Target CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down next year after serving in the role for 10 years. The move comes as Target faces declining sales and a controversial public image, with boycotts coming from both sides of the political aisle.  
The Minneapolis-based company is passing the baton to chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke, who was selected in a unanimous board of directors vote, per an <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2025/08/target-appoints-michael-fiddelke-as-chief-executive-officer">announcement</a> made on Wednesday. Fiddelke, a 20-year veteran of the company, will take over beginning February 1, 2026.
“It is clear that Michael is the right leader to return Target to growth, refocus and accelerate the company’s strategy, and reestablish Target’s position as a leader in the highly dynamic and fast-moving retail environment,” Christine Leahy, lead independent director of Target’s Board of Directors, said.
Cornell had previously committed in 2022 to serve for three more years as CEO. He will now be the executive chair of the company&#8217;s board of directors. 
Sales were down 1% in the latest quarter compared to one year ago, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/20/business/target-ceo-brian-cornell-steps-down-after-10-years-as-retailer-fights-to-reverse-sliding-sales/">noted</a>, with a reported $25.2 billion total. This trend was blamed on a reduction in total merchandise offered. Profit for the quarter was $1.3 billion, which is a reduction of 19% compared to last year, according to the Post. 
The company blamed some of its financial woes on the economic uncertainties surrounding Trump’s tariff plan.
Earlier this year, Target announced it was rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, following suit with other companies and retailers amid the changing political landscape. This pivot served to anger liberal activist groups, who called for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jul/20/black-americans-boycot-target-amazon-dei">boycotts</a>. RetailBrew <a href="https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/08/18/target-s-revenues-track-closely-to-foot-traffic-q2-foot-traffic-is-down-3-1">reported</a> that these boycotts appeared to be working as foot traffic was down 3.1% in Q2.
In May, Cornell blamed the lackluster first-quarter sales in part on the company changes related to DEI. 
He <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/21/target-tgt-q1-2025-earnings.html">said</a> the numbers declined due to “ongoing pressure in our discretionary business, plus five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, tariff uncertainty, and the reaction to the updates we shared on belonging in January.” 
Despite making these changes, some conservatives are still boycotting Target for its past pride campaigns <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-to-offer-pride-merchandise-in-fewer-stores-after-backlash-against-tuck-friendly-swimsuit-sale-last-year">aimed at children</a>, saying the retailer’s policy changes were too little, too late.

Brian Cornell

Target CEO Steps Down As Sales Plummet And Boycotts From Both Sides Continue

Target CEO Steps Down After 10 Years Following Declining Sales, Boycotts From Both Sides

