It’s been a long and exhausting day. It was expected this morning the news would be dominated by Trumpty’s bigly Birthday Parade and the far more substantial ‘No Kings’ protests taking place around the country. Instead much of the news was about political assassinations of Democrats in Minnesota and the hunt for the murderer. Plenty of people, both pundits and politicians weighed in but one person we did NOT hear from was President Donald J. Trump (the J is for jackass, jagoff, jackwad etc.)
No siree. This is Trumpty’s bigly 80th birthday and he had a whole day planned including a $45 million parade of tanks and other cool looking Army Stuff down the street in front of the WH to look forward to. Followed by a fancy shindig inside while a music and fireworks show took place across the street on the National Mall. For certain there were oversized TV in the ballroom so he could point to his suckup guests all the big celebration the Army and others were, totally without his asking for it birthday! So naturally Trumpty wanted to look extra special, getting groomed and fixed up for his bigly day. The duckass combover hairdo to hide the fact he’s BALD. And of course extra special care in PAINTINT HIS FACE ORANGE!
Meanwhile out in Minnesota deadly events had taken place and were in danger of continuing. Two elected Democratic politicians were murdered, and two others critically wounded by a RWNJ political assassin that had a long list of prominent Democrats he was targeting. Remember that because I’ll come back to it. You can read a fairly good accounting of what we know so far in this article from PBS. I won’t, at least tonight give the murderer the satisfaction of naming him here. Read the article. The guy it seems got close to his victims by posing as a cop. That has to be frightening to lots of political people. It should frighten us all because how do you think it will make good LE who are committed to doing their jobs have their credentials questioned by powerful people. It will erode trust and cooperation which is a long-term effect that I find scary.
For the moment while Trumpty isn’t saying jack because he’s too busy getting his fat ass kissed the administration at least put out a statement saying the FBI would help however it could. Given the mess Kash Patel has made of things that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. At least they’ve announced a $50k reward for helping apprehend the murderer. Then again this IS the Trump administration and if he tells Patel to still people of getting the reward they won’t see a dime.
As for the larger DOJ I’m sure after a day of Trump fluffing AG Pam Bondi will get involved. I said I’d get to this and here’s why. Murder is typically a STATE charge. However when you toss in the political aspect it takes on a larger meaning. The guy had a list of targets that included Rep. Omar, a sitting member of Congress. It also included Gov. Tim Walz who this last year was a VP candidate and might not be done with politics when his term is up after all. Minnesota AG Keith Ellison was a Congress Critter.
See where I’m going with this? That’s a lot of people right there and there are more including people where federal elected office is or might be part of the equation. Also, for now we don’t know if the murderer acted solely on his own or had accomplices. It’s not a stretch to think he might have gotten help and and the kind that could lead to criminal charges against others as happened with the lot to kidnap and murder (after lots of gang rape) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
You heard it here first. Bondi will fight like hell to federalize the case. If she succeeds it can ruin any chances of a state prosecution, especially if it gets to a point where jeopardy can be attached. At that point Bondi could find minions to tank the case in court. It only takes one MAGA to hang a jury and like every other state Minnesota has too many of them. However, even if a full twelve Minnesotans see through what the federal prosecutors try to do and vote to convict if it’s a federal case they won’t have the final say.
TRUMP will have the final say. Presidential pardon powers are almost limitless and if Trump wants to by god pardon this guy (Bondi will get him to hold off until after jeopardy is attached to prevent the state from prosecuting) he will. Is there ANYONE reading this who looks at who Trump has already pardoned and thinks he won’t pardon THIS asshat murderer? Again, I point to what happened with Trumpy making a big fuss about how ‘unfair’ it all was when he pardoned the Michiganders who had such ugly plans for Gov. Whitmer!
Perhaps tomorrow some lame-ass tweet or “truth” will get posted about it being wrong to assassinate political leaders and that the FBI/DOJ will work with state officials to bring about justice. It will mean as much as any obligatory ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ as in nothing. That kind of bullshit drivel is worth less than nothing in fact.
