Activists From The United States

"By now it has become clear that the Democrats’ presidential ticket has simply changed out one old lying white guy for another."

"Tim Walz addressed the ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota after a viral video showed an empty daycare center with a misspelled sign that received millions in federal funding. The Minnesota governor claimed he was taking strong action against the alleged fraud, just hours after FBI boss Kash Patel revealed the crisis runs far deeper than initially thought. 'The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,' a spokesperson for Walz told Fox News. 'He has strengthened oversight - including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.' Walz also 'hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.' The governor has been inundated with criticism from concerned Americans questioning how he intends to respond to allegations of widespread fraud within the state. Initial reports emerged earlier this month of a massive Covid-era scheme involving the federally funded nonprofit group Feeding Our Future. At least 78 people, 72 of whom are Somali, have been charged in connection with the illicit plot."

"You know what they say, behind every governor is an astonished mother-in-law. To my mother, Darlene Walz. Thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for me and showing me what strength looks like. I love you, Mom. Finally, to those who walked into this theater with me—teachers of mine, teachers I have worked with, students I have taught, and all other educators in the room—please stand as we thank you. Thirty-six years ago, Governor Rudy Perpich also asked the teachers in the room to rise during his swearing-in at Hibbing High School. I’m honored to recognize our educators again today."

"As you know, I was a high school coach for many years. I have a high regard for competition on the football field. But governing is not a sporting contest with opposing teams each wanting to defeat the other. It’s not a horse race nor a poker game to see who can best the other. It’s about working together. Working to give everyone a better chance."

"In August Vance claimed: “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him.” Several former National Guard colleagues have previously publicly voiced frustrations at Walz’s decision to leave their unit before deployment to Iraq but others have rejected assertions that he retired to avoid combat duty. In February 2005, while he was still in the National Guard, Walz filed an application to run for election as a member of Congress from Minnesota. The following month it was announced that there would be “a possible partial mobilisation of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard” to Iraq within the next two years, according to a 2005 press release from Walz’s congressional campaign. In the statement, Walz said: “I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilisation.” He added: “I don’t want to speculate on what shape my campaign will take if I am deployed, but I have no plans to drop out of the race." Walz retired from the National Guard in May 2005, which he later said was so he could focus fully on running for Congress. His National Guard unit received orders to mobilise for Iraq in July 2005, and was sent there in March 2006, according to the battalion’s history page. On 13 August 2024, Mr Walz responded directly to his critics, recalling that he'd joined the National Guard aged 17: "I served for the next 24 years for the same reason all my brothers and sisters do, we love this country. Then in 2005 I felt the call of duty again, this time giving service to my country in the halls of Congress.""

"No matter how daunting the challenge; no matter how dark the times; Minnesota has always risen up—by coming together. Our blood saved the Union at Gettysburg. Our iron forged the tanks that liberated Europe. Our farmers sparked a green revolution that fed the world. Our imagination transformed medicine. One Minnesota is who we are. We just need to foster it. Together as One Minnesota, we don’t fear the future. We create it."

"As a small town boy turned soldier, football coach and high school teacher, never did I envision standing before you today as Minnesota’s 41st Governor—and neither, I am sure, did you. The inaugural ceremony is a public acceptance of our legal—and moral—responsibility to this great state. A clear recognition of the privilege we’ve been given by the people of Minnesota to do our best to further our state’s magnificent legacy. To those of you who voted for me, thank you for your trust. For Minnesotans who voted for someone else—like the gentleman who came out to a listening session on a Friday night in Fergus Falls to tell me he didn’t vote for me, but doesn’t want to see me fail—I’ll work hard to earn your trust as your governor."

