Far-right influencer Nick Shirley has accepted an invite from the Conservative Political Motion Convention to talk on the group’s 2026 occasion in Grapevine, Texas, later this month.
“CPAC is proud to announce that impartial journalist and conservative influencer Nick Shirley is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28,” CPAC wrote in a post to X on Monday.
Shirley didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The 23-year-old influencer gained recognition in conservative circles late final 12 months following a viral YouTube video of his that made doubtful claims about alleged fraud involving Minnesota’s Somali community.
“This dude has carried out much more helpful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes,” Vice President JD Vance wrote of Shirley in a post on X at the time.
“MINNESOTA FRAUDSTERS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! The movies from Nick Shirley have shed great gentle on the scenario in Minnesota, and the Division of Justice will proceed to guide the trouble to establish and prosecute fraud,” the official White House X account posted in January.
The video reveals Shirley trying to go to what he claims are largely empty daycare amenities within the higher Minneapolis space, claiming he wished to enroll a baby for daycare. He then lobs questions at alleged workers about failing to supply daycare companies regardless of receiving federal funds to take action. Shirley later claimed to have exposed $110 million in fraud.
Following Shirley’s questionable investigation, the Trump administration froze federal funding for little one care in Minnesota and deployed 2,000 federal troops to the state as a part of its immigration crackdown, CNN reported in January.
Nonetheless, lots of the amenities featured in Shirley’s video had been audited, based on Tikki Brown, the commissioner of the Minnesota Division of Youngsters, Youth, and Households.
“Every of the amenities talked about within the video has been visited at the very least as soon as within the final six months as a part of our typical licensing course of,” Brown said during a virtual press conference addressing Shirley’s claims. “There have been ongoing investigations with a number of of these facilities. None of these investigations uncovered findings of fraud.”
Brown questioned the timeframe of Shirley’s visits to the daycare amenities and whether or not he did so throughout regular working hours.
Moreover, impartial news outlet The 19th reported the workplace of the Minnesota Inspector Normal performed unannounced compliance visits to 9 of the ten daycare facilities featured in Shirley’s video, discovering all however one have been working usually, with youngsters in attendance.
As for the opposite two amenities proven within the video, one had not but opened for enterprise that day when state inspectors visited, and the opposite had been closed for a number of years and hadn’t acquired any federal cash throughout that point, based on The nineteenth.
Because the video, Shirley has testified before Congress and launched one other “investigation” into voter fraud in California. He was additionally introduced as a guest to the State of the Union by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.)