boycott

Business

Minneapolis

Target

Tariffs

MixCollage-05-Aug-2025-04-11-PM-7120

Here’s The Horrifying Proof That All Cultures Are Not Equal

Child rape

Court

gangs

Immigrants

kidnapping

Matt Walsh

Minnesota

Opinion

Somalia

Omar Fateh, the Somalian American democratic socialist running for mayor of Minneapolis, once went to bat for the fraudsters behind a $250 million scam that involved stealing from a government child nutrition program during the COVID pandemic.
Later, when the infamous Feeding Our Future scam in Minnesota was exposed, Fateh returned $11,000 in campaign donations that he received from donors tied to the scam.
Fateh is now running for Minneapolis mayor, and earlier this month, he rocketed to the top of the race when the city&#8217;s local Democratic Party <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-omar-fateh-the-radical-somali-american-democratic-socialist-running-for-minneapolis-mayor?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Meet+Omar+Fateh%2C+The+Radical+Somali+American+Socialist+Poised+To+Be+The+Next+Mayor+Of+Minneapolis">endorsed</a> him.
Feeding Our Future was a key player in the massive fraud scheme — the nonprofit distributed federal money meant for low-income children to groups running fake meal distribution sites, who, in turn, gave Feeding Our Future kickbacks, prosecutors <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">said</a>.
Fateh <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/04/16/feeding-our-futures-political-connections-should-serve-as-a-warning-to-the-dfl/">fought</a> for Feeding Our Future when Minnesota moved to pause the group&#8217;s funding, saying it didn&#8217;t keep records properly.
In June 2021, Fateh attended an event with Feeding Our Future celebrating the group&#8217;s legal victory over the state on the funding freeze.
&#8220;I want to thank also Aimee and her team, Feeding Our Future for making this first court victory a reality,&#8221; Fateh <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxJzMmFjg4&amp;t=95s">said</a> at the event.
Aimee Bock, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million">ringleader</a> of the fraud scheme, was <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/03/19/aimee-bock-and-said-salim-guilty-on-all-counts-in-feeding-our-future-trial/">found</a> guilty earlier this year on all charges related to the scam, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery.
Fateh also said at the event that he had met with state officials and confronted them about the funding.
&#8220;In that meeting, we were asking what was going on, and we asked very directly, was there any evidence of fraud? Was there any concerns or suspicions?&#8221; Fateh told the audience. &#8220;And they told us that there was zero evidence. Nothing was there. So to us, that was immoral, what was going on.&#8221;
A staffer from Rep. Ilhan Omar&#8217;s office also spoke at that event and said that Feeding Our Future &#8220;sticks to the truth, and the truth wins.&#8221;
At one point, Fateh <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">was</a> also photographed with one of the scammers, Liban Yasin Alishire.
Alishire operated a fake food site that falsely claimed to serve 800,000 meals to low-income children between February and October 2021, according to the indictment against him. He also created a shell company that he used to buy a luxury <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">resort</a> in Kenya with the stolen taxpayer dollars.
Alishire ultimately <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/brooklyn-park-man-pleads-guilty-his-role-250-million-feeding-our-future-fraud-scheme">pled</a> guilty to fraud, with prosecutors saying he pocketed $712,084 in stolen taxpayer dollars.
The next year, Fateh condemned the fraud.
“In 2021, I supported the USDA programs that were allegedly stolen from,” Fateh <a href="https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/omar-fateh-feeding-our-future-campaign-contributions/">said</a> in a statement in 2022. “Providing free nutritious meals to kids in urban food deserts is something the state is morally obligated to do. Getting rich by exploiting those same children and using them as cover is the opposite of what I stand for, what the people elected me for.”
Fateh also <a href="https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/omar-fateh-feeding-our-future-campaign-contributions/">returned</a> $11,000 in campaign donations, a total of 11 donations, seven of which came from people specifically named in search warrants related to the scam. The donations were made in the summer of 2021 when the scam was in full swing.
Fateh has radical <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-omar-fateh-the-radical-somali-american-democratic-socialist-running-for-minneapolis-mayor?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Meet+Omar+Fateh%2C+The+Radical+Somali+American+Socialist+Poised+To+Be+The+Next+Mayor+Of+Minneapolis">goals</a> for Minneapolis, including making it the “last line of defense” against Donald Trump and a “safe haven” for transgender surgeries.
The state senator, 35, is running on an uber-progressive <a href="https://www.fatehformayor.com/vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">platform</a> that includes cracking down on the police, getting “economic justice” for LGBT and minorities, and keeping Minneapolis a sanctuary for not just illegal migrants, but also for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, all while spending lots of taxpayer dollars.

Screenshot 2025-07-28 at 11.40.12 AM

Somali Socialist Running For Minneapolis Mayor Defended Fraudsters Who Stole Food From Poor Kids