"And to my mom, Darlene, who is with us today. When dad died, you worked tirelessly to keep us together. My dad — a Korean War era vet, an educator, and a cigarette smoker — died of lung cancer when I was a teenager, and my family struggled enormously to pay his outstanding medical bills. We got by on social security survivor benefits and my mom’s job in a nursing home. Mom, your hard work and courage was a powerful example for me. My mom raised four teachers – and three out of four of us married teachers. Education is in our blood. Gwen and I met teaching high school, and we taught together for many years after we were married. We saw firsthand the challenges our students face. While we were in the classroom, coaching football, organizing dances, and directing plays, Gwen and I got to know our students and the obstacles in their lives. It was my experience as a teacher and my passion for education that led me to run for governor."

"Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced on Monday that he's dropping his bid for a third term as governor amid stinging criticism of the unsuccessful 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee's handling of his state's massive welfare assistance fraud scandal. "The political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win," Walz charged in a statement. "But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all," the governor added. "Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences." "So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work," the governor announced.Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance."

"I hope maybe we're at the McCarthy moment. Do you have no decency? Do you have no decency? We have someone dead. In their car For no reason whatsoever, and And I, I don't, I don't want to be right about this, but I said if they do this they're going to create a chaotic situation where someone innocent's going to get killed, and they did it. And now we hear more political rhetoric. Enough, enough is enough. And so to Minnesotans don't take the bait. Do not take the bait. Do not allow them to deploy federal troops into here. Do not allow them to invoke the Insurrection Act. Do not allow them to declare martial law. Do not allow them to lie about the security and the decency of this state. And let's let this investigation play itself. Let's make sure we protect our neighbors. I encourage you to use your First Amendment rights and all of your constitutional rights, but do so in a peaceful manner. We'll gather back with you as soon as we gather more information that needs to be put out. But again, stay safe, Minnesotans, and we'll be back with you."

"Reactions quickly began to pour in following the Walz announcement. "Good riddance," Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, said in a statement. Minnesota Republican state Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, released a statement saying, "Tim Walz and his staggering fraud could not outrun our investigations and the momentum we have in this race. He knows he will lose in November, and would rather give up than take responsibility. Anyone Walz handpicks to run for governor will own the fraud and failures of this administration. Our campaign is building the coalition necessary to stop the fraud, protect our kids, and make Minnesota prosper. As Governor, I will dismantle the years of fraud Democrats allowed and ensure our tax dollars work for Minnesotans." Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, another leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, took to social media to argue, "If Democrats think they can sweep Minnesota’s fraud scandal away by swapping out Tim Walz, they are wrong." "We need transformational change across state government that only comes with a Republican governor. I will deliver that no matter who the Democrats decide to run," Demuth emphasized. But Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement, "No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November." And Besehar praised Walz, a former DGA chair, as "a true leader who has delivered results that will make life better for Minnesota workers and families for years to come.""

"In 1999, when Reitan came out, Gwen Walz was the third person he told after his close friend and his sister, as he said during his appearance on MSNBC. Reitan subsequently approached Tim Walz to become the advisor for the GSA, and Walz agreed. “Both Tim and Gwen were incredibly supportive of their gay students. They modeled values of inclusivity and respect. That helped not just me — I was bullied in high school — but it also, I think, helped the bully. It helped show the bully a better path forward,” Reitan continued. Reitan went on to have a storied career in LGBTQ+ advocacy before working as a lawyer. In 2006, at age 23, he founded the Soulforce Equality Ride bus tour campaign, which brought LGBTQ+ students to Christian colleges for debates on queer issues. In addition to his work to help repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which barred U.S. military servicemembers from disclosing their sexual orientation, Reitan joined the Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying in 2012, as the Mankato Free Press reported in a 2017 profile on his work. (Them has reached out to Reitan for comment on this story.) In many respects, that history of LGBTQ+ advocacy lines up with Walz’s own: As a United States congressman, Walz opposed DADT, voting to repeal the policy in 2010. Walz also ran for Congress while openly supporting same-sex marriage in 2006. “He’s a remarkable individual,” Reitan told MSNBC."

