Governor Walz on Minnesota Standing up to Trump’s Attacks

0:00Ben Meiselas:For everyone who solves crime from their couch, knows more about forensics than their own job, and has trust issues with small-town sheriffs, Amazon Music's millions of podcast episodes are calling. Just download the Amazon Music app and start listening to your favorite true crime podcasts ad-free. Included with Prime. Donald Trump has just made a stunning admission as the pressure continues to grow against him from the American people based on the ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo invading places like Minnesota and other places throughout the country. Donald Trump, when he was leaving the White House moments ago, said that you can't have guns.

0:40Ben Meiselas:People can have guns. You can't just walk into places or be in public and have a gun or a concealed carry. Listen to what he says. Play this clip.

1:04Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump says that he thinks that Kristi Noem is doing an amazing job. This says Democrats have now formally called for Noem to be impeached. Let's play this clip right here. I am. Yeah, I think he's doing a very good job. I think he's doing a very good job. The border is totally secure. You know, you forget. And then in this kind of ghoulish moment after saying all of these horrific things and after the regime defamed Alex Preti and his family, Donald Trump says, I love Alex Preti's family. I love everybody. I love them all. What are you talking about? You have utterly defamed Alex Preti, an American hero.

1:49Ben Meiselas:You've defamed his family. And you say, I love them. The hell are you talking about? Here, play this clip. That whole situation. I love everybody. I love all of our people. I love his family. And it's a very sad situation. Now I want to bring in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Governor Walz, good to see you. We really are at this inflection point right now. The horrific murder of Alex Pretti over the weekend by Border Patrol. Donald Trump has said that Tom Homan is now going to be going into Minnesota. your office put out a statement saying that your office met with Tom Homan this morning, reiterating Minnesota's priorities and partial investigations into the shootings involving federal agents, a swift and significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota.

2:40Ben Meiselas:I want to hear from you about, you know, how that call went. But, you know, one of the things is, you know, Donald Trump will put out a statement and say, we had a productive call. And then you'll see He puts someone on TV who then starts defaming you, defaming the state and, you know, says the opposite. So where do we go from here, Governor? Yeah. And look, when we know that and Minnesota is going through it and the world's seen that. But I think also Minnesotans are showing the side of us that we were resolved and we're not going anywhere. With that being said, the White House, I wish it was because of the moral outrage of the murder of Alex and Renee and, you know, Liam, the little boy and everything else that they've traumatized.

3:20to our state, but my guess is it probably has more to do with dropping poll numbers, but either way, they get to that place. What I will say that I feel, you know, skeptically optimistic, if there's a term there, I'm a little bit cautious on it, that Tom Ullman landed last night and he was in my office this morning, you know, at nine o 'clock. I never met Greg Bravino, Kristi Noem, who I've known for decades, served with in Congress, were neighbors here in states. She never made any attempt to contact me. So look, the White House knows that they need to get out of this. And if President Trump said we were on the same wavelength, I think that wavelength was as this has to end.

3:58I want it to end because of the moral outrage and the unconstitutional nature of what's happening here. I think they want it to end because it's bad politics. But either way, we are on the same place that we want it to end. Now the question is, are they going to follow through with that? And, you know, Tom Olman's a new one in this. I, you know, I know his background. He does have a law enforcement background, whether I agree specifically on his policies, I think he understands how the system works and recognizes that this amateur hour that was out here with Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem did nothing but, you know, got two people killed, got countless others hurt, and did nothing to make us any safer.

4:37So I think we're at that point. We haven't got anything done yet other than a change of tone. And just as you said, you You know, the president has has talked about my my inability to understand things and that it all be everything else. But yesterday, apparently we're OK. And so I want to stay in that spot for now. Right.

