Minneapolis Officials Push Back on Noem, Seek Neutral Probe (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Joining us now to respond, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hare. Mayor Frey, your response to what you just heard from Secretary Nome? She invoked you by name. That was some wild and crazy stuff.

[00:00:12] Speaker 2: You know, it sounds like she doesn't believe a single word that she is saying right now. And I don't know if Donald Trump was drinking a glass of water if she'd actually be able to speak, because here's the thing. She's calling Minneapolis like this dystopian hellhole. You know how many shootings we've had so far this year? Two. And one of them was ICE. Two shootings in a large city so far this entire year, and one of them is ICE. This is a safe city. ICE and Kristi Nome and everything they're doing is making it far less safe.

[00:00:45] Speaker 1: I want you to respond to what she said about you telling ICE to get the F out. She says you and the leaders of Minneapolis have been demonizing ICE officers. And it is true that you've been critical of Secretary Nome for her quick characterization of the incident. But you also said on Wednesday, quote, this was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying. Does your rhetoric need to change? Yeah.

[00:01:11] Speaker 2: Yeah. I said this was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying because that was a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying. It's exactly what happened. I mean, am I biased in this? Of course. And I'm biased because I got two eyes. Anybody can see these videos. Anybody can see that this victim is not a domestic terrorist. I mean, my goodness, she's like doing a three or a four or five point turn. This looks like somebody that's trying to get out of there. If doing a three point turn or a four point turn is a domestic terrorist, and my wife is a criminal every single day, this it does not make sense. We've got to be operating from a point of, of course, have this investigation. It should be a neutral, unbiased investigation where you get the facts, you know. And by the way, I shouldn't be the one conducting the investigation, nor should Christy Nome. But you should have an entity that is able to do it with some common sense and operating in reality.

[00:02:12] Speaker 1: Chief, what's your reaction to the Homeland Security secretary's claims and also just the assertion that the officer feared for his life?

[00:02:22] Speaker 3: Well, I got to tell you, as a matter of policy and training amongst professional police departments for many, many years in this country, we have an obligation to ensure, particularly during traffic stops, that our officers are doing everything possible so that we don't unnecessarily put their lives in jeopardy, so that our officers are not unnecessarily creating a risk of imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, either to themselves or others. And that means that they have to employ sound tactics and must be proportional in what they do. That being said, it's not always 100 percent. Law enforcement officers cannot control the actions of other people, and that's why a full and thorough investigation in every case where there is a use of force is necessary. I will be the first one to stand up for my cops when a situation happens and it is abundantly clear that there's no indication to think that an officer could have possibly done anything else. I'll be the first one to stand up and say my cop put their lives on the line and they did what they have to do, and I have no reason to think that it wasn't anything other than our policy and lawful. But I think we have to use caution, even as Tom Homan has said, and allow a full and impartial investigation to proceed.

[00:03:45] Speaker 1: Mayor Frey, the police union in Minnesota released a statement that says in part, quote, the hateful and anti-law enforcement rhetoric by Mayor Frey and other politicians have made their jobs and those of local and state law enforcement more difficult and dangerous. The job of law enforcement is difficult and dangerous enough without the agitation by leaders in our state and communities. Unquote. Do you think that you could bring down your rhetoric? Do you think you should?

[00:04:09] Speaker 2: Well, hang on a second. I support our law enforcement. Our police officers in Minneapolis are doing an incredible job. I am so proud to work with them. I was the guy, by the way, that stood up against defunding the police back when it was hard. Five years ago. And these honorable officers that have stayed and that have come on have been incredible. By the way, community members that have traditionally been pretty critical of law enforcement officers are supporting our police. They have kept people safe. They have done right. They have abided by the Constitution, which is a massive juxtaposition against what we've seen from some of these ICE agents. And, yeah, no, they have my support. So, I mean, as far as my position vis-a-vis law enforcement, no, we're there with them.

[00:04:57] Speaker 1: Well, that's the many. That's not me. It's the Minnesota Police Union saying that your rhetoric agitates these protesters.

[00:05:05] Speaker 2: Look, I can't speak for the police union. I certainly never will. But I will speak for myself. And I am grateful for the work of police officers in our city, especially over the last several days. I mean, these these these servants are tired. They're working tirelessly. They're drastically, by the way, outnumbered by the number of ICE agents and beyond that we have in our city right now. And they deserve our full throated support.

[00:05:34] Speaker 1: Mayor, what would you say to somebody who says, look, these ICE agents, they're also law enforcement. They're doing a job that they were sent to do by President Trump and Secretary Noem. They're not there because they want to be there. They're there because they were told to be there. And if people have an issue with it, that's true. They shouldn't be protesting the ICE agents. They should be protesting outside the White House.

[00:05:56] Speaker 2: Well, I think that's probably a fair point in that. Look, of course, you need to enforce laws, of course. But there's also a requirement that you carry out laws and carry out enforcement in a constitutional way. And what we've seen is that people are being plucked off the street indiscriminately. I take that back. There's discrimination only to the extent that they are Latino or they are Somali. And then it feels indiscriminate thereafter. We've got pregnant women getting dragged through the street. We've got high schoolers just getting American citizens, by the way, getting taken away. And so, yeah, I think it's a fair point to say, well, these ICE agents are being put in a horrible position because they're asked to do things that are not legal or are unconstitutional. But here's the thing. They're still doing them. And we are still dealing with the repercussions here in this city. Minneapolis has been on this glorious, amazing comeback. And this is just setting us back because we've got to deal with it. And so, no, you know, look, Minneapolis, we're going to get through this. We had 10,000 or something people protest peacefully yesterday. We have thousands and hundreds of thousands of people that are standing up for their neighbors right now. We have people that are not taking the bait of this Trump administration because they all know. We know they're looking for any excuse to come in with greater force and occupy our city. We're grinning down this bear. We are doing right by our city and the people in it. And we're not backing down.

[00:07:26] Speaker 1: That's all the time I have. I have a weekday show every day, 5 to 7 Eastern. You both are welcome anytime this week. Please come back. Really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.

[00:07:37] Speaker 3: Thank you.