"Civil liberties and migrant-rights groups called for nationwide rallies on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of an activist in Minnesota by a U.S. immigration agent, as state authorities opened their own investigation of the killing. Protest organizers said more than 1,000 weekend events were planned across the country demanding an end to large-scale deployments of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ordered by President Donald Trump, mostly to cities led by Democratic politicians. Minneapolis became a major flashpoint of the Republican president's militarized deportation roundups on Wednesday, when an ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old mother of three, Renee Good, behind the wheel of her car on a residential street. The violence came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to Minneapolis in what ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, called the "largest DHS operation ever." Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, condemned the deployment as a "reckless" example of "governance by reality TV.""

"Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, pointed to bystander video he said directly contradicted the federal government's "garbage narrative." Civil liberties advocates said the video showed federal agents lacked any justification for using deadly force. Amid the sharply differing accounts of the shooting, Minnesota and Hennepin County law enforcement authorities said on Friday they were opening their own criminal inquiry of the incident separate from a federal investigation led by the FBI. Some Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, asserted state prosecutors lack jurisdiction to charge a federal officer with a crime, though legal experts say federal immunity in such cases is not automatic. The crisis atmosphere led Walz - a prominent Trump antagonist who branded Trump and his Republican allies as "weird" during his own run for vice president last year - to put the state's National Guard on alert. Federal-state tensions escalated further on Thursday when a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop. As in the Minneapolis incident, DHS said the driver had tried to "weaponize" his vehicle and run over agents. DHS on Friday identified the wounded driver and passenger as suspected gang associates from Venezuela who were in the U.S. illegally. The agency said the woman had been involved in a prior shootout in Portland but provided no evidence of its allegations against the pair."

"My mission as governor is simple: make Minnesota the best state in the country for kids. This is what I have charged my team to do – to make our state the best place to raise a family, and I’m proud to say we have made historic strides."

"The deployment of agents to Minneapolis follows Trump's recent denunciations of Walz and his state's large population of Somali immigrants over allegations of fraud dating back to 2020 by some nonprofit groups administering childcare and other social-service programs. Good was shot dead just a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer crushing his neck into the pavement with his knee during a videotaped arrest in May 2020. Floyd's death sparked months of nationwide racial-justice protests during Trump's first term in office. Bystander video of the Minneapolis incident showed masked officers approaching Good's Honda SUV while it was stopped at a perpendicular angle to the street, partially blocking traffic. One agent is seen ordering her out of the car and grabbing onto the driver-side front door handle as the car pulls forward and steers away from the officers, one of whom jumps back and fires three shots into the front of the vehicle as it rolls past."

"I heard that when {Walz} was vetted {by the Harris campaign}, one of the questions they asked was how skilled is he at using a teleprompter, and he said: "I don’t use a teleprompter. You’re going to have to teach me how to do that." This is a teacher who knows what needs to be said, whether it’s on the field or in the classroom. He doesn’t need it written out on cue cards or teleprompters because it’s coming from the heart . . . ."

"This is racism, plain and simple, and we need to call it that."

"We find ourselves at a time when economic, social, racial, and geographic division feels rampant. I will not normalize behavior that seeks to deepen and exploit these divides. I will not normalize policies that are not normal—ones that undermine our decency and respect. If Washington won’t lead, Minnesota will."

"In an apparent swipe at Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the recipients said they believe that "fabricating military service is beneath the dignity of a veteran and demeaning to those who have served honorably in the Armed Forces." Walz had come under fire for his service in the Minnesota National Guard. He retired in 2005 after 24 years of service ahead of his battalion being deployed to Iraq. He’s been faced with accusations of "stolen valor," with some saying he retired early and did not complete trainings. The recipients also said they believe that "the enemies of freedom must be defeated," and that "the flag is a powerful symbol of freedom." "We believe the United States of America is the greatest nation the world has ever imagined. We believe in mutually pledging to every American our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," they wrote. "We believe in Donald Trump." Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign touted in September the endorsements from "a bipartisan group of more than 700 national security leaders and former military officials." The Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment on the Trump endorsements when reached Friday by Fox News Digital."

