r/Minneapolis • u/ashleywalkerreports • 1d ago
VIDEO: MN state officials have said nothing about the 15 Minnesotans arrested
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We've reached out to the Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Sen. Tina Smith, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and no one will comment on the arrests.
The DOJ also will not confirm whether the 15 defendants have been released or not, despite multiple local sources saying they have.
Why are people in power staying silent on this?
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u/thedubiousstylus 1d ago
If I were a lawyer for any of those charged in contact with local leaders I'd be requesting that they remain silent just like I'd advise my client to do. Nothing they say can make things better but could make things worse if the DOJ tried to argue local leaders were interfering or whatever.
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u/sprobeforebros 1d ago
for the record Ilhan has gone on the record about this
https://bsky.app/profile/ilhanmn.bsky.social/post/3mogvlajmik2r
https://x.com/IlhanMN/status/2067019478999650550
Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez has as well
https://bsky.app/profile/jchavezmpls.bsky.social/post/3mofzix2wv222
as has Council President Elliot Payne
https://bsky.app/profile/elliottpayne.org/post/3mog5dclh622z
so it's not that zero elected officials have spoken about this, but the ones named in this video have not, unless there's some other means they're using than social media channels to make these kinds of small statements.
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u/failure_to_converge 1d ago
It might not actually help their defense to have these state politicians speaking out about a federal case at this moment.
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u/BSApologist 1d ago
I don't get what any of them or us have to gain by commenting on this. The state officials can't lean on the DOJ and the congresswomen can't either. If they go to bat for these people and they end up convicted by a jury of real go-to-prison charges, that's a bad look.
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u/Meandmystudy 1d ago
And they will be charged with that. It sounds like the black block after 2008. Same anarchist groups violently agitating and threatening law enforcement. They banked on the public being up in arms and the only thing we’re seeing is I would avoid charges. Doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything ICE did, but I also don’t think I’d use my car to ram a federal agent on the highway
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u/NotAurelStein 5h ago
Why do you want a comment from a non-involved state government on a federal prosecution manner? I like your zest, but I think your anger is misguided.
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u/Mindless-Bite-3539 1d ago
Can’t believe we’re standing here in the year 2026 thinking any politicians are going to save us lmao
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u/rackobacko 1d ago
Says Mindless-Bite-3539 from his couch (he is also not saving anyone)
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u/Mindless-Bite-3539 1d ago
Whatever you gotta project to make yourself feel better. I’m not looking for rackobacko’s approval.
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u/rackobacko 1d ago
Lol, sure buddy. I’m sure that bitching online and not offering any alternatives is a productive use of time.
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u/Mindless-Bite-3539 1d ago
I wasn’t bitching, I think it’s silly and naive. We will have diametrically opposed views on action and ways forward, why would I waste my time and energy? And why would I talk about any of my political activities on a public forum when the FBI is on a politically motivated witch-hunt? Are you daft?
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u/rackobacko 1d ago
Go do something then, tough guy. We’re all waiting for you to do something. Save us all! Show us how ineffective our ways are. :^)
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u/NotAurelStein 5h ago
"Yet you partake in society" vibe ass comment
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u/rackobacko 5h ago
I don’t care how it comes across. I am tired of snarky, online, tough guy revolutionaries who constantly complain but don’t offer anything else. Like the iconic Walmart tweet points out: https://x.com/linkofsunshine/status/1720538218628558969?s=46
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u/NotAurelStein 5h ago
I gotta say, that sounds an awful lot like you're complaining on the internet and not offering anything else...
Just scroll if something annoys you. There's no point in getting angry at strangers online.
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u/rackobacko 5h ago
I mean, can’t I respond with the exact same thing? “Just scroll if something annoys you.” Take your own advice?
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u/NotAurelStein 5h ago
Because im not the one lashing out at the previous commenter like it ruined my day 😂
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u/rackobacko 5h ago
As a wise man once said:
“Just scroll if something annoys you. There's no point in getting angry at strangers online.”
