Even before Vice President Kamala Harris Minnesota governor-elect Tim Walz On Tuesday morning, as his assistant, Walz faced a new investigation into what critics say was a delay in calling up the National Guard. 2020 was filled with protests Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd.
Republicans held Walsh responsible for the delay until former President Donald Trump, a criticism that quickly became one of the main arguments against the presidency. newly established Democratic presidential ticket On Tuesday, though, Trump also offered praise for Walz’s handling of the situation in 2020.
Hours after Harris picked Walz, GOP vice-presidential candidate JD Vance claimed that Walz, who has struck a conciliatory tone in the wake of Floyd’s killing and subsequent violence, had “ignited” protesters in Minneapolis during the May 2020 protests. Criticism was also quickly echoed by the Trump campaign Republican National Committee and Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC.
Trump himself falsely claimed — during a rally last month in St. Cloud, Minnesota — that it was he, as president, who called in the National Guard during a protest after Walz pulled his legs. While that claim is not true, Walz and the Minneapolis mayor have long pointed fingers at each other for the delayed response, with Republicans blaming both in a subsequent legislative investigation.
Criticism for slow response to riots
In May 2020, days after the killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, protests broke out across Minneapolis and St. Paul, and soon across cities across the U.S. Some of the protests in Minnesota quickly turned violent, resulting in massive fires, looting and looting in large parts of downtown Minneapolis. and debris.
At the time, Republicans blamed Walz for not responding sooner and more aggressively to the protests. Specifically, they said there was a three-day delay in Walz ordering the National Guard to the Twin Cities to help quell the riots. Criticism resurfaced last week as Walz was promoted to Harris’ list of nominees.
A Report from Minnesota Senate Republicans In October 2020, Walz stated that he “had the ability and duty to use force and law enforcement to stop criminal violence, but did not.
“Governor Waltz was not ready to do what was necessary to stop the unrest immediately because he was having a philosophical debate about whether to use force to stop the violence,” the report’s authors wrote.
Walz’s office confirmed at the time that the 24-year National Guard veteran had activated the guard after formal requests from the Democratic-led cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The 2020 activation came before Walz spoke to the White House.
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020 while in Minneapolis police custody. The next day — after a video was released showing Floyd dying, with police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck, he said he couldn’t breathe — protests erupted across the city. Until May 27, in addition to peaceful protests, cases of vandalism, looting and arson were also recorded in the city.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he called Walz on the evening of May 27, shortly after hearing that the Target store had been looted, to request the dispatch of the National Guard.
“We stated the seriousness of the situation. The urgency was clear.” Frey told the Star Tribune In August 2020. “He didn’t say yes,” Frey told the newspaper. “He said he would consider it.”
A A Star Tribune investigation into the exchange Frey’s staff felt that his conversation with Walz was a formal request to send a guard. The newspaper found texts through public records requests confirming that Frey had reached out to Walz for the conversation — but there was no confirmation from Walz or his office that the guard was fired on May 27.
Frey said his office followed up the National Guard deployment with a written request to Walz on the morning of May 28. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter sent a similar letter hours later May 28.
Frey’s and Walz’s offices have openly argued over what constitutes a formal request for National Guard assistance. Valz’s office reported this that an oral request is not considered a formal request. Federal regulations it is unclear whether the request came in writing.
Bill George, the former CEO of Minneapolis-based health-tech giant Medtronic — and a decades-long Minneapolis resident who says he lives within 2 miles of the more violent protests — recalled how the protests “started out peaceful and then everything got stale.” over, it got very violent.” George, a Walz supporter, said he blamed Frey for the delayed response.
Spokespeople for Walz and Frey did not respond to NBC News’ questions about the matter.
Walz did not activate the Minnesota National Guard until the afternoon of May 28, when his office made a decision. news release announcing the move. And a few minutes later The Minnesota National Guard announced this on the social network said the department’s response to the request is “currently in process.”
That night at 10:41 p.m. local time, the Minnesota National Guard Posted in X That he “activated” 500 soldiers in and around the twin cities.
