The member of the American Football Hall of Fame, Brett Favre, has been in the news recently for a social welfare scandal in his home state of Mississippi. For decades, Mississippi has been one of the poorest states, but only a fraction of its federal social welfare budget has gone to families. Since becoming embroiled in the scandal, Favre has returned just over a million dollars he received in speaking fees funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The 55-year-old former player is not facing criminal charges, but he is one of more than three dozen people or groups sued in an effort by the state to recoup misused funds. "It is certainly sad to see him like this," commented a source about the case.
Six days before the elections, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will tour several battleground states on Wednesday, crossing paths in Wisconsin, where the former president is scheduled to appear in Green Bay with former NFL quarterback Brett Favre. Favre, a long-time supporter of Trump and other Republicans, played for most of his career with the Green Bay Packers, winning the NFL MVP award three times and a Super Bowl.
Favre has posted messages on social media endorsing Trump and criticizing Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate. "In all the elections I've seen in my life, I've never seen one with so much hatred," Favre posted on one of his social media accounts. Trump will travel in the opposite direction, heading to Green Bay after an event in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, focusing on Wisconsin, a state he won in 2016 by 23,000 votes and lost in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden by 20,000 votes.
By leaning on Favre, Trump taps into the deep and loyal support in the state for the Packers and the team's star former quarterback. Regarding the social welfare scandal in Mississippi, Republican-leaning State Auditor Shad White pointed out that Favre did not actually give such speeches. Instead, the Mississippi Department of Human Services allowed well-connected individuals to misallocate tens of millions of dollars in social welfare from 2016 to 2019, according to White and state and federal prosecutors.
