ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz welcomed a federal judge’s rejection of President Trump’s push for a criminal investigation into Minnesota officialdom’s resistance to a federal military occupation last winter. Walz called the judge’s ruling “a victory for the rule of law and our democracy.” In effect, Minneapolis-based U.S. Judge Patrick Schiltz’s ruling dead-ended Trump’s claim that the Minnesota resistance was a criminal insult to federal authority over state sovereignty. The judge found Trump’’s position as petty politics and unsustainable in court. Said Walz:
“This case was just one example of the U.S. Justice Department pursuing criminal investigations into the President’s political opponents. We are seeing daily reminders of this administration’s lawlessness — in Minnesota and around the country. We all must continue to seek justice and uphold the rule of law.”
Trump never forgave Walz for an energetic campaign against him as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2o24. Even though Trump won the presidency, he is notoriously thin-skinned and has incessantly ramped up a retaliation against Walz. Trump’s bitterness grew beyond Walz and culminated last winter in a 2-1/2 month military siege of Minnesota, supposedly to end a crisis of lawlessness in the streets when in fact there was no crisis. Trump’s antagonism to Walz deepened when citizen resistance to the military occupation forced Trump into an embarrassing withdrawal of his troops. His seething, unabated, eventually morphed into the now-defeated attack on Walz and other Minnesotans as criminals. Here are responses from other Minnesota leaders whom Trump had wanted to lock up:
State attorney general
Keith Ellison: “It should disturb every American that Donald Trump is weaponizing the criminal justice system against people he disagrees with.”
Minneapolis mayor
Jacob Frey: He said that criticizing government action is not a crime: “One of the defining strengths of our democracy is the ability to challenge those in power without fear of retribution. Elected officials have both the right and the responsibility to speak honestly about how government decisions affect the people they serve. Subpoenaing political opponents because they spoke on behalf of their constituents violates the core tenets of our democracy and human decency.”
St. Paul mayor
Kaohly Her: She called Trump’s subpoenas “a politically motivated retaliation against our city for lawfully standing up to ICE and fighting for our residents.”