COVID

Elections

Omar Fateh

Politics

A Somali American democratic socialist is on the verge of becoming the next mayor of deep blue Minneapolis, and he has radical goals for the city, including making it the &#8220;last line of defense&#8221; against Donald Trump and a &#8220;safe haven&#8221; for transgender surgeries.
The Minnesota state senator, 35, is running on an uber-progressive <a href="https://www.fatehformayor.com/vision">platform</a> that includes cracking down on the police, getting &#8220;economic justice&#8221; for LGBT and minorities, and keeping Minneapolis a sanctuary for not just illegal migrants but also for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, all while spending lots of taxpayer dollars.
Fateh&#8217;s campaign <a href="https://www.fatehformayor.com/vision">platform</a> states that, &#8220;with Donald Trump back in the Oval Office, the progress towards equity and justice that our communities have worked so hard to create is in jeopardy. Mayor Frey has said that our approach to fighting Trump is extreme — he’s wrong.&#8221;
Fateh wants to &#8220;prioritize&#8221; and &#8220;fully fund&#8221; the <a href="https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/racial-equity/trans-equity-summit/">city&#8217;s</a> Trans Equity Summit and make Minneapolis a &#8220;safe haven&#8221; for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, saying that, &#8220;essential healthcare services like these are under attack from the Federal government.&#8221;
He is not a fan of the police.
Fateh campaigned for his state senate seat during the summer of 2020, the same time the deadly George Floyd riots erupted in Minneapolis, killing several people and destroying more than $350 million in property across the city.
His campaign headquarters for that race was <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/omar-fateh-minnesota/">located</a> in an adult day care run by the Somali community on a street that saw some of the worst of the riots.
Five years later, George Floyd is still on Fateh&#8217;s mind.
He wants to &#8220;end the cycle of the Minneapolis Police Department’s violence and brutality that has held our city captive for so many years,&#8221; his platform <a href="https://www.fatehformayor.com/vision">states</a>.
That includes sending &#8220;non-police responders&#8221; to nearly half of 911 calls and increasing oversight of the police department, including investing in a &#8220;Civil Rights Department.&#8221;
Fateh also says he would ban Minneapolis police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport illegal migrants.
He called a June federal drug raid in south Minneapolis “blatant fascism.”
&#8220;Whether it&#8217;s for an immigration raid or not, our residents deserve a mayor that will stand up to Donald Trump and say, &#8216;no, not in our community,'&#8221; Fateh <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/15/omar-fateh-minneapolis-mayor-race/85219261007/">said</a>.
Fateh also wants to freeze rents and increase affordable housing to the maximum allowed by federal law. He previously said he is &#8220;a renter myself, someone that’s been unemployed before.&#8221;
He wants to spend more money on housing for &#8220;LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people,&#8221; who he says are &#8220;some of the highest at risk for losing their housing, being over-criminalized by [Minneapolis police], and being harassed by their employer.&#8221;
Fateh also wants to raise the city&#8217;s minimum wage from just under $16 to $20 by 2028.
To pay for all this, he wants to start a city income tax &#8220;to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share.&#8221;
During his state senate race, Fateh <a href="https://mn350action.org/omar-fateh-for-senate-district-62/">campaigned</a> on a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/omar-fateh-minnesota/">slew</a> of progressive priorities — drug decriminalization, universal health care, climate justice, free higher education, free child care, free public transit, a right to housing, and stopping what he called “exclusionary zoning,” similar to redlining.
He picked up endorsements at the time from the local chapters of Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Socialists of America as well as the Sunrise Movement, a climate change group that pushes the Green New Deal.
Also during that campaign, Fateh referred to Somalia as &#8220;home.&#8221;
“I understand that our Somali communities are all connected to each other here in Minnesota and back home, and I ask for your support,&#8221; Fateh said during remarks at an event in the local Somali community. &#8220;There’s always been a link between our community here as well as back home and I’m running to bridge that gap and unite all of us and represent all of us because when we succeed here, we succeed everywhere.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh calls Somalia &quot;our home&quot; even though he is born and raised here <a href="https://t.co/2ins5rUz3Q">pic.twitter.com/2ins5rUz3Q</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1944852718084088192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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After just one year in office, Fateh found himself in a political scandal over his close ties to the local Somali community.
In 2022, Fateh <a href="https://www.startribune.com/gop-state-senators-file-ethics-complaint-against-dfl-sen-omar-fateh/600176132">faced</a> a Senate ethics investigation into accusations that he proposed legislation to give half a million dollars in taxpayer dollars to a Somali news outlet that endorsed him.
He also <a href="https://assets.senate.mn/committees/2023-2024/3013_Rules_and_Administration_Subcommittee_on_Ethical_Conduct/Fateh%20Complaint%204-25.pdf">faced</a> an ethics complaint in 2023 after he said on the state senate floor that domestic terrorists often look like his white senate colleagues.
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Flashback to when Sen. Omar Fateh claimed the real terrorists looked like his white Republican colleagues on the Minnesota Senate floor.
An ethics complaint was later filed against him for violating the Senate’s code of conduct. <a href="https://t.co/Nm2JD8KqJg">pic.twitter.com/Nm2JD8KqJg</a>
&mdash; Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrageDustin/status/1945576885078933720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He has frequently advocated for the local Somali community during both his campaigns.
“From East African immigrants in the ’60s till now, not much seems to have changed,” he <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/omar-fateh-minnesota/">told</a> The Nation during his state senate campaign. “If the corporations are going to be able to take advantage of you, they’re going to. They’re going to exploit you; they’re going to pay you less; they’re going to do whatever they can to maximize their profits — especially folks that are not very well versed on what their rights are.”
Before ousting a ten-year incumbent Democrat state senator, Fateh was a community organizer.
Now, he represents some of southern Minneapolis&#8217; poorest neighborhoods and is the first Muslim and first Somali American to serve in the Minnesota Senate.
Fateh was born and raised in Washington, D.C. by immigrant parents from Somalia and attended George Mason University before moving to Minneapolis.
He is the second self-described democratic socialist to rocket toward the top of a major city&#8217;s mayoral race after Zohran Mamdani <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-socialist-mamdani-called-for-abolition-of-private-property?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Dem+Socialist+Mamdani+Called+For+‘Abolition+Of+Private+Property’">won</a> the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City last month.
Last Saturday, Omar Fateh was <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2025/07/20/omar-fateh-minneapolis-dfl-endorsement-mayor">endorsed</a> for Minneapolis mayor by the city&#8217;s local Democratic Party at their convention in a shocking upset for current mayor Jacob Frey, also a Democrat.
&#8220;This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,&#8221; Fateh posted on X.
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I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us. <a href="https://t.co/rU6v90TJPp">https://t.co/rU6v90TJPp</a> <a href="https://t.co/9KX3jSMvcP">pic.twitter.com/9KX3jSMvcP</a>
&mdash; Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarFatehMN/status/1946761856275624188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Frey quickly <a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/politics/jacob-frey-files-challenge-dfl-convention/89-51444c91-1bf6-4ab9-9990-ef6457e5a872">filed</a> a formal challenge to Fateh&#8217;s surprise endorsement by the city&#8217;s Democratic Party.
The incumbent mayor oversaw Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots.
Frey knelt and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vph7pc0vFA">wept</a> at Floyd&#8217;s golden casket during his funeral, but he also clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters on abolishing the police department and at one point was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj3vdaC4F7c">shouted</a> out of a protest by a volatile crowd.
If the Minneapolis mayoral election goes the way New York City&#8217;s is right now, Frey could be facing an uphill battle.
New York&#8217;s current mayor Eric Adams is trailing in the polls behind Mamdani, who is running on a progressive platform that overlaps with Fateh&#8217;s.
Mamdani is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-socialist-mamdani-called-for-abolition-of-private-property?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Dem+Socialist+Mamdani+Called+For+‘Abolition+Of+Private+Property’">campaigning</a> on government-run grocery stores, free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze for more than two million New Yorkers living in rent-subsidized housing, and deploying mental health professionals rather than police in crises. He also wants to raise both income and corporate taxes.
Both Minneapolis and New York City will hold their mayoral elections on November 4.
So far, the two democratic socialists have the advantage.

