After subpoenas tossed, Walz seeks to turn tables on Trump administration in records demands
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Gov. Tim Walz is pressuring the Trump administration to release records that he argues could show he and Minnesota have been targeted for political retribution.
Walz filed 16 records requests under the Freedom of Information Act that reference terms like “reckoning,” “retribution,” “punish” or other words that suggest actions were driven by a political motive.
“We are taking steps to find out exactly how far this campaign reaches, who’s directing it and what it has cost Minnesotans,” Walz said in a statement issued Tuesday.
A day earlier, a federal judge invalidated subpoenas for records the Justice Department sought from the offices of Walz and other Minnesota Democratic officials.
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Those grand jury subpoenas were tied to pushback to the winter’s immigration agent surge in Minnesota. The judge ruled the subpoenas were without merit and ethically questionable.
According to Walz’s office, federal agencies have made more than 100 demands of Minnesota through investigations, lawsuits and threats to illegally withhold money from the state.
The state records requests of federal agencies include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, Department of the Treasury and others.
Federal records requests often take months or years to fulfill — so it’s possible Walz’s office won’t see results either before the end of his final term in early January, or ever.
