Walz Charging Taxpayers $430,000 in Legal Fees for Congressional Testimony Prep

How do you rack up $430,000 in legal fees just to prepare for testifying before Congress?

It’s a mystery to me, but Tim Walz has managed this feat, despite having only 7 days between the subpoena and the testimony. That means he spent $65,000 a day, and he still didn’t have time to look up the definition of a woman. 

New: Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for $430,000 in legal costs to outside lawyers who helped Gov. Tim Walz prepare for a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing where he sparred with Republicans over immigration. https://t.co/uUT7Ex61Hk

— Ryan Faircloth (@RyanFaircloth) July 9, 2025

Well, at least he is being true to his brand–wasting oodles of tax dollars for no discernible reason, accomplishing precisely nothing. He regurgitated the same bulls**t he always does, only this time the taxpayers are on the hook for nearly half a million dollars. 

Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for $430,000 in legal costs to outside lawyers who helped Gov. Tim Walz prepare for a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing where he sparred with Republicans over immigration.

The state tapped global law firm K&L Gates to prepare Walz for the June 12 congressional hearing, where he was questioned about whether Minnesota complies with federal immigration laws. On the day of the hearing, Minnesota’s budget agency sent a letter to a state legislative commission asking it to approve a $430,000 transfer from a general fund account to the governor’s office to pay for the legal services.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Walz in April requesting his testimony at the hearing in the nation’s capital. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office provided initial legal counsel before recommending outside attorneys because of “the specialized nature of the Congressional hearing,” according to the letter from Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Erin Campbell.

“Accordingly, the State agreed to use K&L Gates to prepare for the hearing, and to ensure that the State, administrative agencies, and the Governor were well-represented,” the letter states.

Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, said in a statement Tuesday that U.S. House Republicans “planned a political stunt on the taxpayer dime.”

Think about that. The State of Minnesota has an entire branch of government–the Attorney General is separately elected–whose job is to represent the state and its officials, but they decided to hand off the job to outside counsel–presumably politically connected–and the taxpayers are on the hook to pay for something of no benefit to the state or its citizens. 

Democratic Party government at its finest. 

Walz, you may recall, was a Congressman himself before he became governor, and was the Democratic candidate for Vice President just months ago. Yet we are to believe he is incapable of answering a few questions without costly, high-powered legal help. 

Sounds on brand. And it is likely true, in a way, except for the fact that legal advice could do any good even for him. He sounded like an idiot in any case. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wasted $430K in legal expenses preparing for his testimony about sanctuary states.

He appeared for the hearing and couldn’t answer, “What is a woman?”

All he had to say was “you’re a woman, Rep. Mace” or “adult human female.”

Walz couldn’t even do that. pic.twitter.com/CF2ngESC6F

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 9, 2025

Money well spent. 

I don’t know exactly how many minutes Walz spoke at the hearing, but given that it was only a few hours, and he was just one of three governors to testify, it couldn’t have been very long. Especially since Congressmen spend more time grandstanding than getting answers. 

Hiring outside counsel is now a thing across the country, and as far as I can tell, it is a scam to steal from the taxpayers and enrich politically connected lawyers–a group that spends an awful lot on political contributions. Walz, for instance, received $1.1 million in donations for his 2022 gubernatorial campaign from lawyers and lobbyists, according to Open Secrets. 

Earlier this year, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said her city expected to pay up to $650,000 to an outside firm that helped her prepare for a similar oversight committee hearing on immigration. And Denver paid outside counsel $250,000 to advise Mayor Mike Johnston at the same congressional hearing where Wu testified.

Gibson Dunn, a top law firm that’s represented high-profile clients in congressional investigations, says these inquiries “present unique challenges distinct from civil litigation and Executive Branch investigations.” The firm recommends hiring counsel who have direct experience with congressional procedures to navigate them.

In his remarks before the House Oversight Committee, Walz stressed that the country’s immigration system is broken and said state and federal officials need to work together to fix it. The DFL governor mostly avoided engaging in heated exchanges, even when fellow Minnesotan and GOP House Majority Whip Emmer launched into a several-minute attack.

I haven’t seen the itemized invoice, but it would be very interesting to see the hours listed. The rates must be sky high, and Tim Walz must have spent 24 hours a day boning up before the hearing to spend that much money on legal fees. 

And he still looked like an idiot.