EJ Haust, a self-described political refugee from Minnesota and official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, is raising questions about Minnesota’s oversight of assisted living facilities following the shutdown of two facilities connected to a woman charged in an alleged sex trafficking conspiracy.
During an appearance on Friday’s show, Haust discussed reporting from Bill Glahn of the Center of the American Experiment, who noted that Minnesota had opened more than 360 new assisted living facilities in roughly the past year.
“Bill Glahn has been following the fraud in Minnesota for years,” Haust, who lived in Minnesota for 12 years before relocating to Tennessee following the COVID-19 pandemic, said. “And this is, I think what gets really frustrating, gets under my skin, is that a lot of the things that are coming up now in the news are not new.”
Haust pointed to the recent closure of two facilities managed by Andrea Sampson, a former Anoka County prosecutor who faces felony charges in an alleged sex trafficking conspiracy.
“What had to happen before we got to this point?” Haust asked. “They had to apply for licensing in order to be able to get these two facilities.”
Haust then questioned why Minnesota continues approving new facilities despite what she described as an already-high number of assisted living beds relative to the state’s elderly population.
“There’s about 2,500 assisted living facilities, an equivalent bed capacity of 50,000 to 80,000 beds,” Haust said. “This, however, is from last year. So explain to me why we’re opening new facilities in Minnesota if we’ve already surpassed the mathematical, statistical threshold of needing any.”
Haust compared Minnesota with Tennessee and Florida, saying Minnesota has approximately 138 assisted living beds per 1,000 residents age 75 and older, compared with 45 in Tennessee and 48 in Florida.
“That’s the highest in the nation,” Haust said of Minnesota’s figure.
She also questioned whether state agencies are adequately overseeing facilities and following up on licensing violations.
“Who’s doing the oversight? Who’s going out there for site visits?” Haust asked. “No one is.”
Haust called for an audit of Minnesota’s assisted living system, saying the state should use data and artificial intelligence to examine how many facilities are actually needed.
“I would like to propose that the state of Minnesota do a little DOGE audit, and then employ some AI geniuses to just run a couple of queries and say, ‘How many beds should we have, and why do we have so many?,'” she said
Haust ultimately argued that the investigation should extend beyond individual defendants to the state agencies responsible for licensing and oversight.
“The people who actually need to be charged, and I have said this from day one, I have said it on this program, I have said it on X, I have said it until my eyes nearly bulge out of my head, why are we not raiding the offices of the Minnesota Department of Health and subsequent departments who are responsible for the oversight,” Haust said.
She added that she found it difficult to believe the problems were simply the result of widespread government incompetence.
“I just don’t, I can’t bring myself to believe that there’s that many people that are incompetent,” Haust said. “There has to be another answer.”
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— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) August 21, 2026
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Retirement Hose” by Etan J. Tal CC3.0