Keep an eye out though. If this guy gets taken alive watch to see whether and how hard DOJ pushes to take over his prosecution. Because if that happens it will be to ensure the murderer winds up going free.
Frump’s greatest achievement?
The normalization of political assassination.
Now, no longer just rhetoric.
There’s a piece by AP over on DK and it had this in it, this morning:
President Donald Trump said in a White House statement that the FBI would join in the investigation.
“Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the FBI, are investigating the situation, and they will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”
The problem is that Bondi CANNOT get involved as the actual victims were STATE legislators. Minnesota’s state laws apply and ONLY Minnesota’s laws apply here.
Now, *IF* any of the actual victims had been connected to the Federal government, then the Feds could step in and make a case for federalizing the investigation but, I believe, Minnesota’s state officials would still have first priority and they could still overrule/ignore the Fed’s case (provided, of course, the crime happened *IN* Minnesota–if some nutcase assassinated Rep Omar or Sen Klobuchar or Sen Smith in DC or campaigning on behalf of another candidate in another state, then the Feds would take the lead in prosecution).
The law doesn’t allow for the prosecution of someone simply because he has some names on a list but who weren’t actually attacked. Such a list can be used to bolster the prosecution’s case against the defendant to display his intention to commit further crime but you can’t prosecute someone for a crime he didn’t actually commit (we’re not living in “Minority Report” times just yet)
I’m sure that MN will, at least while Walz is still Gov. do all it can to prosecute this guy at the state level assuming he’s taken alive. That doesn’t mean the feds won’t at least try (and hard) to take over. Again I refer you to what happened in MI with the Whitner kidnapping plot. Given the FBI’s long experience with kidnapping and a federal statue to fall back on they were able to take over the prosecution. Many, if not most states have their own laws on the matter but when dealing with multiple criminals it makes for a complicated investigation and prosecution. Local jurisdiction, even when a state provides backup can get overwhelmed and are happy to hand cases off to the federal govt. It’s still early going but I keep bumping on this guy being decked out as a police officer AND his having a vehicle tricked out with a light bar good enough to fool people who saw him speeding away from one of the crime scenes. Granted it was nightime, but at first LE didn’t believe it when told a “cop” had been seen there and that’s why 911 wasn’t called. It was only after multiple people told them the same thing they realized they had a cop impersonator on the loose and out of “an abundance of caution” went to find the second crime scene. The murderer was still there but realized they were on to him and he managed to flee on foot.
What we don’t yet know is how this guy got his gear, and learned enough to gain access to both homes AND be there for a while. It certainly raises the possibility of help, as in accomplices and now we are into criminal conspiracy territory. Add in that federal and former federal officials were on the target list if he obtained information from out of state sources that offers a reason to charge him under federal law. We just don’t know enough yet. However even confined to help only coming from other nutjobs in MN the feds might try to claim a criminal conspiracy of this magnitude would be better prosecuted with the resources of the federal govenment.
Something a lot of people don’t know is that while many a politician has used successful prosecution of a high profile murder to launch a political career many a state and country that has had to bear the actual costs of an investigation and prosecution of a Capital case (which easily can run into the millions given the appeals) have been left with huge holes in their budgets. That’s why they are sometimes quite willing to hand a case that could be prosectued at the state level off to the feds
I’m not saying that will happen here, since as you note only state officials were shot. However if the investigation which will dig into tracking his preparation and movements show he scouted homes/offices of federal officials on his target list that would provide an excuse for DOJ to swoop in and attempt to gain control over things. Walz will fight it but what happens at the end of his term? MN is a quirky state (Jesse Ventura for example) and though we think of it as blue it’s not as solidly so as many assume. We’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out but again I say don’t assume the feds won’t find a reason to try and take over. One that might even succeed.