In his video alleging fraud at Somali-owned day care centers in Minneapolis, right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley was led around the city by a purported whistleblower called only “David.” Shirley — and outlets like Fox News that credulously picked up the influencer’s video — credited “David” by first name only.
While Shirley’s video portrays the man as a party interested in purported fraud because he observed day care centers near his office in downtown Minneapolis, David, it turns out, is actually a political operative with connections to the Minnesota state House.
Shirley’s main source is a lobbyist and one-time right-wing candidate for Minnesota attorney general whose full name is David Hoch. Accounts bearing his name have a long online history posting about the Somali community in Minnesota. A TikTok and a recently deleted Instagram account posted almost exclusively on the subject — including derogatory statements about Somalis and Muslims.
“EVERY Somali in MN is engaged in fraud. ALL of them.”
“EVERY Somali in MN is engaged in fraud. ALL of them,” Hoch posted on the now-deleted Instagram account.
In November, he posted, “Even the Blacks have had enough of the demon Muslims.”
Hoch’s last name was not given in Shirley’s video, but The Intercept identified him using information in the video itself cross-referenced with publicly available materials.
According to the video, Hoch received information for his campaign against Somali day care centers from the Minnesota state House. Emails shown in the video reveal he got state-funding figures for specific centers from a Republican staffer named Joe Marble.
Neither Hoch nor Marble responded to requests for comment.
Marble works as a committee administrator for the Minnesota House Republicans, as well as a research consultant for the House GOP Caucus, according to his LinkedIn profile. Marble and Hoch ran two lobbying groups together years ago, including one involved with the gambling industry. The pair were elementary and high school classmates.
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After Shirley’s 42-minute video won praise from MAGA figures across the country — including from the Trump administration — Minnesota Republicans were quick to hitch their wagons to the exposé. State Rep. Lisa Demuth said during a virtual news conference Monday that “our caucus has been working to expose fraud for years, including working with Nick Shirley.”
For his part, in an X post on Wednesday, Shirley denied working with or even knowing who Demuth is. Hoch, however, speaks openly about his links to the Minnesota state House in the video.
“I have some contacts in the Capitol going back many, many years and so the data I am getting is 100 percent accurate coming directly from research done by people at the state capitol,” Hoch says in the video.
Printouts Hoch carries throughout the video show a December 3 email to Hoch’s Hotmail from a Minnesota state House address for Marble. The subject line says “mako childcare,” referring to one of the closed day cares the pair visit in the video.
In one of the emails, Marble notes that a Google Maps image of one of the day care centers shows “Somali guys standing out front.”
Identifying David Hoch
Though Shirley doesn’t use Hoch’s last name, the video contains information about his identity.
The logo on Hoch’s shirt is obscured, but his name, email address, and the House email address of his former lobbying partner Marble are all visible on the email printout he carries throughout Shirley’s video.
Shirley interviews Hoch in an office with photographs behind him depicting examples of metal roofing. Several of the same photos are used in online promotional materials for Garlock-French, a roofing company in Minneapolis. Hoch was an employee at Garlock-French, according to social media posts and a campaign finance disclosure related to a political donation in 2020. (Garlock-French did not respond to a request for comment.)
The email address for David Hoch listed in the documents in the video also leads to multiple accounts around the web linked to the lobbyist. The Hotmail address is listed in a public document documenting Hoch’s request for a waiver for a late fee related to the renewal of his lobbyist registration in 2024. (Hoch retains his active lobbyist registration in the state.)
Hoch’s email is also listed on a TikTok account for Ladderwight — a company formed by Hoch to sell ladder safety equipment — where Hoch’s videos on the Minnesota Somali community were posted. One of the posts on the TikTok channel shows the same printed list of Somali-owned day cares Hoch holds in the Shirley video.
After The Intercept began making inquiries for this article, Hoch’s Instagram account was deleted and the name of his TikTok account was changed, with the listed email address removed.
Hoch ran for Minnesota attorney general in 2010 as the Resource Party candidate. A sometime lobbyist on gaming issues, Hoch campaigned largely on a platform of opposing what he alleged was Italian mafia influence in local tribal casinos.
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Far-Right Frenzy
In the viral video, Shirley and Hoch set out to prove that daycare centers listed in Marble’s email committed fraud by showing that no children are present.
Shirley has since told a CNN reporter that he thought day cares are typically unlocked for unannounced visitors. Video footage from local Minneapolis residents revealed Shirley and David arrived with masked men, scaring at least one day care director into not opening the door, he told CBS Minnesota.
Some of the video’s allegations are unclear, with contradictory evidence continuing to emerge. Despite Hoch and Shirley claiming ABC Learning Center was always empty, CBS Minnesota reviewed timestamped footage showing kids dropped off before and after Shirley’s visit to the day care.
Shirley’s YouTube video has garnered millions of views since it was posted last week and sparked a frenzy on social media over the last week.
Vice President JD Vance claimed Shirley did “far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi lauded Shirley’s video. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced thatU.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement investigators were on the “ground in Minneapolis right now conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.”
The Trump administration froze all child care funds to the state of Minnesota, demanding an audit of the day care centers in the video.
Copycat amateur researchers on X are now trying to recreate Shirley’s methods, showing up at businesses and even home day cares owned by members of immigrant communities in other states.
In an interview on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast, Shirley said Hoch’s research had been suppressed.
“There is a man by the name of David,” Shirley said. “He’s been trying to get people to listen to him for years. He’s gone to journalists, but they won’t even shed a light on what he’s saying.”
The post Unnamed Source in Viral Minnesota Somali Fraud Video Is Right-Wing Lobbyist Who Called Muslims “Demons” appeared first on The Intercept.
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