Heather Cox Richardson: As outrage boils over ICE's fatal shooting of Minnesota woman, jumbled stories and brazen deceit suggest Trump admin is feeling heat

(AP)

After watching the Trump administration get away with a veritable crime wave in the first year of Dear Leader's second term, you might expect members of the president's team to be unworried about ever being held accountable for their wrongdoing. But a new report from historian Heather Cox Richardson suggests Trumpers are unsettled after an ICE agent on Wednesday (1/7/26) fatally shot a Minneapolis woman during a White House-ordered immigration-enforcement operation in Minnesota.

With all of the untruths that spew forth from Trump and his allies, you might think they would be good at lying by now. But the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who never has been charged with anything by law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket, seems to have the White House shaken -- to the point that key officials are struggling to keep their stories straight. The staff, however does seem united in trying to whitewash the whole event as quickly as possible. Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Trump himself all have issued statements essentially blaming Good for getting in the way of a bullet fired by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Trump even suggested "the Radical Left," whatever that is, was responsible for the shooting, despite the support of many liberals for gun control. Perhaps dementia really has turned the president's brain to mush.

Cox Richardson, likely the most prominent and respected voice in today's social-media world, says the muddled response of the White House indicates finding the truth behind the Minneapolis shooting hardly will be a top priority of officialdom. At this point, a concerted cover up effort seems more likely.

Writing at her "Letters From An American" Substack page, Richardson sets the scene for what led to the shooting of Renee Good -- and provides insights on what might happen next. Early indications are that the Trumpian response hardly will be a shining example of government transparency. Richardson makes it clear that Good, on the way to drop off her 6-year-old son at school, encountered a frenetic scene that likely set her nerves on edge:

[Wednesday] morning (1/8/26), a federal agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as she was driving away from ICE agents on a residential street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to Minneapolis leaders, Good was a legal observer: a volunteer trained to observe police conduct in case of future legal action.

Three videos taken at the scene show a maroon SUV perpendicular on a snowy street. A silver SUV driving up the street stops. Two officers wearing badges that say “police” and body armor get out of the vehicle and walk toward the maroon car.

One of them says, “Get out of the f*cking car,” and the other reaches through the open driver’s-side window while trying to open the door. The driver backs up the vehicle, and straightens the wheel as if making a three-point turn. Then she starts slowly to accelerate along the street.

Gov. Tim Walz recently accused the Trump administration of "waging a war" on Minnesota and vowed to fight the White House until the end of his term. Anyone wishing to assign blame for Renee Good's death likely would be wise to focus on Trump's determination to unleash chaos in a Blue state that he lost in 2024 to Kamala Harris -- 50.92 percent to 46.68. For good measure, Trump lost Minnesota to Joe Biden in 2020 by a margin of 7.12 percent. Before that, Trump lost the 2016 race to Hillary Clinton by 1.52 percent. Democrats now have 12 consecutive presidential wins in the "Land of Lakes." Is it any wonder that Trump, given his documented thirst for retribution, appears to be exacting revenge on Minnesota? Cox Richardson reports:

Yesterday the Trump administration deployed federal agents and officers to Minneapolis for what they called the largest federal immigration operation ever carried out, eventually planning to deploy 2,000 agents. The administration has been attacking Minnesota’s Somali community, and Homeland Security Kristi Noem was present at an ICE arrest yesterday, telling a man in handcuffs, who Homeland Security later said was from Ecuador, “You will be held accountable for your crimes.”

Rebecca Santana and Michael Balsamo of the Associated Press reported that Minnesota governor Tim Walz called the deployment “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.” “You’re seeing that we have a ridiculous surge of apparently 2,000 people not coordinating with us, that are for a show of cameras,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insists that its actions are protecting American citizens from “the worst of the worst” criminal immigrants, so the shooting of a young white woman, the mother of a young child, and how that would look, made it appear eager to smear Good.

It immediately put out a statement that looked much like what it said after officers shot 30-year-old Chicago teaching assistant Marimar Martinez in October when it claimed she had “ambushed” agents, ramming their vehicle before an agent shot her five times. Footage showed that, in fact, the agents had rammed her car, and after the shooting one had sent a text message bragging: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” The Department of Justice dropped the charges it had filed against her, asking a judge to “dismiss the indictment and exonerate” Martinez and her passenger.

All of that raises this question: Does the administration's version of events square with evidence now on hand, in an environment where many Americans have viewed videos of the incident that have been widely viewed online? Richardson says the answer is no:

Today, DHS posted on social media that “ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism. An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers. The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries. This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.” (Whoever wrote this post must have gone to the same school where Donald Trump "learned" math.)

