Looks like de-escalation is back on the menu, boys … at least according to the White House.
Donald Trump announced that he and Governor Tim Walz spoke this morning by phone about calming the situation in Minneapolis. Trump called it “a very good call” in a post on Truth Social, claiming that Walz is now on a “similar wavelength” about enforcement of law and protection of order in Minnesota. This might be the first fruits of Trump’s decision to bypass Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem by putting Tom Homan in charge:
Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I! We have had such tremendous SUCCESS in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have “touched” and, even in Minnesota, Crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Thus far, no other reporting has emerged from the Walz administration on this call. Trump’s move to bypass Noem and Gregory Bovino – and Stephen Miller, for that matter – may have been seen by Walz as an opening, at least, if not an explicit invitation to engage in an effort to dial down the temperature.
That could be in part because Walz’ effort to sue the federal government out of Minnesota isn’t going well. NBC News reports that even the sympathetic federal judge who imposed a temporary restraining order on ICE last week (and which was vacated by the Eighth Circuit shortly thereafter) thinks Walz’ government has lost the constitutional thread here:
It’s clear from arguments so far this morning that attorneys for the State of Minnesota are asking for a judge in Minneapolis to do quite a bit more than U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez may be comfortable with.
Minnesota wants an end to Operation Metro Surge in its entirety, including the removal of thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. They’ve also mentioned the ICE memo that told their officers they could rely on an administrative warrant to enter homes if there was an order to remove someone from the country.
Judge Katherine Menendez seemed to find that particular topic a bridge too far.
Menendez’ comfort got promptly curtailed by the Eighth Circuit, too, so she’s already mindful of the limits of state jurisdiction. The Supremacy Clause grants the federal government jurisdiction to enforce federal law in all parts of the United States, and also to protect its law-enforcement operations if local authorities refuse to do so. Even if Menendez feels “comfortable” in ignoring the Supremacy Clause, the Eighth Circuit will feel even more comfortable in reversing and vacating orders issued on that basis. States cannot dictate to the federal government whether or how federal laws are enforced, regardless of their pretensions to “sanctuary” status. (I’ll have more on that in a later post.)
Trump may have encouraged Walz toward reasonableness with comments made in his interview in the Wall Street Journal late yesterday. For the first time, Trump made clear that the current operations would have an end date:
In a five-minute telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Trump didn’t directly answer when asked twice whether the officer who shot Alex Pretti had done the right thing. Pressed further, the president said, “We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.” Administration officials have publicly defended the officer. …
Trump also signaled a willingness to eventually withdraw immigration enforcement officials from the Minneapolis area.
“At some point we will leave. We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job,” he said. Trump didn’t offer a time frame for when agents might depart. Asked if agents would leave soon, he praised what the administration had done already in Minnesota and said, “We’ll leave a different group of people there for the financial fraud.”
Those comments, along with his decision to bypass Noem and Bovino with Homan and his direct line to Trump, is the best opening Walz has had to de-escalate tensions on his end. Trump didn’t concede anything jurisdictionally, but made clear that he isn’t happy how the situation has evolved – and who would be? Trump positioned himself as reasonable and open to discussion. Walz’ call cannot have been a coincidence. Let’s hope this will allow cooler heads to prevail.
Update: Of course, this might have something to do with Walz’ outreach:
We’re learning a lot more about the people who were in the anti-ICE Signal chat groups that independent journalist Cam Higby infiltrated in Minnesota, the organization of the group, its donors, and the significance of the address at which Alex Pretti was obstructing federal officers. There’s far too much information to detail completely in this piece, but even just from an overview, it’s clear that there is an organized insurrection underway, led by several elected officials in Minnesota and aided by alleged journalists. …
Even bigger: The names of the people involved. As Streiff wrote in an excellent piece on Sunday, “It is obvious that a non-trivial number of judges and elected officials are affiliated with the current insurrection.”
Not surprisingly, Alex Pretti, the man who was killed Saturday, was a member of the group; one of his neighbors confirmed that. And, so was Renee Good.
Reportedly, a number of elected officials in Minnesota are part of this same Signal group … including Walz’ lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan, who’s running for the US Senate this year. If the Department of Justice takes an interest in conspiracies to obstruct federal law enforcement, it will get very ugly for Walz and the DFL. That may have provided some incentives for cooperation, too. Read it all at RedState.
Update: NBC News reports that Walz’ office has issued a statement confirming the “productive” nature of the call, along with more efforts at cooperation:
In a statement to NBC News, Walz’s office confirmed that he held a “productive” call with Trump on Monday.
His office said Trump agreed to speak to the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that “state investigators are able to conduct independent investigations into the federal officers’ shootings of Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.
“The President also agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals,” Walz’s office said.
Walz’s statement also signals a more positive tone than the governor’s previous statements on Trump.
Let’s point out a couple of issues with Walz’ requests. First off, it’s well established that the jurisdiction for crimes committed by federal law enforcement while conducting their operations is federal, not state or local. Minnesota can investigate this as much as they want, but it will be up to the DoJ to decide whether to prosecute anyone. Cooperation on the investigation is basically a courtesy.
As for “working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals,” that problem lies with Walz and the city of Minneapolis and their “sanctuary” pretensions. This problem exists precisely because Walz and Jacob Frey won’t cooperate and coordinate with ICE, and the solution to that issue lies entirely with them as well. Again, I will have more on this later this afternoon.
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