"The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school. Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education. He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High. Waltz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard at the rank of command sergeant major. He was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes a number of midsize cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Walz won election as governor in 2018 and re-election four years later. But Walz was unknown to many Americans when then-Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate in the summer of 2024, soon after she replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats' presidential nominee. Walz, during his three months as running mate, visually and vocally embraced the traditional role of political attack dog that has long been associated with vice presidential nominees. But Harris and Walz fell short, losing the November 2024 election to Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance, as the Democratic Party ticket was swept in all seven crucial battleground states."

"A third Democratic staffer laughed that Trump “can’t even keep the plot straight” on who to blame for the Minnesota scandal, pointing fingers at both Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who is a Somali immigrant. Still, the fraud scandal continues to be an unwanted firestorm for the Democratic Party that, beyond politics, could jeopardize millions in federal funding. Kelly Loeffler, Trump's Small Business Administration chief, sent a letter to Walz before Christmas, alerting him that the administration would be halting some $5.5 million in funding previously allocated for the state while the federal government continues to investigate additional fraud cases. New reporting that surfaced over the weekend suggests that multiple Minnesota daycare operations were recipients of taxpayer subsidies, despite currently having no children enrolled in the programs. Patel reacted to those reports on Sunday by announcing plans to surge "investigative resources" to expand the federal government's inquiry, adding that the indictments handed out so far represent "just the tip of the iceberg." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem similarly offered up ICE agents on Monday to conduct investigations of alleged fraud sites."

"It is the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of Minnesota with my friend and favorite coworker, Governor Tim Walz. The Governor asked me last year, if I knew everything that we know now – would I have signed up? My answer was, and is, absolutely. Let’s get back to work."

"Multiple senior Democratic officials, one of whom staffed Walz on the 2024 campaign trail, told the Washington Examiner that the Minnesota fraud scandal plays into the GOP’s electoral strengths but doubted that it would help Minnesota Republicans win next year’s gubernatorial election or resonate with voters beyond the state like Trump’s immigration rhetoric did while running against Harris. “The thing about the border security issue was it was so present. People see ‘fraud’ and Somalian immigrants, but it’s not like the images of people running across the border or through the Rio Grande,” the former Walz aide said. “I’m always worried about the misuse of public dollars, but this is a little in the weeds.” A second senior Democratic official welcomed Trump’s attacks on Walz, saying the president’s focus could solidify support from the “anti-Trump” crowd around the incumbent. “No Democrat is running against Gov. Walz because we, and the voters, know the truth: He is a good man, and Trump’s attacks are more rooted in racism than reality,” the official assessed, noting that Republicans, by contrast, have not yet landed a strong recruit for the governor's race. “On the other side, you’ve got basically a dozen Republicans all trying to out-Trump each other, and they’re all probably going to lose to Mike Lindell," they added. "Minnesota hasn’t voted a new Republican into a major office since Trump stepped off the golden escalator, and I seriously doubt the My Pillow guy is going to change that.""

"I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team. Now let’s get to work."

"Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) likened President Trump’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities to the barbaric Nazi occupation chronicled by Anne Frank. “We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” Walz declared during a fiery press conference on Sunday. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.” “Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.” Frank famously chronicled her harrowing time in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands for over two years before her capture. Ultimately, she died in a concentration camp. Taking a somber tone, Walz vowed to be defiant in the face of Operation Metro Surge and re-upped his well-worn demands for the Trump administration to end the surge of federal law enforcement personnel to the state."

