{"id":48816,"date":"2026-06-23T11:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48816"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:45:35","slug":"judge-finds-trump-doj-abused-subpoenas-in-attempt-to-coerce-minnesota-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/judge-finds-trump-doj-abused-subpoenas-in-attempt-to-coerce-minnesota-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Finds Trump DOJ Abused Subpoenas in Attempt to \u2018Coerce\u2019 Minnesota Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Minnesota<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are sworn in to testify during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in on March 4, 2026 in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will never stop exercising my constitutional rights to stand up for Minnesotans and the American freedoms we hold dear,\u201d Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said after the ruling.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 22, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge on Monday quashed multiple grand jury subpoenas issued by the US Department of Justice<\/a> aimed at political leaders in Minnesota, including Gov. Tim Walz<\/a> and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his ruling<\/a>, Judge Patrick Schiltz of the United States<\/a> District Court for the District of Minnesota found there was \u201cno doubt\u201d that the DOJ had initiated \u201ca criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action,\u201d which he described as \u201ca blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand-jury process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Major Escalation\u2019: Trump Prosecutor Invokes NSPM-7 While Unveiling Charges Against 15 ICE Protesters<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Minnesota<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota AG Ellison: Vance Referred Him, Walz to DOJ Over Fraud Cases as \u2018Political Stunt\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding that \u201cthe evidence that the challenged subpoenas were issued for unlawful reasons is overwhelming,\u201d Schiltz, an appointee of former President George W. Bush<\/a>, cited multiple instances of Trump administration<\/a> officials \u201cthreatening and attempting to punish states and localities that have adopted \u2018sanctuary\u2019 policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge then quoted several social media<\/a> posts by President Donald Trump<\/a> in which he warned that \u201cretribution\u201d was coming for Minnesota officials, as well as statements from Trump DOJ officials linking grand jury subpoenas to the state\u2019s lack of cooperation with federal immigration<\/a> enforcement operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schiltz also said it was \u201crisible\u201d for the DOJ to justify the subpoenas on the grounds that it is investigating officials\u2019 refusal to devote state and local resources to assisting federal law enforcement, which he described as \u201cconstitutionally protected conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No paywall. No ads. No billionaire owner. Just you.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Common Dreams is funded exclusively by readers tired of news beholden to corporate interests. Our monthly supporters are the backbone of what makes that possible. Help us reach our Mid-Year Campaign goal of 450 new monthly supporters by July 1.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA grand-jury subpoena cannot be issued for an improper purpose,\u201d Schiltz emphasized. \u201cThe fact that connections between the information sought in the subpoenas and any possible criminal violation range from extremely weak to nonexistent only adds to the overwhelming evidence that these subpoenas were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement<\/a> released after Schiltz\u2019s ruling, Walz hailed the decision as \u201ca victory for the rule of law<\/a> and our democracy<\/a>,\u201d depicting the DOJ probe as yet another example of the department \u201cpursuing criminal investigations into the president\u2019s political opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will never stop exercising my constitutional rights to stand up for Minnesotans and the American freedoms we hold dear,\u201d Walz added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frey also released<\/a> a statement after the ruling, accusing the DOJ of \u201csubpoenaing political opponents because they spoke out on behalf of their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy job is not to stay silent when Minneapolis residents are killed, families are torn apart, and businesses are closed,\u201d Frey said. \u201cMy job is to stand up for the people I represent, the families who call our city home, and the thousands of people who showed up and spoke out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) celebrated<\/a> the ruling, which she said \u201cconfirms what we knew all along\u2014that this was nothing but a baseless political attack on Minnesota\u2019s leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, noted in a social media post just how far off the rails the Trump DOJ has gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s efforts to use the criminal grand jury process to retaliate against Minnesota and Minneapolis has floundered badly,\u201d he\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a sign of how they are willing to toss aside basic rules to get at their enemies, and how the courts have largely smacked them down when they tried.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are sworn in to testify during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in on March 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images) \u201cI will never stop exercising my constitutional rights to stand up for Minnesotans… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1879],"tags":[2080,1087,2079],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48817,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48816\/revisions\/48817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}