Meet Omar Fateh, The Radical Somali American Socialist Poised To Be The Next Mayor Of Minneapolis

Who Is Omar Fateh, The Somali American Democratic Socialist Running For Minneapolis Mayor?

Democratic Socialism

Zohran Mamdani

Rally at the capitol to raise awareness of the human rights violations in Somalia

How Minneapolis Turned Into Somalia

Fraud

Mayor

MixCollage-15-Jul-2025-02-04-PM-8614

First New York, Now Minneapolis. Foreign Socialists Are Taking Over.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Foreigner

illegal immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Migrants

Muslims

Police

Seattle

Socialists

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said that the United States is becoming &#8220;one of the worst countries&#8221; in the world after President Donald Trump and Republican governors deployed the National Guard to quell anti-ICE riots.
Speaking to the leftist news program &#8220;Democracy Now,&#8221; Omar — who grew up in Somalia during a time of anarchy — <a href="https://news.grabien.com/story/rep-ilhan-omar-says-the-us-is-becoming-worse-than-her-home-country-of">said</a> that she doesn&#8217;t &#8220;remember ever witnessing anything like&#8221; what she sees in the United States.
&#8220;To have democracy, a beacon of hope for the world, to now be turned into one of the worst countries, where the military are in our streets without any regard for people’s constitutional rights, while our president is spending millions of dollars propping himself up like a failed dictator with a military parade, it is really shocking and it should be a wake-up call for all Americans to say this is not the country we were born in, and this is not the country we believe in.&#8221;
&#8220;This is not the country our Founding Fathers imagined, and this is not the country that is supported by our Constitution, our ideals, our values, and we should all collectively be out in the streets rejecting what is taking place this week,&#8221; Omar added.
Omar and her family fled Somalia in 1995 as the country descended into chaos and a civil war. They received asylum in the United States, living in Arlington, Virginia, before settling in Minneapolis, where Omar now represents Minnesota&#8217;s 5th District in Congress. The 5th District is in the middle of Minneapolis, which is sometimes referred to as &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDTCJmTdXc8">Little Mogadishu,</a>&#8221; or the &#8220;Somali capital of America.&#8221;
The leftist &#8220;Squad&#8221; member has regularly criticized the United States, while radical Islamic terrorists continue to threaten innocent people in Somalia. In 2019, Omar said that after living in America, she viewed the nation as unjust, accusing the country of breaking its &#8220;promise&#8221; to her family.
“I grew up in an extremely unjust society, and the only thing that made my family excited about coming to the United States was that the United States was supposed to be the country that guaranteed justice to all,” she told high school students, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/06/ilhan-omar-is-unlike-anyone-who-has-served-congress-this-is-her-complicated-american-story/?utm_term=.8a1405a502c9">according</a> to The Washington Post. “So, I feel it necessary for me to speak about that promise that’s not kept.”
In 2021, Omar equated the United States and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban, <a href="https://x.com/Ilhan/status/1401985884191404041">writing</a>, &#8220;We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.&#8221;