"But let’s be clear: we have more work to do. Across the country, the pandemic disrupted the lives of our students. And despite the heroic efforts of teachers, students, and parents, many of our kids have fallen behind. We’ve re-doubled our efforts with summer catchup programs but we have more work to do. And to be clear: the burden is not on our children, or even our teachers – it’s on all of us. That’s why in this coming legislative session, we will make the largest investment in public education the state has ever seen. We will pass universal meals to ensure every student is given something to eat and no child has to worry about the color of their lunch ticket. We will fund special education and make sure every young person in Minnesota has the resources they need to succeed. We will put mental health front and center. We’ll work together to stop the stigma and allow young people access to the help they need to reach their full potential. We will ban conversion therapy to ensure that every LGBTQ student knows they are perfect just the way they are. And we will fund programs to recruit and train the next generation of teachers – so a diverse generation of students has an equally diverse generation of teachers. But Investing in our classrooms is only the beginning. Building the best schools in the nation is a good start, but to make Minnesota the best state for kids we need to make sure that kids are thriving in and OUT of the classroom. Children can’t learn if they’re hungry or without a home. We have the opportunity to ensure every child has a safe place to call home and that no child goes hungry. I am committed to ending child poverty in Minnesota."

"Mr. Walz brought passion every day. He loved to coach. He loved to teach. [As for football,] if you don’t do your job, there’s literally a hole there for them to run the ball through. Tim, he just had a way of not making you feel bad but making you want to do better."

"There is a temptation to see these times as unprecedented, to see our current challenges as insurmountable. As a history teacher, I found it instructive to look back at past inaugural speeches to see how incoming governors portrayed the situations facing them. In 1955, Governor Orville Freeman painted a picture of a society in intense crisis, besieged by the struggle between freedom and totalitarianism raging around the world. In 1971, Governor Wendy Anderson spoke about how health care cost too much—or wasn’t even available. He described a housing shortage in which the average young couple in Minnesota could not dream of buying a home. In 1979, Governor Al Quie expressed concern about discrimination in our state. He urged the legislature to take action to eliminate discrimination in all forms, and to open opportunities for women, people of color, the poor, those with disabilities, and the elderly. In 2011, Governor Mark Dayton described how our education system was failing our students, thus failing our future. It strengthens my resolve to know those who came before me, on whose shoulders I stand, faced difficult challenges, many similar to those we face today."

"Roberta Sloan, 66, a retired nurse who drove from Rochester, Minnesota, to join the protest in the park on Minneapolis’s south side, said she was frustrated that Omar’s effort to enter the ICE facility was challenged, but glad the congresswomen tried. “They have every right to be there to see these detention places and how people are being treated,” she said. Sloan was also pleased with how Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis’s mayor have spoken out against the ICE operation and shooting. “They are standing up for what Minnesota stands for,” she said, and that’s why she felt compelled to protest: “To stand up for those who don’t have a voice.” Standing on a nearby snow covered sidewalk, amid a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, health care worker Peter Prou, 33, of St. Paul, said he was outraged by the shooting and came to fight for justice. “They’re taking away all our rights and freedoms. They know it’s murder and they’re trying to cover it up,” he said of ICE, but added, “There’s strength in numbers. There’s more of us than them.”"

"He'll unleash HELL ON EARTH"

"They're out of a Hallmark movie in terms of how decent they are as people, and it's exactly what would want as vice president."

"Minnesota’s teacher requirements therefore force Christians, Muslims, Jews, and adherents to other religions to violate their faith and endanger their hopes of eternal life in order to work in government-run schools. Forcing people to testify to beliefs they don’t hold, often called compelled speech, is clearly unconstitutional, he said: “They’re essentially requiring people to affirm these ideas that they don’t really believe, in many cases, as a condition of being a public school teacher or being part of a program to be a licensed public school teacher. You can’t force that kind of speech, you can’t require adherence to ideas that aren’t believed.” The 13-member board that made these changes is appointed by the governor, whom for the last six years has been Walz. So, Walz is poised to make similar bigoted, totalitarian, and unconstitutional policies across the United States should he be elected vice president."

"Federal prosecutors unveiled charges Thursday against another six people, accusing them of defrauding public assistance programs in Minnesota — including two men they allege traveled to the state for that express purpose. The latest indictments add fuel to a scandal that has now led to charges against more than 90 people who have been accused, and in many cases convicted, of bilking hundreds of millions of dollars from the Midwestern state, putting Gov. Tim Walz's administration in the hot seat and drawing attacks from President Trump. Thursday's charges focus on housing assistance and autism services. And the pandemic-era food aid fraud case that set off the scandal is still brewing."

