Sharp divisions remain over Walz’s response to the riots that followed the killing of George Floyd

During recent appearances in Minnesota, Trump falsely claimed he was personally responsible for deploying the National Guard, when in fact it was Walz who issued the mobilization orders.

“Every Minnesota voter needs to know that when four years ago, when violent mobs of anarchists, looters, Marxists came to burn down Minneapolis — remember me? — I couldn’t get your governor to act,” the Republican presidential candidate said in July. “He should have called in the National Guard or the Army. And he didn’t.”

That contrasts sharply with the praise Trump heaped on Walz as the dust on the crisis settled. Two days after Walz ordered a full mobilization of the National Guard, the then-president told governors and administration officials in a conference call that the Minnesota chief had done an outstanding job.

“What they did in Minneapolis was incredible. They came in and dominated, and it happened immediately,” Trump said, according to an audio recording of the call obtained by the AP. The recording shows the president did not criticize the governor at the time. “Tim, you called big numbers, and big numbers came out so fast, it was like bowling,” Trump said.

Two nonpartisan outside reviews released in March 2022 found shortcomings in both the city and state’s responses.

A report by the nonprofit Wilder Research, commissioned by the Department of Public Safety, pointed to a lack of clear leadership early on. The report said the state did not establish a multi-agency command center until too late, four days after Floyd’s death. It said the center had a “chaotic start” without a clear chain of command, while the city continued to run its own emergency operations center with competing law enforcement strategies. The report also said the National Guard was mobilized too late.

A separate report commissioned by the city and conducted by risk management firm Hillard Heintze found that Minneapolis officials who requested help from the National Guard were unfamiliar with the process, delaying approval and deployment of troops.

In the months since the riots, Walz has called for sweeping changes. In July, he called lawmakers into a special session to ban neck restraints like the one used on Floyd and require officers to intervene if they see a colleague using excessive force.

Walz signed a modest police accountability package in 2021 that included some restrictions on no-knock warrants and created a database of police misconduct. Later in 2021, the governor opposed a Minneapolis ballot measure that had its roots in the “defund the police” movement. When Democrats held full control of the legislature in 2023, he signed tougher restrictions on no-knock warrants that, while not a ban, allowed them only in very limited exceptions.

Some leaders in the police reform movement say Walz sympathizes with law enforcement, not protesters.

Del. Shea Perry unsuccessfully sought accountability after her son, Hardel Sherrell, died in a northern Minnesota prison in 2018 from a medical condition that she believed was a preventable death. The lack of accountability was one reason she took to the streets after Floyd’s murder, and she remains angry at the governor.

“This whole administration has let me down,” Perry said. “We elected them to be our voice, and you won’t even work for us. We promise to put you in that position, and that’s what you do. You get the black vote, and then all of a sudden you’re gone.”

Michelle Gross, president of Minnesota-based Communities United Against Police Brutality, said Walz has been largely unfavorable to policies that would lead to more significant improvements in police accountability. She pointed to stalled efforts to end a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which shields police officers from liability for misconduct, and a proposal to extend the statute of limitations for wrongful death cases involving police.

“He was a little too quick to give the police what they wanted,” Gross said. “He wasn’t as responsive in terms of passing legislation that would actually, you know, change policing in a fundamental way. So it was very frustrating.”

Political allies, leaders like Ellison, the state attorney general who led the conviction of four police officers charged in Floyd’s death, have long defended Walz’s response to the riots and his efforts to bring about change.

Ellison said Walz found himself in an “unthinkable situation” in the summer of 2020, but he appropriately balanced the concerns of a grieving city with the risks to public safety during protests and the long fight for reform.

“A loved one is killed by police and you can’t bring them back because death is final,” Ellison said. “The best thing you can do is hold (the police) accountable.”

Ben Crump, an influential civil rights lawyer who represented Floyd’s family, praised Walz, calling him a “concerned and compassionate leader” in a community grieving over Floyd’s murder.

“He used his position to support passage of important police reform legislation that has stalled in many other jurisdictions,” Crump said. “All leaders who are brave enough to actually lead face criticism and scrutiny, some who feel they went too far and others who don’t. That’s usually an indication that they’ve found the middle ground.”

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Associated Press writer Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.