Minnesota
Minnesota Senate ethics panel delays action on complaint against Sen. Nicole Mitchell until after next court date
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The ethics panel weighing a complaint against DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell, who faces a felony charge, moved to delay action and meet again following her June court appearance after an hours-long and at times heated hearing Tuesday.
At issue was a complaint alleging Mitchell violated Senate rules on conduct, betraying the public trust and bringing the chamber into “dishonor or disrepute” with the allegations and her comments disputing the details laid out by police in the criminal complaint.
Mitchell is charged with first-degree burglary for breaking into her stepmother’s home two weeks ago to retrieve her late father’s ashes and other items, investigators say; Mitchell said she was trying to check in on her loved one whose health was a concern.
“We are not asking you to serve as the court of law. We are asking you to uphold the integrity of this institution and restore public trust,” said Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, one of the Republicans who filed the complaint. “We’re asking you to look at the Senate rules and ask yourself, truly, is it the norm of the Senate to be caught red-handed engaged in a burglary?”
The Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct consists of two Republicans and two Democrats who convene—usually infrequently — to hear complaints about members.
Mitchell did not speak during the entirety of the meeting Tuesday. She looked on before joining her attorney, Bruce Ringstrom Jr., who answered questions and made statements on her behalf. He urged the committee to delay action until after the criminal proceeding and argued acting sooner would violate her right to due process.
“The term witch hunt is thrown around a lot around in politics these days and it is often misused,” Ringstrom said. “A witch hunt is premised on the idea of the side being on someone’s guilt built without regard to the evidence in the case without allowing the person to defend themselves. But here the term fits.”
He continued: “Conducting an ethics investigation after the criminal case seems appropriate. By conducting an ethics investigation before the criminal case, you are participating in the witch hunt.”
Housley and Sen. Eric Lucero, R-Saint Michael, detailed their allegations against Mitchell, demanding the bipartisan panel “to take decisive action” to protect the Senate’s “reputation and uphold its commitment to Minnesotans.”
In response to many questions, Ringstrom said Mitchell invoked the Fifth Amendment, or her right against self-incrimination.
After a robust debate, the panel made several motions on how to proceed with the ethics complaint, but all the attempts ended in stalemate — the two Republicans and two Democrats divided on party-lines — until after the committee retreated to a private meeting out of public view.
Members returned and approved a delay, with plans to return June 12 after Mitchell’s next court appearance on June 10 — barring any new information “of substance,” explained Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, that would prompt them to meet sooner.
“Your fact finding capacity cannot be as expansive as if there were no pending criminal case. And to be clear–if we didn’t think this hearing had potential negative implications on Sen. Mitchell’s rights in her criminal case, we wouldn’t be here,” Ringstrom said earlier.
Lawmakers on the panel took turns grilling each other and Mitchell’s attorney and the debate often fell on party-lines — GOP members of the panel pointedly questioned Mitchell’s attorney while DFL Sen. Bobby Joe Champion did the same for the Republicans who filed the complaint in the first place.
The discussion at times grew tense.
“I’ve sat through a lot of hearings this session and the last couple of years and that might’ve been one of the more inflammatory ones I’ve heard,” said Sen. Eric Mathews, R-Princeton.
Ever since the charges were filed following her arrest on April 22, the issue has loomed large in the Minnesota Senate, where Republicans have demanded Mitchell’s resignation and swift action on the ethics complaint, though her attorney said she intends to stay in office.
Her presence is essential for Democrats in charge of the chamber to move their agenda — she is the deciding vote on major pieces of legislation for their razor-thin, one-seat majority. Mitchell has voted in recent days on bills brought to the floor.
The next meeting scheduled for the ethics panel will be after lawmakers adjourn for the year. The constitutional deadline to end is May 20, less than two weeks away.
Minnesota
Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected
Minnesota
Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.
It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.
“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”
Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.
Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.
“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”
Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.
Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.
“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.
A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.
Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.
One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.
Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”
“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.
“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.
Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.
As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.
Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.
Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.
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