Bulwark Takes - DOJ Targets Tim Walz and Jacob Frey

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

Sam Stein takes on the breaking news that a federal judge has set limits on ICE’s violent tactics against peaceful protesters in Minnesota. Also breaking, the DOJ has reportedly launched an investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, claiming conspiracy to impede federal officers.

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey everybody. It's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the bulwark. It's pretty late on Friday. It's been a long week. I'm pretty tired. But there's some breaking news out of Minnesota tonight. Actually, two pretty big stories that I just wanted to address and bring you. The first one, I think, is probably more important, definitely more important, although it could be appealed. But a federal judge on Friday evening issued a ruling. I think it was like an 80-page ruling that was pretty significant. The ruling barred federal agents in Minneapolis. from arresting peaceful protesters and from using non-lethal munitions and crowd control tools against them. So obviously this is a big deal. You've been seeing tons of footage from Minneapolis showing ICE agents, Border Patrol agents, federal agents, really using aggressive tactics against peaceful demonstrators. We've had anecdotal evidence. We've had stories of families. There's one really horrifying story about this father who was taking his six kids home, I believe it was, and one of the girls, a six-month-old couldn't even breathe because

they had launched gas canisters and they'd gone into the car. In theory, this ruling, this issue, this order from the federal judge should put a stop to that. Basically, it says you can't do that stuff. The judge who issued the order, U.S. District Judge Kaitmanendez, a Biden appointee. The thing is, it's going to be appealed, right? So the Trump administration is going to appeal it. see what happens. But it's the first real case, I think at this point, of a federal judge intervening in the ICE operations, Operation Metro Surge, which is what they're calling, what's happening in Minneapolis. And I'm just going to play two video clips so you can get a sense of the type of stuff that we're talking about. So this first clip is from the AP. And this is

just a cell phone footage of ICE agents or Border Patrol agents, what appears to be just absolutely pummeling some dude with his knee as other Border Patrol agents hold this person down. You just watch it and you can see. It looks like the knee is connecting with this man's head multiple times while he's just down there, defenseless. Take a look at this. It's a short video clip. Stop needing it with a face.

Face! Stop it. If this is just one piece of cell phone footage, you have to imagine that this is happening all across city. In fact, we know that there's a lot of this happening across city because there's a lot of other footage that's out there. So if you look, this one was pulled from CNN. This has DHS Secretary Christianum claiming that ICE officers are doing everything by the book, that they're skilled. I think Stephen Miller used the phrase flawless. all alongside other video of ICE agents just absolutely beating the hell out of someone.

It looks like they're choking this dude with their legs around his neck. Again, this person is just square down, face down on the cement. And these agents are just completely on top of him viciously beating him. Take a look. The officers that we have out there are very highly trained and skilled specific for the operations that they're doing. They're utilizing the most gifted individuals on these operations to go out and to do enforcement because many times if they're going after murderers. This stuff is happening across the city. We know this.

And the judge's ruling in theory should put a stop to it. What Menendez, the judge says that ice officials involved in Operation MetroServe are barred from, quote, using pepper spray or similar or non-lethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and undernestals. obtrusive protest activity. Judge also prohibited federal agents from stopping vehicles following them as long as those vehicles are maintaining a safe and appropriate distance. That last part seems pretty key. As we know from what happened with Renee Good and also what happened with some other people, ICE agents take being followed very seriously. This at least gives some legal space for that to happen and some guidelines to ensure, let's hope, that there aren't violent confrontations here.

So this is a big deal. This is a victory for people who care about the right to demonstrate, the right to protest, which are fundamental American rights, and people who are, you know, who find what ICE is doing abhorrent and are really worried about the use of physical violence. In theory, this is a big deal. Now, we do expect the administration to repeat. heal the ruling, so we'll see. All right. So what's the other piece of big news? So the other piece

of big news came earlier tonight and it is from the Justice Department. I'm just going to read the Washington Posts right up of what happened here. Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation alleging that the two Democratic leaders are impeding federal law enforcement officers' ability to to do their jobs in the state. The subpoenas, which are without recent precedent, Esclay an already bitter political battle between the Trump administration and state officials

following the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. One of the people familiar with the case confirmed that the plan was to serve subpoenas Friday. People spoke in condition of anonymity, yada, yada, yada, yada. What the hell? I mean, what the hell? There's so much to unpack here. So Tim Walls, Jacob Frey, Democrats, highly critical vice.

They've been encouraging people to demonstrate peacefully, but they've also said repeatedly, repeatedly that people who are rioting or resorting to violence against ICE are wrong and they need to stop. They themselves have been saying that they've been excluded from the investigation into the killing of René. good. They're not impeding the investigation. They haven't been included in the investigation. Now, of course, this subpoena is for impeding ICE officers, but it's ridiculous. Do these ICE officers look like they're being impeded? I mean, they're operating with impunity. They're everywhere. They're not being impeded.

If anything, they probably need restraints. This is why this federal judge issued her order. but this is obviously an effort yet again to put a chill on any critic of ICE and to go after democratic critics of the president when the post says that this is without recent precedent what they really mean is this is kind of without precedent i mean maybe there's some historical anecdote that i'm unaware of but this is the weaponization of the justice department in ways that we have never seen. And it's ironic because the people who are doing it are the ones who have accused the Justice Department of being weaponized against them. There's no Democrat president who's done this to Republican governor or Republican mayor.

Trump didn't do this in his first term. And the bitter, bitter irony here, the bitter irony here is that the Justice Department is now investigating Tim Walls and Jacob Frey, while simultaneously refusing to investigate the actions of the police officer who shot and killed Reney Good. They're just not, they're not doing this. How do we know? Because at least six U.S. attorneys in Minneapolis have resigned because the instructions from above are that the investigation into Renee Good's shooting should focus on Renee Good, her relatives, and whether she has any connection. connection to some sort of, I don't know, nefarious organization that's whipping up these protests. They're refusing to investigate the officer. And so these U.S. attorneys resigned, including,

I should say, one U.S. attorney who has been integral to all the probes and investigations into the corruption in Minneapolis involving daycare centers, which is the nexus of all of this. So again, just to reiterate, what we know now is that the Justice Department is investigating and issuing subpoenas to Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, but they are refusing to look at the man who shot and killed Renee Good. Seems as backwards to me. Maybe I'm wrong.

But that's the world we live in. Anyways, wanted to give you those two updates on Friday night. We're going to keep on top of the story. Obviously, we have a lot of interesting and important stuff coming. We're sending a reporter down to Minneapolis, hoping to get some good information from there. and we can do that because we have the support of our community, our readers, and our viewers. So if you appreciate this, if you want to help support journalism on the ground in Minneapolis

and commentary and videos just like this, please do subscribe to the bulwark and like and rate our content. It really goes a long way. Thanks and have a great weekend, people. Talk to you later.