"Now is the time to be bold and build a bright future for all Minnesotans. Now is the time to deliver. We can lead the nation in ending child poverty and making sure every child receives a world-class education. And in doing so, we will continue to make Minnesota the best place to raise a family. I have a positive vision for the future of our state and it’s rooted in my belief that we’re in this together. I still believe that we’re One Minnesota – not that we are all the same or that we all the agree, but that we can work together across lines of difference to do what’s right, what’s fair, and make our state a better place for all. As I look into this room and see so many newly elected leaders—including the promising faces of our new majorities in both the House and the Senate—I can’t help but feel optimistic. I’m looking at a state legislature—on both sides of the aisle—that looks more like the people of Minnesota than any time in history. This gives me hope. It inspires me. And I look forward to working together – Republicans and Democrats alike. I’ll work with anyone who’s willing to work with me to get things done – because Minnesotans spoke clearly this last election, and they expect all of us to do just that: get things done. The era of gridlock is over. Minnesotans have chosen hope over fear, fact over fiction, and action over excuses. Our path is clear. It’s time to lead."

"My predecessors tackled the problems they faced, and working together with the legislature, they made progress. Because of that progress, our state enjoys one of the best education systems in the country, one of the best health care systems in the country, and perhaps the best quality of life in the country. But we can and must do better. Old ways of doing things must be updated. New solutions must be found for new problems. We must continue to aim higher, reach further, and build brighter futures for the people of our state."

"“If it was the intention of Donald Trump to make an example of Minnesota, then I’m damn proud of the example that the world is seeing,” the governor added. Tensions in Minneapolis have soared in the wake of a Border Patrol agent’s shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse, on Saturday. Footage showed multiple officers pinning Pretti to the ground and removing his 9mm handgun, the gun slide of which appeared to move. Officers then opened fire on Pretti. Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to Walz on how to end the chaos in Minnesota but the governor shrugged that off. “There’s 2 million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those,” Walz snapped back on Sunday. “We cooperate. We don’t do their job,” Walz later contended when pressed about the Trump administration’s demands that it can get more access to the state’s jails. “It’s their job to do immigration.” The shooting of Pretti came some two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot Renee Good, also 37, after she accelerated her SUV in his direction. An investigation into Pretti’s death is ongoing, according to top officials, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem."

"Minnesota is far from the only state that has grappled with allegations of public assistance fraud, especially scams targeting pandemic aid funds. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Minnesota faces a particularly large problem, pointing to 14 different Medicaid programs that the state has flagged for "significant fraud problems." He suggested total losses could reach into the billions. "The fraud is not small. It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated," Thompson said at a press conference Thursday. "What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering, industrial-scale fraud." Walz, whose administration has faced scrutiny for its handling of the issue, has vowed to crack down. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has sharply criticized Minnesota — and he's lashed out at the state's large Somali-American community as most, but not all, of the defendants are of Somali descent."

"Walz’s first executive order as governor was to install a “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, council. Former Minnesota state legislator Allen Quist notes that “The radical Walz administration Department of Human Rights has also forced school districts to report student discipline by race and require equal outcomes (equity) in discipline. The results have been horrific chaos and violence.” During Walz’s governorship, student achievement in Minnesota has gone from among the best in the nation to declining more sharply than anywhere else in the nation, according to the Minneapolis-based Center for the American Experiment. The most recent scores show Minnesota fourth graders dipping below the national average in reading for the first time ever recorded on the well-respected Nation’s Report Card. Research has found for decades that there is no link between teacher certification and student achievement. People who enter teaching with a degree other than in education tend to have significantly higher personal and student academic performance."

