Judge smacks down DOJ on subpoenas for Minnesota officials, including Walz and Frey

When the Trump administration announced more than four months ago that it was ending its immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota — an operation that left two Americans dead and sparked a national outcry — one brutal chapter of a larger story came to an end.

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It was not, however, the final chapter. On the contrary, the president and his team launched a series of less violent tactics, which included trying to cut Medicaid funds to Minnesota, and just last week, charging 15 people in connection with their involvement in protests against the White House’s so-called Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. (Prosecutors accused Direct Action Minnesota of being affiliated with antifa, which seems like a stretch.)

But this wasn’t the only foray from Donald Trump’s Justice Department related to Minnesota. Politico reported:

A federal judge has thrown out Justice Department grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his allies, calling them an abusive and retaliatory process to punish Walz based on his refusal to assist President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In a blistering ruling, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said there was “no doubt” that the subpoenas were issued to damage Walz — part of what he said was a pattern of Trump administration efforts to use criminal process to punish the president’s adversaries.

“Initiating a criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action — particularly official action that the federal government cannot directly require those political opponents to take — is a blatantly unlawful and unethical use the grand-jury process,” Schiltz, who was appointed by George W. Bush, wrote in a 29-page ruling unsealed Monday.

The timeline of events is worth keeping in mind. As January got underway and Minnesota’s incumbent Democratic governor announced he was ending his bid for a third term, Trump and his White House team said the end of the Democratic governor’s campaign wasn’t enough, and they wanted Walz to face a Justice Department investigation.

Less than a week later, The Wall Street Journal reported that the president had begun complaining privately about then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, “describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda,” at least in part because she hadn’t pursued his perceived political enemies as quickly as he would prefer. The following day, the Journal published a follow-up report, adding that Trump also criticized some of his own U.S. attorneys at a White House event, “complaining they weren’t moving fast enough to prosecute his favored targets.”

A few days after the Journal’s report reached the public, the Justice Department opened an investigation into Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.