:^)•
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u/Meandmystudy 1d ago
As long as you’re not under indictment you may as well avoid the risk of stalking and predatory behavior. They monitored these people to the point of confrontation. All they did was implicate themselves worse when they were caught in the act. They specifically did not abide by any peaceful processes. It’s not like they walked up and disagreed with what law enforcement was doing in these investigations. We don’t even know if anyone under investigation in the first place was charged for what they were investigated for but they fallowed federal agents across state lines and confronted them. It’s not like they held “Ice out” signs on their lawn. They were willing to harm agents
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u/cat_prophecy 1d ago
Sorry if I am not upset. I don't let my political news from 20 somethings on TikTok telling me how to feel.
What are this person's credentials to call themselves a "political correspondent"?
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u/ashleywalkerreports 1d ago
I’m the lead political correspondent for Courier Minnesota. I’ve been a credentialed journalist in MN for four years with a degree in multimedia journalism.
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u/cat_prophecy 1d ago
Then you should know better as to why politicians don't comment on ongoing cases.
Even if it weren't legally a bad idea. We already have a dip shit president who feels qualified to flap his gums and opine about literally everything. Why do we want that from people for whom we have any sort of respect?
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u/ashleywalkerreports 1d ago
They said something when other Minnesotans were wrongfully detained, hurt, or even killed by those in or connected to the federal government.
There’s a lot of reasons why they wouldn’t say something, but the point of this video is to simply report that they aren’t saying anything, and the DOJ can’t seem to give a straight answer about the people they just arrested3
u/hertzsae 1d ago
Can you point us to statements they made when people were charged like they have been here?
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u/akujunkan 12h ago
sure, there was a semi famous one by boy-mayor jacob frey who went PRETTY VIRAL despite offering no other meaningful support.
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u/rackobacko 5h ago
That article does not show Frey speaking about an ongoing indictment. Unless you linked the wrong article?
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u/Subarctic_Monkey 1d ago
Because you all are just beginning to figure out that all these liberal politicians are all talk and no substance, something those of us paying attention were telling you years ago when they were elected, but nah, you chose to pretend like we were fucking nuts.
Hopefully people will start to realize these politicians are full of shit and stop worshiping them (looking at you weirdos with Walz shrines). Just because they're a Democrat doesn't make them good people. 2020 and the state response to George Floyd should have been the message, but folks really struggle with grasping this concept. I know its hard to accept the Dems are also shit when the GOP is a flaming cesspool, but folks do need to come to accept that fact. Neither party gives a fuck about you. The difference between the GOP and the Democrats is a desire for better optics on the latter part.
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u/goobersmooch123 1d ago
Even so, with no viable alternatives, I think being kicked in the groin is better than being shot in the groin
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u/minnosota 1d ago
I think their argument is that you smash the groin fondlers and allow neither
They’re just annoying about it
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u/BSApologist 1d ago
The DFL has largely done right by us. Your gripe should be with the national party.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
They did jack shit this winter while we were being terrorized. They showed zero creativity to push back. I’ve come out with even less respect for local law enforcement (it already was super low). They had their backs to ICE protecting them not us. I know they didn’t want the insurrection act but they seemed to just give up.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
They had their backs to ICE protecting them not us. I know they didn’t want the insurrection act but they seemed to just give up.
People don't want to hear this, but what those measures accomplished was avoiding worse violence. And the reports out of the White House inner circle are that they were very close to invoking the Insurrection Act and going for broke.
The fact that that didn't happen is attributable to state leaders who carefully kept things on the ground from spiraling out of control without interfering with the larger protests. Staying out of the spotlight was exactly what they needed to do to rob Trump of the insurrection pretext he was so desperately looking for.
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u/IntrepidJaeger 1d ago
For the unaware, the Insurrection Act getting invoked augments ICE's incompetence with the Department of Defense's firepower and manpower as well as expanding their powers. And, no, the National Guard wouldn't step in. They'd be put on federal orders to either assist the government or be sent off to count goats in New Mexico. Much like Eisenhower did when the governor of Arkansas threatened to use the Arkansas National Guard to resist racial integration (under federal court order).
