He also claims there “has not been a lot of attention on these problems” in California.
Newsom disputed the claims in the video and noted on social media that California had revoked more than 280 hospice licenses and banned new licenses starting in 2022 because of concerns about fraud. Then the two leaders exchanged multiple sharp attacks in a back-and-forth on social media.
The feud is among many that have sprung up between Newsom, seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2028, and the Republican administration of President Donald Trump. Newsom and Trump have clashed over issues ranging from the federal administration’s National Guard deployment in Los Angeles to the president’s efforts to block California’s 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars, a nationwide first.
Oz’s video also points to a larger Trump administration effort to spotlight fraud around the country. That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests. Two people have been fatally shot in the city by federal agents this month.
Hence then, the article about newsom files a civil rights complaint against dr oz in latest feud with the trump administration was published today ( ) and is available on Ukiah Daily Journal ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Newsom files a civil rights complaint against Dr. Oz in latest feud with the Trump administration )
Also on site :
- Musk mulling mega-mergers – Bloomberg
- Kurdish-led SDF agrees integration with Syrian government forces
- Can Cell Phones Stop ICE?