4:58Ben Meiselas:I mean, one of the big issues here that we're dealing with is that this White House, which has the biggest megaphone, puts out so much disinformation. Yes. And they put out things that have no attachment with reality. And so we're usually people are used to in politics, whether it's fortunately or unfortunately, is people spin things. You're like, OK, maybe the thing is somewhere in the middle. But what this White House, which which shouldn't be good, we should be truthful no matter what. But what this White House is doing is they put out things that aren't even anywhere near the realm of truth.

5:31Ben Meiselas:Then you have to respond to negatives while you're out there just trying to beat the governor while your state's under attack. So how do you deal with that? I think the American people, when you see that was well said, Ben, and now I'm feeling stressed again because you're right about all those things. Look, this is one that I don't think as a society we've come to grips with yet. This post-truth society. You've seen it. I see you every day pop up on my TikTok, except for the last three days. Something's up with TikTok. I keep hearing about it. And anything political is being stifled. I'm concerned now, and I would have never thought this, that do people across America really realize what's happening here?

6:11And I don't think, you know, the horrific images you saw with Renee, with Alex, with Liam, with so many others. That's one thing. But it's every day. And it's things of children seeing their parents pulled away. I'll tell you a scene around here that is like, you know, some type of horror movie. Abandoned cars with their flashers on, their windows broken out and their seatbelts cut. Those are places where they just drag somebody out. It is horrific. It's inhumane. It's doing nothing. And I think for me to try and stay focused, we still have to plow the roads. We still have to function with government.

6:46We still have to put out facts. The president's saying they've arrested 13 ,000 people here. There's no way that's possible. And then they're saying, well, Minnesota has 1 ,300 people in their prisons that they should give to us. Our entire prison population is 8 ,000. 207 of them are undocumented and they are doing time here. Or they put out something and pat themselves on the back that they captured a violent criminal. That was someone that we have had in jail for years and we simply turn over when their time is done. So you're right. And I find myself trying to argue when they've already moved on.

7:21The question here for them, Do they understand that for all of that, something still holding, that organized, peaceful, massive resistance in Minnesota forced these guys who thought they were impervious to anything, impervious to court orders, impervious to whatever, they're not impervious to those folks on the streets. And I'm reminding folks, you saw tens of thousands of people on the streets Friday here in Minnesota, and it was 40 below wind chill. You can be pretty certain every one of those is going to be in a warm voting booth come November. And I think that they're feeling the heat of this, if you will.

8:04And again, I wish they would get here because it's an assault on our moral. It's an assault on our Constitution. But I think they got here because they know they're going to get whipped come November.

8:14Ben Meiselas:I've heard you say this before, and this is something that I try to emphasize over and over again on this network, is that what's happening in Minnesota and frankly across the country should not be a political thing. It should not be a Democrat or Republican thing. It should be a good versus evil thing and a basic empathy and where corporate news and others who cover these things gamify it like, well, how is this going to impact this and how is it going to impact that? what you often say is, can we just be good people here? And one of the reasons I feel like he's targeted the state of Minnesota is if you were to say like, what's the, where's the state with the nicest people?

8:52Ben Meiselas:Like the nice, where do the nice people go? Like that's kind of one of Minnesota's reps. And so they bring some of the worst people to attack some of the best people. I think you're right. Look, it's not any longer a political argument. It's a moral argument. And you saw that. And I do think that's true. Like, look, every state lifts it up, but an independent look at this, Minnesota ranks near the top in almost everything. Quality of life, health care. We have paid family and medical leave. Everything up to happiness. We rank incredibly high and it's 40 below zero for goodness sake. Look, what I think they hate about this is Minnesota works on progressive values where everybody matters, where we leave you alone to love who you love, to do what you need to do.

9:32We have the most progressive taxation system. Means if you're rich, you're going to pay more. And if you're not, you're not going to pay as much. We have an incredibly generous social safety net that you hear about. And yes, I have a responsibility to make sure that system is secured and people don't steal from us. But the fact of the matter is we have the lowest childhood poverty rates. We have some of the highest education rates. We have some of the highest insured rates. We have the highest longevity. And I think that they quite honestly don't like that. I don't want to be Arkansas. I want to be Minnesota.