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar Says U.S. Has ‘Turned Into One Of The Worst Countries’

Congress

U.S.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharply criticized Minnesota Democratic Governor and failed vice president candidate Tim Walz for his handling of the 2020 Minneapolis riots while defending the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sends-another-2000-national-guard-troops-to-l-a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deployment</a> of National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to protect against violent anti-ICE protests.
In a hearing on Capitol Hill, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) noted how both she and Hegseth are from Minnesota and claimed President Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles was “premature and escalatory,&#8221; insisting the situation in 2020 was &#8220;more volatile&#8221; when Walz called in the National Guard. Hegseth fired back after the congresswoman got to asking how the deployment in L.A. affected the defense budget and duties.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🔥 WATCH: <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecDef</a> calmly dismantles Minnesota Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/BettyMcCollum04?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BettyMcCollum04</a> when she tries to grill him on the cost of deploying National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles:
&#8220;I recall 2020 quite well when <a href="https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovTimWalz</a> abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground&#8230;… <a href="https://t.co/tltKWcgBEQ">pic.twitter.com/tltKWcgBEQ</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1932444502565744888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;You are right, we are both originally from Minnesota. Which is why I recall 2020 quite well, when Governor Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground — and also allowed five days of chaos to occur inside the streets of Minneapolis,&#8221; Hegseth said.
Hegseth took a swipe at California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-sues-trump-over-national-guard-deployment-says-president-manufactured-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> Trump, Hegseth, and the Department of Defense <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/06/09/governor-newsom-suing-president-trump-and-department-of-defense-for-illegal-takeover-of-calguard-unit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over</a> the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles because he did not request it.
&#8220;The police precinct, ma&#8217;am, was abandoned and burned to the ground. And because of that, the National Guard was eventually — far too late — mobilized. And President Trump recognizes a situation like that improperly handled by a governor — like it was by Governor Walz — if it gets out of control, is a bad situation for the citizens of any location,&#8221; Hegseth said.
He added, &#8220;So in Los Angeles, we believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed into our country in the previous administration. ICE ought to be able to do its job whether it&#8217;s Minneapolis or Los Angeles.&#8221;
McCollum tried stopping Hegseth, complaining that she had limited time and wanted to keep the focus on the budget — even though she had been the one to bring up the priority of the troop deployment to Los Angeles and Walz&#8217;s response to the Minneapolis riots.
&#8220;You asked about the situation in Los Angeles, and we believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;And we have deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their duties, because we ought [to] be able to enforce immigration law in this country, unlike Governor Walz did in 2020.&#8221;

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Hegseth Blasts Tim Walz For Mobilizing National Guard ‘Far Too Late’ During Minneapolis Riot Failure