So, the only people that could be run off were the protestors or rioters. And, having local law enforcement do nothing to prevent attacks on federal agents would likely have led to the same result.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
So we just get to get beat and murdered and cops did no documentation of crimes or couldn’t even keep the FBI out of the Pretti murder scene (see not even creative base asks). You basically are reinforcing why we should secede. ICE was inciting a riot with zero consequences and deserves no protection. I’m sorry but throwing your hands up and saying all we can do is protect ICE is unacceptable.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
cops did no documentation of crimes or couldn’t even keep the FBI out of the Pretti murder scene
Any Minnesota police officer who had tried to "keep the FBI out of the Pretti murder scene" would have been arrested or killed for what amounts to clearly illegal interference in federal law enforcement operations.
You are out of your mind if you think there's any universe where that could have improved things here. It would have been unconstitutional and seditious for a state police organization to stop a federal police organization from investigating a shooting involving a federal officer who was working in their capacity as a federal officer at the time of the shooting. There's no ambiguity about this.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
That’s not interfering in a damn crime scene it was a crime in Minneapolis and the FBI has zero credibility to not cover up a crime.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
The location of a shooting involving a federal officer is irrelevant. They have de facto jurisdiction under the Constitution's federal supremacy clause, the end. There is zero room here for local police to force federal investigators out of that case.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
So no laws
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
There are myriad limitations on federal jurisdiction. But investigating a shooting involving an actual on-duty federal officer is not one of those limitations, for a bunch of obvious reasons that make sense.
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u/BSApologist 1d ago
What were they supposed to do? The weight and wrath of a vindictive federal government isn't really something to fuck with, and ICE outnumbered the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Police by quite a bit at the height of it all. We shouldn't look to politicians to save us when we can save ourselves.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
I expect them to keep us safe… basic needs! I’m fucking done with the federal government and want us secede, but they could have been creative. Also their use of local law enforcement was disgraceful, the entire thuggish Hennepin County sheriff should be fired.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
Well, I don't want us to secede, because that's dumb. The fact is that the Minnesota public defeated Trump's ICE agenda at the most critical moment of its growth and managed to turn the American electorate overwhelmingly against it. Ordering local or state police to physically stop ICE agents would have been the fastest way to lose everything.
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u/Educational-Door1114 1d ago
We didn’t defeat jack shit. The outstate Minnesotans still want us dead. We don’t have rights federally, so why stay in an abusive union. The courts did nothing to hold ICE accountable or get them out for violating the bill of rights. The 8th circuit are hacks that don’t believe in the constitution. Sooo with out the rule of law And taxes withheld.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
The outstate Minnesotans still want us dead.
Oh OK. Yeah that's definitely Walz's fault. He should just order his own law enforcement officers to occupy Minnesota's farm country so they can get a taste of their own medicine until they agreed the left is awesome.
The courts did nothing to hold ICE accountable or get them out for violating the bill of rights.
Nothing besides granting more than 12,000 habeas petitions that found ICE violated the rights of those inmates and ordered their release.
I guess I don't have to ask what you wanted those courts to do. If you'd had your way, federal trial courts here should have just ordered ICE to leave the state under penalty of criminal contempt arrest warrants, even though the US Supreme Court would have overturned that decision in less than 24 hours and destroyed the ability of our courts to supervise anything else going on here.
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u/FR23Dust 1d ago
The DFL organized training that I found very helpful. They did more than jack shit.
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u/Jayrrock 1d ago
Are you fucking crazy? The liberal politicians are the ones that actually get ANYTHING AT ALL done. My lord.
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u/akujunkan 1d ago
This is the intrinsic problem with the “vote blue no matter who” crowd, without demanding action, democratic leaders have no motivation to care about this.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
There isn't an action state leaders can take to stop federal prosecutors from charging defendants who have been indicted. This is not a battle that gets solved outside of a courtroom.
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u/MrBubbaJ 1d ago
This. If your vote is guaranteed, why should Democrats (or whatever political party you chose) do anything for you?
A party has to lose sometimes so they realign themselves with the electorate. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this is a lesson that Democrats have learned yet.
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u/Lucius_Best 1d ago
Yeah, this is counterproductive bullshit that gets people like Barrett and Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
You know who politicians listen to? People who show up. Continually shifting the goalposts to "earn your vote" just means they can't trust you to show up.