"To all who have been elected to serve: Be the decent, dedicated, and diverse leaders you were elected to be. Be the ally, and the role model, and the change maker your constituents need you to be. Work pragmatically. Work with someone you never thought you could to accomplish something you never thought possible. We are not here to score political points. We are not here for victory laps. We are here to improve lives. We have a moment – and it’s not about which party won or which party is in control; this moment is about our opportunity to work collaboratively and get things done for Minnesotans. This is our opportunity to model what public service and public servants look like. This is our opportunity to make change, to make what was previously impossible possible, and to strengthen faith in government as a force for good. This is our opportunity to restore civility, transparency, and accessibility to the decision-making table for Minnesotans of all ages, races, genders, and zip codes. This is our opportunity to build One Minnesota, and to make our state the best place in the country to live, to work, and to raise a family. This is our opportunity. Let’s get to work."

"Education is the great equalizer of society. Education unleashes untapped potential. Education conjures the magic of promising beginnings and the grace of second chances. Putting a young child on a yellow bus to pre-kindergarten in St. Cloud can prevent him from riding a prison bus to Stillwater."

"The revelation of widespread fraud committed by members of Minnesota’s Somali community is a political gift for President Donald Trump, allowing him to elevate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as a sorely needed foil for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. But veteran campaign operatives for both parties expect that Walz's status as a Democratic boogeyman will be short-lived, and that Republicans will inevitably look back to California or New York, where bigger-name figures are dominating GOP claims of socialism and incompetence. Trump has heaped attacks on Walz in the weeks after the fraud became a national news story, with the president and Republicans more broadly questioning how hundreds of millions in federal dollars were squandered under Walz's watch. The fraud represents the latest misuse of pandemic-era funds and has become a ballooning case for the Justice Department, which has prosecuted dozens of alleged conspirators. But the story also has a political dimension that ties together the GOP's emphasis on fiscal responsibility with the hard line it has drawn on immigration. FBI Director Kash Patel said that his agency is working with immigration authorities for "possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings.” Walz has defended his handling of the fraud allegations, telling Fox News that his office "strengthened oversight" once the schemes came to light. But that defense has not quieted the criticism, as the Trump administration and its congressional allies expand investigations into suspected misconduct and even begin to withhold federal dollars. Meanwhile, Trump has blamed Democratic policies for an influx of immigrants he says are "completely taking over" the country, and has hurled insults at Walz, drawing controversy for calling him a dated slur for intellectually disabled people."

"In Judi Agustin’s freshman year at Mankato West High School, her teacher instructed her to wear a yellow star. It was part of a Holocaust curriculum at the school, located in a remote area of Minnesota with barely any Jews. For a week, freshmen were asked to wear the yellow stars, which were reminiscent of the ones the Nazis made the Jews wear. Seniors played the part of the Gestapo, charged with persecuting the “Jews.” Unlike everyone else in her class in the 2001-2002 school year, Agustin was Jewish. The experience “was incredibly hurtful and offensive and scary,” she recalled on Tuesday. Her father complained to the district, and wrote a letter to the local paper decrying the lesson. In response, she recalled, the head of the department put a stop to them. The teacher who intervened, according to her recollection was the current vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. “When Tim Walz found out about it, he squashed it real quick, and as far as I understand they never did it again,” Agustin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “So he was an advocate for my experience, as one of four Jewish kids in the entire school district. And I always felt like he had our back.” Walz is on the campaign trail this week with Vice President Kamala Harris, his running mate, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. JTA could not independently verify that he was the teacher who stopped the Mankato West lesson. But it’s clear that how to teach the Holocaust well has occupied Walz for decades. In 1993, while teaching in Nebraska, he was part of an inaugural conference of US educators convened by the soon-to-open US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Eight years later, after moving to Minnesota, he wrote a thesis arguing for changes in Holocaust education. And as governor, he backed a push to mandate teaching about the Holocaust in Minnesota schools. Through it all, Walz modeled and argued for careful instruction that treated the Holocaust as one of multiple genocides worth understanding."

