Walz refuses to quit after dropping re-election bid amid Minnesota fraud firestorm: 'Over my dead body'

"I'm not going anywhere. And you can make all your requests for me to resign. Over my dead body will that happen," Walz told reporters as he answered questions for the first time since his stunning re-election announcement.

The embattled governor ended his bid for an unprecedented third term amid stinging criticism from Republicans and some Democrats over his handling of his state's massive welfare assistance fraud scandal. 

Pointing to the controversy, the governor reiterated that "the buck stops with me. I'm accountable for this. And because of that accountability, I'm not running for office again.

"I have a year to continue to improve on a record that I think will stand up against anybody's, a record that has made Minnesota better," Walz argued.

Prosecutors said some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

"This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it," Walz told reporters last month, taking responsibility for the scandal.

The governor took actions to stop some of the suspected fraudulent payments and ordered an outside audit of Medicaid billing in the state.

But Trump repeatedly blasted Walz as "incompetent" and, during Thanksgiving, used a slur for developmentally disabled people to describe the governor.

The scandal, which grabbed plenty of national attention over the past two months, went viral the past two weeks after the release of a video by 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal childcare funding to Minnesota.

Walz, speaking after touting the state's new family leave program, pointed to the Trump administration and charged, "We are under assault like no other time in our state's history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn't care about the well-being of Minnesotans. My job is to protect the well-being of Minnesotans."

Klobuchar, re-elected in 2024 to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, is receiving calls urging her to run for governor, sources in Minnesota confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Walz met Sunday with Klobuchar to discuss his decision to drop his re-election bid, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News.

Asked about his conversation with the senator, Walz told reporters, "I spoke with a lot of key allies. … And Sen. Klobuchar was one of those conversations."

And Walz, confident a Democrat will succeed him in November's election, said, "I think that we have a very deep bench."

Fox News' Patrick McGovern contributed to this report