FBI Serves Subpoenas to Minnesota Officials

We first learned this was coming last Friday. At the time, several news outlets were reporting that the DOJ intended to serve subpoenas to Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz in connection with an investigation into possible obstruction of federal agents.

The Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s clash with Democratic leaders there, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks…

The federal inquiry is focused on a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 372, one U.S. official told CBS News, which makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to prevent federal officers from carrying out their official duties through “force, intimidation or threats.”

Those subpoenas did not get served last Friday as anticipated. Instead they were served today along with several others.

Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to at least five Democratic officials in Minnesota, ramping up the Justice Department’s investigation into their response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the state, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The subpoenas sought documents from Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul related to their policies on immigration enforcement efforts in the state. Two Minnesota prosecutors, Keith Ellison, the state attorney general, and Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, were also sent similar subpoenas…

While the subpoenas did not cite a specific criminal statute, the inquiry as a whole was said to center on whether elected officials in Minnesota had conspired to impede the thousands of federal agents who have been in the state since last month looking for undocumented immigrants. But the investigation is likely to run up against stiff pushback for examining political speech and conduct that is traditionally protected by the First Amendment.

The subpoena may not have been specific about the possible charges, but as noted above the expectation was that it would involve 18 U.S.C. § 372. Here’s what that says:

If two or more persons in any State, Territory, Possession, or District conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the lawful discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties, each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both.

So this statute doesn’t require that the people involved use force to interfere with federal agents. Using threats and intimidation designed to make them leave “the place where his duties as an officer are required to be performed.” I’m not convinced at this point that Frey and Walz crossed that line but it’s at least arguable enough that I could see it going to a jury to let them decide. Frey famously told ICE to “get the f**k out of Minneapolis” and Walz repeatedly said his state was at war with the federal government. I’m not an attorney so take that with a big grain of salt. 

On the other hand, sometimes being a lawyer doesn’t seem to help. AG Ellison has been repeatedly misstating the law recently. He has also been trying to pressure federal agents to leave the state. It will be interesting to see if investigators turn up any group messages in which the three Democrats are discussing plans to accomplish that goal.

Meanwhile, Tim Walz is trying to soften his stance a bit. Today he invited President Trump to visit the state.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday invited President Donald Trump to visit the state to “see our values in action” amid a contentious back-and-forth between the pair over the presence of federal immigration officers in and around Minneapolis. 

“Mr. President, Minnesota invites you to see our values in action,” a statement from Walz reads on X. “Come see how communities from all walks of life are working together, and how the spirit of this state refuses to be defined by division of fear.”

“I invite you to join me, and others in our community to help restore calm and order and reaffirm that true public safety comes from shared purpose, trust and respect,” he added.

The polling on Walz’s attacks on ICE must have been pretty bad because he’s really done a 180 in the past week. Instead of repeating that the state was at war with federal agents he’s now, for the second time, calling for calm. Walz is acting like an arsonist who suddenly decides to make friends with the fire department to help his image. If you want calm, governor, stop throwing rhetorical bombs at the feds and making demands you have no right to make. And you could make a call to Mayor Frey and ask him to dial it back a bit as well.

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