Department of Defense

Los Angeles

Pete Hegseth

Protests

Riots

Tim Walz

On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, police departments would be dismissed.
The DOJ countered the lawsuits filed by the Biden administration in the waning moments of Biden’s presidency.
Those lawsuits accused the police departments of &#8220;unconstitutional policing practices by wrongly equating statistical disparities with intentional discrimination and heavily relying on flawed methodologies and incomplete data,” the DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-department-justices-civil-rights-division-dismisses-biden-era-police-investigations-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. “They also sought to subject the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments to sweeping consent decrees that went far beyond the Biden administration’s accusations of unconstitutional conduct.”
The Minneapolis and Louisville investigations followed the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
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In April 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/justice-department-minneapolis-police.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department and whether it had used excessive force or treated minorities unfairly. In 2023, Biden’s DOJ <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3889776-doj-issues-scathing-civil-rights-report-on-louisville-police/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> results of its investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD), saying it had acted with discriminatory behavior against black people. Both police departments reached consent decrees with the Biden administration.
The consent decree with Minneapolis <a href="https://mn.gov/mdhr/mpd/agreement/terms.jsp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enjoined</a> the police department to:
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<li>Require officers to de-escalate</li>
</ul>
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<li>Prohibit officers from using force to punish or retaliate</li>
</ul>
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<li>Prohibit the use of certain pretext stops</li>
</ul>
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<li>Ban searches based on alleged smells of cannabis</li>
</ul>
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<li>Prohibit so-called consent searches during pedestrian or vehicle stops</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Limit when officers can use force</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Limit when and how officers can use chemical irritants and tasers</li>
</ul>
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<li>Ban “excited delirium” training</li>
</ul>
The consent decree’s demands of the Louisville police are listed <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-secures-agreement-louisville-metro-government-reform-louisville-metros">here</a>.
“The decrees would have governed many aspects of those police departments, including their management, supervision, training, performance evaluations, discipline, staffing, recruitment, and hiring,” the DOJ continued. “In short, these sweeping consent decrees would have imposed years of micromanagement of local police departments by federal courts and expensive independent monitors, and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of compliance costs, without a legally or factually adequate basis for doing so.”
“Overbroad police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs, turning that power over to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, often with an anti-police agenda,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department&#8217;s Civil Rights Division declared. “Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees.”
In addition, the Civil Rights Division “will also be closing its investigations into, and retracting the Biden administration’s findings of constitutional violations” on the part of the police departments of Phoenix, Arizona; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police.

Donald Trump And Jeff Sessions Attend 36th annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service

Trump’s DOJ Goes To Bat For Police: Will Dismiss Biden’s Lawsuits Against Them

Courts

Department of Justice

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Louisville

A Minnesota state fiscal policy analyst who <a href="https://www.startribune.com/suspect-in-tesla-vandalizing-spree-in-minneapolis-to-be-entered-into-diversion-and-not-charged/601334027">reportedly</a> admitted to vandalizing six Teslas, causing a reputed $21,000 in damages, will not be charged with criminal conduct by the local Democrat county attorney.
Dylan Bryan Adams, 33, who <a href="https://x.com/CrimeWatchMpls/status/1913268726813827421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes himself</a> as a fiscal policy analyst for the state Department of Human Services on social media, was caught on video keying different Teslas in the Minneapolis area. One owner of a victimized Tesla told the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/suspect-in-tesla-vandalizing-spree-in-minneapolis-to-be-entered-into-diversion-and-not-charged/601334027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota Star Tribune</a> that the marks on her car appeared to be a failed attempt to carve a swastika.
“Our main priorities are to secure restitution for the victims and hold Mr. Adams accountable,” Hennepin County Attorney&#8217;s Office spokesman Daniel Borgertpoepping stated. “As a result, we will file for pre-charge diversion to best facilitate both of those goals. This is an approach taken in many property crime cases and helps to ensure the individual keeps their job and can pay restitution, as well as reducing the likelihood of repeat offenses. Criminal prosecution remains a possibility should unlawful behavior continue.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
4/ Let&#39;s take a look at the mindset of Gov. Tim Walz&#39;s state employee Dylan Bryan Adams, who is suspected of damaging several Teslas in the heart of MAGA Country in downtown Minneapolis. <a href="https://t.co/bJtqeTCMMB">pic.twitter.com/bJtqeTCMMB</a>
&mdash; CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrimeWatchMpls/status/1913297668681461939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Participants in the county attorney’s diversion program are expected to sign a contract which could include conditions like community service and restitution payments,” the Star Tribune noted.
“The Minneapolis Police Department did its job,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara reacted. “It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified and arrested a suspect, and presented a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney&#8217;s Office for consideration of charges. This case impacted at least six victims and totaled over $20,000 in damages. Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same.”
“We are reviewing the matter at this time,” Minnesota DHS stated to the Star Tribune. “State employees are expected to follow our code of conduct and hold themselves to the highest ethical standards through their words and actions.”
Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County Attorney, was a former public defender who became Hennepin County Attorney in January 2023. “She vowed to make police more accountable and change the culture of an office she believes had long overemphasized punishment without addressing the root causes of crime,” KFGO <a href="https://kfgo.com/2024/07/30/hennepin-county-prosecutor-facing-backlash-but-vows-to-endure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in July 2024.
Attorney Gretchen Gray-Larson, who retired in July 2023 from the county attorney’s office after 33 years, said colleagues of hers who kept working in the office were not happy, adding, “People are afraid to talk. The morale is horrible.”

