The Nick Shirley timeline runs from a Utah teenager’s prank videos to an October 2026 visit to the Oval Office. The turning point is December 26, 2025, when his video about Minneapolis child care centers went viral; almost everything after it, from Congress to California’s AB 2624, follows from that day. Dates for his videos come from YouTube’s own upload records, and every event links to its source.
- Born
- April 4, 2002
- First YouTube videos
- As a teenager in Utah: vlogs and pranks
- Breakout
- December 26, 2025, the Minnesota daycare video
- Testified
- January 21, 2026 (House) and July 15, 2026 (Senate)
- Latest
- October 20, 2026, a $10,000 reward in the Oval Office
Nick Shirley timeline: 2026
The 2026 stretch of the Nick Shirley timeline is the busiest by far: two appearances before Congress, investigations in five states and two foreign countries, a new California law aimed at people like him and a lawsuit against it.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| October 25 and 26 | Two videos from Brazil’s presidential runoff | YouTube |
| October 21 | Posts “I Exposed Billions In Fraud… Now Trump Is Paying Me” | YouTube |
| October 20 | Receives a $10,000 check in the Oval Office, the first award of the new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program | Deseret News |
| October 18 | “Paris Is On Fire… Rioters Take Over France” | YouTube |
| October 7 | Undercover food stamp fraud video from Seattle | YouTube |
| September 17 | Guest on the All-In Podcast | YouTube |
| September 9 and 11 | Speaks at a Harvard Republican Club event and posts the speech | YouTube |
| September 4 | Sues California over AB 2624, represented by America First Legal | Courthouse News |
| August 27 | Rally in Sacramento against AB 2624 | YouTube |
| August 22 | Gov. Gavin Newsom signs AB 2624, which takes effect October 1, 2027 | CalMatters |
| August 3 | Video on migration into Ceuta, Spain | YouTube |
| July 15 | Testifies at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing “Exposing Fraud in America,” with James O’Keefe | U.S. Senate HSGAC |
| July 10 | New York City home care fraud investigation | YouTube |
| July 9 | Fahima Mahamud, owner of Future Leaders Early Learning, pleads guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy | CBS Minnesota |
| June 22 | “I Confronted NYC’s Canal Street Scam Market” | YouTube |
| June 5 | Politico reports payments to influencers, including Shirley, from Polymarket’s marketing chief | Politico |
| May 26 and 29 | The California Assembly passes AB 2624, 57 to 19; his video on it follows | YouTube |
| May 21 | Feeding Our Future ringleader Aimee Bock is sentenced to more than 41 years in prison | Star Tribune |
| May 20 | Fahima Mahamud, owner of Future Leaders Early Learning, a center shown in his video, is charged | CBS Minnesota |
| May 17 | “London Erupts… Brits Want Their Country Back” | YouTube |
| May 4 and 8 | Cuba videos: “I Was Almost Taken Hostage in Cuba…” and “Inside the Fall of Communist Cuba” | YouTube |
| April 28 | The FBI executes 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, including at the Quality Learing Center | KSTP |
| April 18 | First video on California’s AB 2624 | YouTube |
| April 10 | Interviews Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | YouTube |
| March 17 | Los Angeles hospice fraud investigation | YouTube |
| February 19 | Three centers from his video sue Minnesota’s child care agency | CBS Minnesota |
| February 24 | Attends the State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota | Office of Rep. Pete Stauber |
| February 20 | Asm. Mia Bonta introduces AB 2624 in California | Courthouse News |
| February 16 | Video on California’s voter rolls | YouTube |
| January 21 | Testifies before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance | House Judiciary Committee |
| January 14 | Part 2 of the Minnesota investigation | YouTube |
| January 12 | Interviewed by Andrew Callaghan for Channel 5 | YouTube |
| January 6 and 7 | Rep. Eli Crane introduces bills (H.R. 6942, H.R. 6959) to award him the Congressional Gold Medal; both stay in committee | Newsweek |
| January 6 | The Quality Learing Center’s license closes at the center’s request | CBS Minnesota |
| January 5 | Gov. Tim Walz drops his bid for a third term; thousands of federal immigration agents arrive in the Twin Cities that month | CNN |
Nick Shirley timeline: 2025
The 2025 part of the Nick Shirley timeline is when his political videos found a national audience, ending with the Minnesota video that changed his career.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| December 30 | CNN’s Whitney Wild questions his methods outside a Minneapolis day care | KATV |
| December 30 | The Department of Health and Human Services freezes federal child care payments to Minnesota, and its deputy secretary credits the video | HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill on X |
| December 27 | Vice President JD Vance praises the video on X | X |
| December 26 | Posts “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal” | YouTube |
| November | Receives a “Citizen Journalist of the Year” award at Mar-a-Lago | Deseret News |
| October 8 | Joins a White House roundtable on antifa with President Trump in the State Dining Room | CNN |
Nick Shirley timeline: before 2025
The early Nick Shirley timeline covers a Utah teenager’s YouTube start, a two-year church mission in Chile and his turn to political video in 2023.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | Reuters reports that he paid men $20 each to hold signs outside the White House for a video | Reuters |
| 2023 | Returns to YouTube with a video interviewing migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, the start of his political videos | NPR |
| December 2021 | Announces a two-year break to serve a Latter-day Saint mission in Santiago, Chile | CNN |
| 2020 | Graduates from Farmington High School in Farmington, Utah | KSL TV |
| High school years | Posts vlogs and prank videos; at 16 he films himself flying to New York with friends | CNN |
What the Nick Shirley timeline shows
The Nick Shirley timeline shows how fast one video can move policy. Within four weeks of December 26, 2025, the federal government had frozen child care payments to Minnesota, the governor had dropped his reelection bid and Shirley was testifying in Congress. It also shows how contested the story stayed: state inspectors found children at eight of the nine centers they checked, a wider federal funding freeze was blocked in court, three centers sued the state in February, and it was April 28 before the FBI raids and May before charges against the owner of a center from the video. The Minnesota file walks through that record in order.
His later work follows the same pattern in new places: Los Angeles hospices, New York home care, Seattle markets and Havana. California’s answer, AB 2624, is covered on the Stop Nick Shirley Act page.
Nick Shirley timeline FAQ
When did Nick Shirley start YouTube?
Nick Shirley started posting on YouTube as a high school student in Utah, with vlogs and prank videos; at 16 he filmed himself flying to New York with friends, CNN reported.
When did Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video come out?
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video came out on December 26, 2025, on YouTube and X.
When did Nick Shirley testify before Congress?
Nick Shirley testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee on January 21, 2026, and at a Senate hearing on fraud on July 15, 2026.
When was Nick Shirley in the Oval Office?
Nick Shirley was in the Oval Office on October 20, 2026, when President Trump gave him a $10,000 check, the first award of the new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program.
Sources
- YouTube: Nick Shirley’s channel (upload dates), checked October 29, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minneapolis day care targeted in Nick Shirley YouTube video is now closed, state records show, January 7, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Trump presents $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, October 20, 2026
- Courthouse News: Nick Shirley sues California over law shielding information of immigration support workers, September 2026
- House Judiciary Committee: Shirley testimony (PDF), January 2026
- NPR: Who is Nick Shirley, YouTuber alleging day care fraud, December 31, 2025
- CNN: Who is Nick Shirley, the 23-year-old MAGA journalist, December 30, 2025
- KSL TV: 2020 Farmington High grad works hard on YouTube stardom, 2020
Last updated October 29, 2026