MAGA's Favorite 'Journalist' (Nick Shirley) Busted Paying to Fake 'News'

Source: The Daily Beast

MAGA’s Favorite ‘Journalist’ Busted Paying to Fake ‘News’

Jack Revell
Fri, January 2, 2026 at 4:39 AM EST
3 min read

The “journalist” at the center of a viral clash over alleged Somalian welfare fraud once paid Hispanic laborers to protest outside the White House in support of President Joe Biden.

Nick Shirley, 23, is currently being praised and amplified by the MAGA right, including FBI Director Kash Patel and billionaire Elon Musk, for a video purporting to reveal “Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.”

While the YouTuber with no journalism background and only a high school-level education claims to “bring the truth to all” of his 1.35 million subscribers, he has previously been shown to be staging his content.

Last year, in a video titled “I Took Migrants to Visit Joe Biden,” Shirley rounded up people in Washington, D.C., loaded them into a van, and brought them to the White House to demand an audience with Joe Biden. He pays them all $20 for their time.

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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/maga-favorite-journalist-busted-paying-093930442.html