Maplewood, Minnesota. Tesla car dealership. Cars at charging stations. Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company.

Walz Admin Staffer Walks Free After Doing $20K Damage To Teslas

Crime

Tesla

In the third episode of his groundbreaking series “The Case for Derek Chauvin,” Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro revealed how the politically-connected former Chief Medical Examiner of Washington, D.C., dramatically influenced the Hennepin County Medical Examiner to add &#8220;neck compression&#8221; to George Floyd&#8217;s autopsy report despite initial findings that showed &#8220;no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation.&#8221;
“The facts are straightforward: Baker’s initial <a href="https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/public-safety/medical-examiner/floyd-autopsy-6-3-20.pdf">autopsy</a> was conducted on May 26th, 2020, and his subsequent draft autopsy report found ‘no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation’ and ‘no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation,’” Shapiro said.
“Then, Roger Mitchell enters the picture.”
Mitchell, a Democrat activist who also served as a D.C. deputy mayor, <a href="https://spectator.org/chauvin-did-not-murder-george-floyd/">called</a> Baker twice following the initial autopsy findings, according to <a href="https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12949-TT/Exhibit105122021.pdf">documents</a> filed in the case of Tou Thao, a former Minneapolis police officer and Chauvin&#8217;s colleague.
During these calls, Mitchell allegedly told Baker, &#8220;You don&#8217;t want to be the medical examiner who tells everyone they didn&#8217;t see what they saw. You don&#8217;t want to be the smartest person in the room and be wrong.&#8221;
The pressure campaign intensified when Mitchell threatened to publish an op-ed in The Washington Post critical of Baker&#8217;s findings.
&#8220;[Mitchell] said there was a way to articulate the cause and manner of death that ensures you are telling the truth about what you are observing on the body and via all of the investigation. Mitchell said neck compression has to be in the diagnosis,&#8221; the memorandum states.
By June 1, 2020, Baker had added &#8220;neck compression&#8221; to his official diagnosis, transforming the case against the officers. This revised finding enabled Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, assigned to the case by Governor Tim Walz just one day earlier, to bring an additional second-degree murder charge against Chauvin.
Dr. Baker&#8217;s private concerns about external pressure were revealed in former prosecutor Amy Sweasy&#8217;s sexual harassment <a href="https://mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12949-TT/TT-SweasyDiscriminationCharge.pdf">lawsuit</a> deposition, where she detailed conversations with Baker in which he expressed anxiety about the case. According to Shapiro, this information further confirms the political nature of the prosecution.
As Shapiro notes, “Dr. Baker confided to Hennepin prosecutor Amy Sweasy, ‘What happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on? This is the kind of case that ends careers.’”
The appearance of blackmail aside, Shapiro continues, “Worse yet, the Hennepin County prosecutors met with Dr. Baker to review his draft autopsy report without detectives or special agents present, violating protocol.”
“After being assigned to Chauvin&#8217;s case by Governor Tim Walz one day prior, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison utilized the revised autopsy report to bring an additional second-degree murder charge against Chauvin,&#8221; Shapiro adds. &#8220;All of these revelations, despite qualifying as Brady material, were buried at trial and were never properly disclosed to Chauvin’s defense.”
In the episode, Shapiro explores how “the detailed autopsy findings provide significant reasons to determine that Derek Chauvin did not receive a fair trial, and his conviction for murder was not supported by the medical evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Watch the full episode <a href="https://youtu.be/4KrY4XR88Ws?si=eiI7O3suA_jFK5n7">here.</a>

TCFDC

The Chauvin Trial’s Dirty Secret: Shapiro Exposes D.C. Influence On Floyd Autopsy