10:02Ben Meiselas:Bovino's out. You know, do we know that he is he you know, there was mixed reporting on it. Obviously, the good reporting was he was out or demoted. They shut down his emails. And then I saw Tricia McLaughlin say he still has some role. What do we know that he's got like like that guy needs to go? Yeah. Frankly, all the border patrol and they need to go. They need to get out of the state. But is that kind of. Well, I think so. I mean, and look, again, we're we're good neighbors on this. People didn't like Greg Bovino. I don't know if his ego knew that. They don't like him. But last night, people found out where he was staying.

10:36And my folks helped make sure they protected that hotel and that Greg Rubino could get whatever night's sleep you can get after the things they've done and then to leave. So look, I think the way this works is that no one just fires somebody off that. They kind of just shut them off. We hope that that same thing is happening true with Christy Noem. They're just ineffective. They don't know what they're doing. It has nothing to do with law enforcement, nothing to do with safety. So a good he's gone. I think Tom Holman has the president's ear and has done this before. But as pointed out, you know, they have to show they have to show a change in this.

11:16And this isn't, you know, us negotiating with this. This is an assault by the federal government on a state I don't think ever seen with this type of vindictiveness, maybe in our history. When the federal government went into Southern states during the civil rights movement, it was because the states weren't honoring people's rights. We're honoring the rights here, and the federal government's trying to take them away. So a full-out assault of a state simply because, and look, between you and I, Ben, what is this all about? It's Donald Trump lost his state three times, and he's stating that he didn't.

11:46And you saw that Pam Bondi tried to extort us out of our voting files, which is never going to happen. We're never going to give them to them. You know, and all these Republican 10th Amendment folks, where are they? So yeah, there's a lot going on right now, but this is a really, really important moment, I would argue, over the next 48 to 72 hours that we need to see a change in posture. And then it needs to extend for the other assaults on us, freezing our federal dollars. I'll remind you again, we are a donor state. We pay more in than almost any other state and get less back. And the idea that our federal dollars are being held up so that they can fund this operation is simply outrageous.

12:32And Governor, you say Republicans pretended to care for the

12:36Ben Meiselas:10th Amendment. They pretended they were First Amendment absolutists, but hate free speech and peaceful protest. And Second Amendment, you know, they're all saying if you bring any concealed carrier, have a lawful permit, you've heard them all say that they have all gone on, you know, and all of them saying, you know, we shoot and kill you if you conceal carry with a lawful permit? It's outrageous. Look, we had a while back, I remember this, Garrison Keillor in Minnesota and one time said, look, they've made peace with their hypocrisy long ago. It's almost not worth pointing out, but I will say it's maddening.

13:08It is maddening that, but I will say this too, Ben, in all fairness, and I saw Marjorie Taylor Greene said this today, the NRA, some of them are starting to speak up. It's taking a little while, but they're starting to speak up. And I think that probably adds to this. The White House has their problem with independence and the left outraged by this. Now they've added another subsect of the Second Amendment folks out here who see this. And again, I've been asking this for months. Where are the don't tread on me people? Because they are treading on you every day. And I don't know if people out there think somehow this isn't going to come to your state.

13:43Or if you're sitting there thinking, well, I'm a red state or whatever, well, shame on you. Shame on you. I am perfectly glad as a union that Minnesota tax dollars go to helping feed children in Louisiana through our tax dollars or helping in housing in Oklahoma. Whatever it may be, we're in this together. Donald Trump has made it clear that he sees two very different Americas and he uses the term. He calls us the enemy. You put that out, you put people's lives at risk. So yeah, I hope some of them find their spines. I hope they find their decency. I do think we've got a chance here that these two murders and this murder of Alex is a point that could change American history and move in a way.

