California Governor Gavin Newsom has escalated his ongoing political feud with the Trump administration by filing a formal civil rights complaint against Dr Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The complaint, lodged with the US Department of Health and Human Services, accuses Oz of discrimination following his public allegations of large-scale healthcare fraud within Los Angeles's Armenian community.
Social Media Spat Turns Legal
The controversy erupted earlier this week when Dr Oz posted a video on social media during a visit to Los Angeles's Van Nuys neighbourhood. In the footage, Oz points to a four-block radius containing 42 hospices, suggesting potential fraudulent activity. Standing before a building housing an Armenian bakery, he claimed that approximately $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud had occurred in Los Angeles, with "quite a bit of it" allegedly orchestrated by what he described as "the Russian Armenian mafia."
Governor Newsom's office announced the complaint on Thursday evening, arguing that Oz "spewed baseless and racially charged allegations" that risked discouraging participation in legitimate hospice and home care programs among the targeted community. The complaint further noted that the claims had "already caused real-world harm," specifically citing reduced business at the Armenian bakery featured in Oz's video.
California's Anti-Fraud Record
In response to Oz's assertion that there "has not been a lot of attention on these problems" in California, Newsom pointed to the state's substantial anti-fraud measures. California has revoked more than 280 hospice licenses and implemented a ban on new licenses starting in 2022 due to fraud concerns. The governor and CMS administrator engaged in a sharp exchange on social media, with Newsom disputing the video's claims and defending California's regulatory efforts.
Dr Oz, whose parents emigrated from Turkey, drew attention to Armenian script on business signs during his video, stating, "You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect." Neither Oz nor CMS have publicly provided detailed evidence confirming the alleged fraud, nor have they responded to requests for comment regarding the civil rights complaint.
Broader Political Context
This dispute represents another chapter in the ongoing conflicts between Governor Newsom, widely considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2028, and the Republican administration of Donald Trump. Previous clashes have involved issues ranging from the Trump administration's deployment of the national guard in Los Angeles to efforts to block California's pioneering 2035 ban on new gas-powered vehicles.
Oz's video appears to align with a broader Trump administration initiative to highlight fraud nationwide. This effort follows similar allegations involving daycare centers operated by Somali Americans in Minneapolis, which prompted significant immigration enforcement actions and protests in that city, including recent fatal shootings by federal agents.
The civil rights complaint marks a significant escalation in what began as a social media confrontation, transforming it into a formal legal challenge with potential implications for healthcare policy, community relations, and the continuing political battles between California's Democratic leadership and federal Republican administration.
