DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, sources say

The Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey under the theory that they conspired to obstruct federal immigration agents through public statements they made, a senior law enforcement official and person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Minneapolis has seen intensifying protests since an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three and a U.S. citizen, last week. Immigration agents arrived in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, but federal agents have flooded the city since Good’s shooting.

Both Walz and Frey disagree with federal officials who have argued that Officer Jonathan Ross was justified in shooting Good. They criticized the federal response and questioned why the FBI excluded local authorities from the investigation into Good’s shooting. CBS News first reported on the investigation.

Walz said in a statement Friday that the investigation was purely political.

“Two days ago, it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week, it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous and authoritarian tactic,” he said. “The only person not under investigation for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her,” he said.

Frey said in a statement responding to the DOJ’s investigative reports that he “will not be intimidated.”

“This is a clear attempt to intimidate me because I am defending Minneapolis, our local law enforcement and our residents from the chaos and danger this administration has brought to our streets,” he said.

He added: “Neither our city nor our country will succumb to this fear. We remain strong as a rock.”

The Justice Department declined to comment. The federal law used in the investigation of Minnesota officials has been rarely used and has roots in the Civil War. But it was on a list of laws listed in a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi last month, obtained by NBC News, that offered a road map for federal prosecutors on how to strengthen investigations into individuals she characterizes as domestic terrorists.

Bondi posted on X Friday: “A reminder to everyone in Minnesota: no one is above the law. »

The prospect of an investigation that would involve political speech by public officials raises First Amendment concerns that would normally involve consultation with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section before federal officials open a criminal investigation into public figures or take proactive investigative steps, according to a person familiar with the matter.

But the Public Integrity Section was decimated and sidelined during Trump’s second term.

Aaron Terry, director of public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said in a statement Friday that while criticism of the administration’s immigration enforcement operations forms the basis of the investigation, “it is blatantly unconstitutional and intolerable in a free society.”

“The right to condemn government action without fear of government sanction is the foundation of the First Amendment,” Terry said.

In Minneapolis, tensions remain high; A federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis Thursday night after he allegedly fled a traffic stop and attacked an officer.