14:31Do I think they're going to find, you know, good hearts and do things right? I'm not real hopeful on that, But I do think they're scared to death about November. And hopefully that changes their behavior.

14:44Ben Meiselas:Quick question for you before we go. You mentioned Kristi Noem, who was a colleague of yours in the House of Representatives. She doesn't even call you. She does a press conference now defaming you, like saying the most horrific things about you, defaming Alex Preti. You know, lots of people are calling for her impeachment now because her conduct has been so utterly outrageous. But as you mentioned earlier, she was your colleague. You knew her. You were like friendly with her in the House of Representatives. And now she's doing this too. That's a fair characterization. And look, I am most, and I told Michael and Susan, Alex's parents, that I would defend him to the end of time on this.

15:22And that one, I signed up for this. I expect them to do it to me. But to do that to Alex is beyond the pale. But yeah, I mean, for your viewers, and just to think about this, Ben, we were side by side in states. She and I worked together on the Ag Committee. we co-wrote bills together, things like beginning farmer and rancher and, you know, prairie pothole legislation. And then we got together and we were the co-chairs of the governor's biofuels caucus, where we work on things like sustainable aviation fuel. I knew her children. I knew her husband. I talked to her. I would see her every day and talk.

16:01This was somebody that was a colleague and friendly with. And now this, I don't understand with these folks who got into this, who are the MAGA movement or whatever, how you got so angry and flipped and switched things off. She knows who I am. And when I was in Congress, to the chagrin of maybe some on the left, I was more than willing to compromise with people. I'm a pretty centrist Democrat to try and get things done because I represented a rural district. But I have not changed much in my positions. I was always a pro-choice person. I was always pro-marriage equality. So I hadn't changed my positions.

16:41And now all of a sudden we get this. So yeah, it's the weirdest damn thing. I don't know what to tell you, but I think she probably should go back to South Dakota, not have any dogs and just kind of ride things out.

16:55Ben Meiselas:You know, we all knew what an incredibly courageous person Alex is now. The world got to know what a kind heart he had. ICU nurse. We've all heard from his colleagues. Just if I can ask how, obviously, his parents are going through unthinkable tragedy. I hope they know that the world, you know, is so behind them. And how are they hanging in there? I just, I just, you know, I'm really proud of, I'm proud of Minnesotans, I'll be proud, but I'm proud of the media. I watched yesterday and the bulk of the coverage was on Alex's life. I spent an hour yesterday and sat down with his colleagues. And again, these are some of the toughest people you'll find.

17:36I see new ICU nurses at one of the nation's largest VA hospitals. These are, these are tough people and spend their lives looking for others. And, and so I think telling that story, seeing that and look, So the outrage of this and in the moments after it happened, this is the one that I'm having a hard time reconciling. And I got to be honest with you. I have to take a deep breath, especially on Saturday when I spoke to the press to have somebody like Kristi Noem and J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller. label Alex Preddy as a domestic terrorist and put it out there. Kristi Noem said he was coming to massacre massive law enforcement.

18:19He was a proud supporter of law enforcement in the military, proud Second Amendment defender. Just his colleagues said he had a deep, unmovable sense of morality and civil rights. And they said, you know, the horror of the video, So they said they knew the minute that that woman was pushed down, that there was no way that he couldn't get between that. It was just who he was. And as it turned out, that move to step in front and protect that woman cost him his life. And so, look, we're not going to forget this. We're not going to forget Renee Good. We're not going to forget the other more than a dozen more people killed in ICE custody.

19:00Children that are ripped out of their parents' arms. just, you know, we saw the nightmare here of using a five-year-old in a little bunny hat and a backpack as bait. That's despicable human behavior that cannot stand. So I think people ask us, we have a full expectation that we do an independent investigation and should we need be, we will bring charges and bring these ICE agents back and they can serve the time for what they did in both Renee and Alex's case.

19:27Ben Meiselas:Governor Walz, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks for the work you do. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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