A federal judge blocked Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoenas of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and other Democrats in the state, which the DOJ had issued to investigate the link between Somali corruption and local politics.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz issued a ruling on June 17 that was unsealed on Monday, according to Politico. In his ruling, Schiltz explained that “initiating a criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents” was an “unlawful and unethical use” of the grand-jury process.
“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 of the grand-jury process,” Schlitz said.
Schlitz also claimed that President Donald Trump’s attacks and “promises of ‘retribution’” aimed at Walz and other Democrats in the state “establishes beyond reasonable dispute” that the DOJ’s grand jury subpoenas were “part of a broader campaign to coerce state and local officials,” according to the outlet:
The George W. Bush-appointed chief judge said Trump’s repeated attacks and promises of “retribution” against Walz, a Democrat, and other Minnesota officials “establishes beyond reasonable dispute” that the grand jury subpoenas — issued at the height of ICE’s Operation Metro Surge — “were a part of a broader campaign to coerce state and local officials in Minnesota to assist the Trump administration in its enforcement of immigration laws.”
Schiltz also pointed out that the U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from “forcing states to enforce federal laws,” and added that the subpoenas were part of the “Trump administration’s well-established history of using criminal investigations” to go after Trump’s opponents.
The ruling from the judge comes after the DOJ issued subpoenas in January to Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D), along with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.
Breitbart News reported in January that Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), shared that “Somali-run taxpayer fraud is a core part” of the Minnesota Democrats’ machine.
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