Ben Shapiro

Black Lives Matter

Derek Chauvin

George Floyd

Police Brutality

What if everything you were told about the trial of Derek Chauvin was a lie?
Like everyone else in America, I first saw the tape of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd on May 25, 2020, what appeared at the time to be nine minutes of a police officer&#8217;s knee on Floyd&#8217;s neck.
Given the tape alone, I drew the same conclusions as most Americans. I tweeted that the police officer&#8217;s behavior was abhorrent. I called for his prosecution. I said that nobody is defending the actions we all witness.
So, it&#8217;s not as though I was initially a believer in Chauvin&#8217;s innocence. But over time, new evidence emerged. A lot of new evidence. And I realized I had done something absolutely wrong. I had rushed to judgment as new information was released: the full body camera footage, the complete autopsy findings, the Minneapolis Police Department training materials.
My viewpoint changed, and it changed dramatically. But for most Americans, their only opinion on the case was formed in the hours after the original tape broke. They didn&#8217;t know about the new evidence, or they didn&#8217;t care. The legacy media were deeply complicit in this. They didn&#8217;t cover the details of the autopsy, the details of the complete body camera footage, and the defense presentation at trial.
They let that original impression sit in the minds of the American people for years, and they did that for a reason. They had a predetermined narrative of the race-based guilt of Chauvin and, according to the Left, of white people everywhere.
Taking stock of these larger forces at play helps to make sense of the bias that continues to this day. The George Floyd narrative was set.
A racist white police officer murdered a black man in cold blood? Case closed. Evidence to the contrary? Irrelevant. MPD training protocols dismissed? Toxicology report ignored? Medical examiner&#8217;s findings about contributing factors? Conspiracy theories.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Episode 1 of &#8220;The Case for Derek Chauvin&#8221; on The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Consider, for example, ESPN&#8217;s Stephen A. Smith, who last week dismissed my call to revisit the Chauvin trial by declaring on his show that he “doesn&#8217;t care about the autopsy,” effectively admitting he doesn&#8217;t care about the facts or the truth.
This cavalier dismissal of medical evidence perfectly encapsulates how much of America approaches this case.
“See, you&#8217;re trying to go down the lane I wasn&#8217;t trying to go down,” Smith declared. “I&#8217;m not going to let you take me there, which is why I turned down your invitation to appear on your show. We&#8217;re not getting into all of the science and what the doctor said and an autopsy report, even though I just read it to you to some degree. We don&#8217;t have to go there.”
A proper analysis of any case requires examining all the available evidence, not just the parts that confirm preexisting narratives based on the first available information. The media, the politicians, and the prosecutors had no interest in presenting the complete picture. Judging by their reaction to the announcement of this series, they still don&#8217;t.
You&#8217;re not going to hear it from CNN. You&#8217;re not going to hear it from MSNBC. You certainly won&#8217;t hear it from politicians who built their careers on the back of this case. But you&#8217;ll hear it here, because unlike those who rendered judgment and moved on, I believe truth emerges when we&#8217;re willing to revise our positions in light of new information.
On March 4, 2025, I launched a petition called <a href="http://pardonderek.com">pardonderek.com</a>, calling on President Trump to exercise his constitutional authority to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin from his federal convictions in the death of George Floyd.
This isn&#8217;t just about one man, though the unjust conviction of one man should be enough. This is also about restoring the rule of law after a disgraceful period of politically motivated race and identity obsessed weaponization of the justice system.
Since returning to office, President Trump has been taking historic action to dismantle the radical ideological framework infecting our institutions. In just six weeks, he has signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken over 400 executive actions, declaring that America will be woke no longer. He&#8217;s systematically dismantling DEI programs across the federal government. He&#8217;s targeting what he calls the tyranny of diversity and forced so-called inclusion in our institutions. He has banned men from women&#8217;s sports, returning education to a merit-based system, and declared there are only two genders in America.
But all of this will remain incomplete if we don&#8217;t address the original sin that kickstarted the entire woke revolution, the match that lit the powder keg of woke insanity and then spread through every American institution like wildfire.
President Trump&#8217;s war on wokeness cannot be considered complete unless he addresses the fundamental injustice that started it all. Pardoning Chauvin is about making a definitive statement that the rule of law matters more than mob justice — that America is finally ready to correct the catastrophic error that sent our country spiraling into years of racial division and leftist cultural supremacy.
Of course, I understand that this is politically radioactive. I get it. I understand the entire American Left will completely melt down if President Trump were to do this. I get that the media will lose their collective minds.
But frankly, I don&#8217;t care, because justice should matter more than political expediency.

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