"Walz launched a new fraud prevention program on Dec. 12, led by a former FBI agent. He applauded the new federal charges on Thursday. "This is exactly the type of strong action we need from prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are put behind bars," Walz said in a statement. "We will not tolerate fraud, and we will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught." James Clark, inspector general of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said in a statement Thursday the agency "has been moving more aggressively than ever to suspend payments where we see evidence of fraud." He also urged federal officials to share information with the agency, which oversees many of the programs that were hit by fraud allegations. "If there is evidence of Medicaid fraud, the state should be given the information so DHS can slam the door shut on payments to those individuals and businesses," Clark said."

"“Schools are teaching about the Jewish Holocaust, but the way it is traditionally being taught is not leading to increased knowledge of the causes of genocide in all parts of the world,” Walz wrote in his thesis, submitted in 2001. The thesis was the culmination of Walz’s master’s degree focused on Holocaust and genocide education at Minnesota State University, Mankato, which he earned while teaching at Mankato West. His 27-page thesis, which JTA obtained, is titled “Improving Human Rights and Genocide Studies in the American High School Classroom.” In it, Walz argues that the lessons of the “Jewish Holocaust” should be taught “in the greater context of human rights abuses,” rather than as a unique historical anomaly or as part of a larger unit on World War II. “To exclude other acts of genocide severely limited students’ ability to synthesize the lessons of the Holocaust and the ability to apply them elsewhere,” he wrote. He then took a position that he noted was “controversial” among Holocaust scholars: that the Holocaust should not be taught as unique but used to help students identify “clear patterns” with other historical genocides like the Armenian and Rwandan genocides."

"Republican operatives concede that the focus on Walz, the former running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, is easy political fodder after an election cycle spent portraying him as an inept and radical governor. And in an election season in which Walz is seeking a rare third term in office, the attacks could prove fruitful in a blue state where Republicans are hoping to make inroads. Still, Republicans believe that “even Democrats” don't want Walz as a candidate in future general elections, and that Democratic politicians such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a possible 2028 contender for president, or New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist, will prove the most useful in this and future cycles. “Let’s be honest. This is a guy who made Kamala Harris seem like an expert debater,” said one out-of-government adviser to the president, a veteran of all three of his presidential campaigns. “We’ll have our fun, but I’m not sure that even an expert brander like President Trump can just wish this one into reality.” A second Trump veteran, who previously worked in the White House but has since grown frustrated with the president’s performance in office, said Trump’s focus on Walz and “the past” will eventually wear on voters’ nerves, considering Trump's declining approval ratings. “America elected President Trump in 2024 to save us from the economic disaster that a Harris-Walz administration would inflict,” the former Trump staffer explained. “But that was over a year ago, and we’re more or less in the same place. We’re still dealing with crazy inflation, and all the economic growth we’ve seen this year is propped up by just a handful of tech companies, which the administration is heavily subsidizing by the way. He needs to actually deliver some real results and fix these problems, not just b**** and moan about how much worse things would’ve been if he hadn’t won.”"

"Effective July 2025, teacher licensing rules passed last year in Minnesota under Democrat Gov. Tim Walz will ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools. Walz is now the presidential running mate of current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. His resume includes a stint as a high school social studies teacher who sponsored a student queer sex club in 1999. Starting next July, Minnesota agencies controlled by Walz appointees will require teacher license applicants to affirm transgenderism and race Marxism. Without a teaching license, individuals cannot work in Minnesota public schools, nor in the private schools that require such licenses. The latest version of the regulations requires teachers to “affirm” students’ “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to receive a Minnesota teaching license: "The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves.""

"There’s no doubt about it: we face some tremendous challenges in the coming years. Our economy is changing. Healthcare costs are soaring. Even the climate is unstable, causing devastating weather events. But we must face these challenges with a quiet confidence that can only be found in Minnesota, with a bipartisan pragmatism, and a humble determination to lead the Bold North."

"These are weird people on the other side. They wanna take books away, they wanna be in your exam room. That’s what it comes down to and don’t, you know, get sugar-coating this: these are weird ideas."

"Remember guys, whenever Israel bombs any country or innocent child, it’s because Hamas and human shields. But if anybody retaliates against them, it’s an automatic holocaust."