About an hour after that, at 11:53 PM local time, Trump wrote in X what he would do “Send in the National Guard” because “I can’t stand by and watch this happen.” Trump in the second post He wrote that he spoke with Walz informing him that “the military is with him all the way” and that “any trouble and we’ll take control, but when the looting starts, the shooting will begin.”
ABC News reported on this on Wednesday Trump told Walsh and other governors in a June 1 phone call that he “I completely agree[d] With how he’s handled it over the last few days.” The Trump campaign said Walz was referring to his decision to use the National Guard.
Walz said he was reacting to the unrest at the time was a “brutal failure”. It took two more days for him, on May 30, the whole order The Minnesota National Guard entered Minneapolis to stop the violence.
A police station was set on fire until control was restored. The Walz administration estimated the total damage across the Twin Cities at $500 million.
The A report compiled by Republicans In October 2020, in the Minnesota State Senate, both Walz and Frey were accused of a slow response.
A spokeswoman for Frey, citing a Star Tribune investigation, said Frey contacted Waltz on the evening of May 27 for National Guard assistance.
A spokesman for St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said he was in constant communication with Walz and his state law enforcement partners throughout the week, and that Carter spoke with Walz “immediately” by phone after “the unrest first spread to St. Paul” in May. 28, added that “the city’s formal written request for assistance to the National Guard was sent in writing the same day.”
Asked by reporters last Thursday if he would have done things differently in retrospect, Walz said: “It is, and I just believe we tried to do the best we could in every one of them. [situations].”
Minnesota Democrats and other in-state allies of Walz suggested that Republicans could not blame Walz for the fiasco, as they posted messages on social media that Trump said was inflaming an already dire situation.
“Gov. Waltz decided to deploy the National Guard at a time when Donald Trump was tweeting from his bunker, inflaming the situation and telling anyone who would listen to go after the protesters,” he said. During the protests that took place in the region, he would later be elected as a representative in 2020.
Any potential discussion by Walz on the issue, he said, was because Walz “was aware of both the safety of the moment and the safety of the residents of Minneapolis — as well as the pain of the protesters and their First Amendment rights.”
This moment remains in the memory of state Republicans.
“Going back to 2020, of course he did nothing to stop the riots in Minneapolis. I think he was afraid of alienating the ‘progressive’ base that supported the riots,” Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann This was reported by Fox News last weekAfter Walz emerged as a potential VP choice.
What came next
Walz and Minnesota’s response to Floyd’s murder and the surrounding protests didn’t stop after the violence. In June 2020, Walz called a special legislative session after the Legislature failed to advance police reform legislation. He called the second session after seeing that the legislators did not propose reforms in the first session. At the time, Republicans controlled the state Senate and Democrats controlled the state House.
“[Walz] said Susie Malmberg-Merthan, a Minneapolis-based Democratic strategist.
“Then as governor, he has been a constructive partner at the table, not only to pass police accountability measures, but also to improve the relationship between the public and the police in the wake of George Floyd’s murder,” Malmberg-Merthan said.
During the July session The legislature passed a law on police reform Those that led to Floyd’s death included neck restraints, chokeholds and “fighter-style” training, as well as a duty to interrupt officers if they saw them using excessive force. A and second, a more modest, compromise package of police reforms In June 2021, limited no-knock guarantees were adopted.
However, some public safety advocates expressed their disappointment with the slow pace of adoption of many of the adopted measures.
Meanwhile, Walz won praise for his decision in May 2020 to turn Chauvin’s prosecution over to state Attorney General Keith Ellison, taking that responsibility away from local prosecutors. Chauvin was found guilty on all counts For causing Floyd’s death.
Ellison, an ally of Walz, said Tuesday that without the governor’s decision, there would be no action.
“This proves that he cared about George Floyd and his family, that he was morally outraged and that he did everything he could to get justice for George Floyd,” Ellison said. “If Tim Walz hadn’t appointed me, there wouldn’t have been a George Floyd case. Period.”