FBI subpoenas Minnesota officials amid investigation into federal immigration agent obstruction.
We first learned this was coming last Friday. At the time, several news outlets were reporting that the DOJ intended to serve subpoenas to Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz in connection with an investigation into possible obstruction of federal agents.
The Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s clash with Democratic leaders there, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks.
The federal inquiry is focused on a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 372, one U.S. official told CBS News, which makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to prevent federal officers from carrying out their official duties through «force, intimidation or threats.»
Those subpoenas did not get served last Friday as anticipated. Instead they were served today along with several others.
Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to at least five Democratic officials in Minnesota, ramping up the Justice Department’s investigation into their response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the state, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The subpoenas sought documents from Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul related to their policies on immigration enforcement efforts in the state. Two Minnesota prosecutors, Keith Ellison, the state attorney general, and Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, were also sent similar subpoenas.
