Did Speed Cost the TANF Case?

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/953e30_70cd0e5a52d544c484ed883b87ada4ce/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

I was interviewed on March 23. 2026 by WLBT regarding the potential fall out from the DiBiase verdict.

One of the biggest questions in this whole TANF mess is this: why wasn’t this taken to the feds from day one?

Shad White took it to the Hinds County DA’s Office first. I understand the reasoning. Speed. More importantly, stopping millions of dollars from continuing to go out the door to people who shouldn’t have been receiving it. That part makes sense.

Now, the writing of a book detailing all of this before the legal matters are complete is something I don’t understand. You can make up your own mind about why that happened.

But this isn’t a shoplifting case. This is a complex, multi-million dollar fraud case involving nonprofits, layered transactions, and public funds. That matters, because when you start something like this at the local level, you are not bringing the full federal toolbox with you. You lose time, resources, and the ability to quietly build a clean case from the ground up.

Instead, this thing was rolled out publicly. Names came out early. The narrative got set early. And once that happens, you are locked in.

This isn’t the Hinds County DA’s Office fault. I spent a big part of my life there and they are not built for this kind of case. Local DA’s offices are designed to handle street crime, not complicated financial cases with multiple layers and agencies involved.

So the real question is whether it was more important to stop the flow of money immediately or to take the time to build a stronger case so the people involved could actually be held accountable. I can see both sides of that.

But in light of the Ted DiBiase Jr. verdict, this just got more interesting. You may see defendants who already pled guilty start trying to withdraw those pleas. It is a tough road and most will not succeed, but it is not impossible. I would not recommend this action, but Defendants don't always listen to their lawyers.

If even a few of them do and these cases start going to trial instead of being resolved with pleas, then we are in a completely different ball game.