Minnesota Governor Tim Walz made clear he has no intention of catering to Attorney General Pam Bondi's demands after she sent a letter urging him to turn over Minnesota's voter registration database to President Donald Trump if he wants to “restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota."
Bondi's letter, which came the same day ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, argued that the federal government needs access to Minnesota’s voter rolls to verify that the state’s registration practices comply with federal law. She further called for Walz to repeal “sanctuary policies” that she says “have led to so much crime and violence” in Minnesota.
Moreover, she demanded that Minnesota turn over records related to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) saying the data was necessary for the federal government to “efficiently investigate fraud.” She suggested there is “unprecedented financial fraud” happening in the state.
Walz hit back when asked about the letter during a press conference, saying Bondi should instead focus on releasing the Epstein files:
“This has nothing to do with fraud. … So, look, it’s not a serious attempt to get at this. The way to fix this is to get these folks out of here. We've continued to work with them, they've asked us for these numbers, we've provided them."
"They've continued to show they're not serious. I think everyone understands that the last request was totally unrelated on the voter files. This is again… Donald Trump telling everybody that the election was rigged, who started all this nightmare for America. [It] has nothing to do with [fraud]."
"And I would just give a pro tip to the attorney general: there’s two million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
The Justice Department has failed to release the Epstein files—and the scandal isn't going anywhere no matter what's happening in Minnesota.
The DOJ has released less than 1% of the Epstein files. The department acknowledged that it has released just 12,285 documents—totaling 125,575 pages—related to Epstein, even though federal law required the bulk of those records to be made public by December 19.
Before Christmas, the department said federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI had identified more than one million additional Epstein-related documents that were not part of its initial review, warning that full compliance with the law could take “a few more weeks.”
Last month, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said they were weighing an inherent contempt lawsuit against Bondi in an effort to force a faster release of the records.
Many appreciated Walz's response—and criticized Bondi themselves.
Well played, Governor.