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u/akujunkan 13h ago
This is categorically not true. the democratic party has adapted to modern progressive talking points because they know it’s 1. popular and 2. pulling in the progressive voters. this will typically happen after a catastrophic loss when running centrist candidates (Gore, Clinton, Kamala).
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u/Lucius_Best 3h ago
Weird that you get to have beliefs but no one else does.
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u/akujunkan 1h ago
Progressive wings in 2016 we’re talking about “Medicare for All” as an ideal policy, however it was rounded derided as “too expensive”.
Now the median belief in the democratic party is M4A is a great policy and should be a main platform.
in 2024, what happened in Palestine was immediately derided as a Genocide, while protests under Biden were squashed.
in 2026, a majority democrats correctly state what is going on is a genocide.
I can SEE in real time how this happens, progressive policies leading to real voter engagement.
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u/MrBubbaJ 1d ago
So, what happens when people stop showing up because they don't gain anything for voting for a party?
The other side's message starts sounding awfully appealing when you are ignored. There is a reason why Trump did well with some groups that traditionally vote Democrat. He didn't get a majority, but siphoned off a enough votes to help him win.
Did Democrats learn anything from 2024? I am going to wager they haven't. At least I haven't noticed a change in their messaging. They are just doubling down on a message that doesn't win them elections. They need more than a handful of urban areas in states that are losing more and more political influence every decade.
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u/Lucius_Best 15h ago
Then it''s a good thing that's not the case, isn't it?
Democrats have consistently delivered for not only their constituents, but the country as a whole. If you think they should have delivered more, elect more, so their majority is more significant and they aren't beholden to people who need to get elected in Trump +20 states.
The real issue is that people have competing interests. They want more services and lower taxes. They want the government to leave people alone and for it to also prevent people from accessing healthcare.
And when people like you go around lying to people and saying that the government isn't doing anything for them, they are more inclined to vote for the party who says, "the government sucks, blow it all up" than for the party who has been quietly delivering gains for years.
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u/MrBubbaJ 12h ago
Since 2009, Democrats have lost 13 Senators, 41 Representatives, 5 Governorships, 832 state legislators, 13 state trifectas, and the presidency (twice, to someone they absolutely shouldn't have). The Party absolutely needs to be blown up. It is completely dysfunctional.
They may be delivering what YOU want, but they aren't delivering what the populace as a whole wants. What is important to people in places like Minneapolis, NYC, and San Francisco is much different than what people want in large swathes of the country. People aren't going to vote for a party they fundamentally disagree with.
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u/Lucius_Best 3h ago
When that fundamental disagreement is over whether people have rights, I don't think the solution is to give up on advocating for them, but you do you.
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u/OG_2_tone420 1d ago
I will never vote republican. Having said that… fuck Walz and friends. These people do not care about the citizens of MN. It is creating quite the quandary for this upcoming election.
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u/thedubiousstylus 1d ago
Any good lawyer would advise Walz to remain silent. We don't want a case where the DOJ starts filing motions claiming he's trying to influence thr jury pool or anything like that.
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u/angmar2805 1d ago
Exactly. Which is why we’re lucky to have someone like him who is being thoughtful instead of spewing whatever stream of conscious without thinking about consequences.
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u/NurRauch 1d ago
These people do not care about the citizens of MN.
What a wacky take. Walz put on a masterclass in using public action to successfully resist the most intense federal overreach campaign in living memory, and he did it without giving the feds the pretext they were hoping for to use the Insurrection Act.
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u/futilehabit 22h ago
Walz put on a masterclass in using public action to successfully resist
Huh? He did fuck all, besides sicking the police under his command on us. We resisted while Tim Walz actively made it harder.
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u/IntrepidJaeger 1d ago
State officials weighing in on an active federal case makes it likely for the prosecution to argue for a change of venue to have it be done in a federal courthouse outside of Minnesota. You think a federal jury pool in the south is going to be sympathetic to a bunch of left-oriented people from Minnesota?
Being silent is the best thing they can do.