Trump jumped in with his own fact-free post lying that the shooter had been run over: “I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot at her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe that he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”

The administration appears to be trying to sow confusion on purpose. But Americans might be wising up because the effort seems to be flailing, Richardson writes:

That both DHS and Trump posted false accounts of the shooting even as there are four videos circulating that reveal those accounts to be lies shows they no longer are making any attempt to justify their actions. Instead, they are demanding Americans abandon reality in favor of whatever the administration says. If this works, it would be a demonstration of totalitarian power, the ability to control how people think. Accepting that lie is a loyalty test.

But it is not working.

First of all, Sarah Jeong of The Verge noted that the reason there are so many videos is because “people cared enough to show up where ICE was and record them. It wasn’t just one or two legal observers, and when Good was shot, they didn’t abandon her.”

Second, elected Democrats are pushing back. “I’ve seen the video,” Governor Walz wrote. “Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.” To reporters, he said: “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Trump administration’s dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety, that someone was going to get hurt. Just yesterday I said exactly that. What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict. It’s governing by reality TV and today that recklessness cost someone their life. I’ve reached out to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and I’m waiting to hear back.”

He told Minnesotans that, like them, he was angry, but “they want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot. If you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully as you always do. We can’t give them what they want…. To Americans, I ask you this. Please stand with Minneapolis.”

Walz prepared to call out the Minnesota National Guard if necessary, demonstrating that there would be no need for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in troops. He reminded Minnesotans that the Minnesota National Guard does not wear masks and that it is theirs, not Trump’s.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey told reporters that the DHS statement was “bullsh*t. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.” “To the family, I’m so deeply sorry,” Frey said. “There’s nothing that I can say right now that’s going to make you or your relatives, friends of the victim feel any better.” To ICE and other federal agents deployed in Minnesota, he added: “Get the f*ck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart…and now somebody is dead.”

As drama unfolds in Minnesota, Cox Richardson notes that the political world has not come to a stop. In fact, Trump apparently sees it as an opportunity to once again try to use his office for financial gain:

Something else was going on today. At the same time the administration was pouring gasoline on the domestic fire ICE had sparked and the international fire it had set with attacks on Venezuela and threats against Greenland, it was quietly making a number of major financial moves.

The smallest of those moves came as Trump asked Fulton County, Georgia, for a $6.2-million payout in attorneys’ fees and costs after the criminal charges against him in Georgia were dismissed. Trump had been indicted for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia by pressuring Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensberger to “find” 11,780 votes to give him a victory in the state of Georgia. In November 2025 a new special prosecutor dropped the charges, citing the difficulty of prosecuting a case against a sitting president. Trump boasted on social media of his victory over an “illegal, unconstitutional, and un-American hoax,” and continued to push the lie that Democrats stole the election.

Meanwhile, Trump and his sons once again are angling to enrich themselves:

Vicky Ge Huang of the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial today applied for a national banking license from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the Treasury Department. A banking license would integrate the Trump family’s cryptocurrency more fully into mainstream finance.

If the Treasury Department issues the license—a potential outcome that critics say reveals a major conflict of interest for the president—the president and chair of the new company would be Zach Witkoff, whose father is the son of Trump’s envoy to Russia Steve Witkoff, who the Wall Street Journal recently reported had been handpicked for his role by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The younger Witkoff started World Liberty Financial in 2024 with Trump’s sons Don Jr., Eric, and Barron. 

That takes us back to the busy intersection  of Venezuela, oil, and Trump. The latest news regarding Caracas makes the Trumpian plans smell even more like a grift than they already did. Cox Richardson writes:

Today, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told an audience at a Goldman Sachs energy industry event in Miami, Florida, that the United States will take control of all oil from Venezuela for the foreseeable future. Lisa Desjardins and Nick Schifrin of PBS NewsHour reported this afternoon that Trump administration officials have told lawmakers that they plan to put the money raised from their seizure of Venezuelan oil into bank accounts outside the U.S. Treasury. Desjardins clarified that “[s]ources said they understood these as similar [to] or decidedly ‘off-shore’ accounts.”

Yesterday, Trump announced that, as president of the United States, he would control the money from the sale of Venezuelan oil.

Could a chunk of that money wind up in the president's own pocket? Nah, the Donald would never think of that. Finally, Cox Richardson reports on the latest in Trump's never-ending threats:

The same account posted: “After long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars. This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe. If it weren’t for the tremendous numbers being produced by Tariffs from other Countries, many of which, in the past, have ‘ripped off’ the United States at levels never seen before, I would stay at the $1 Trillion Dollar number but, because of Tariffs, and the tremendous income they bring, amounts being generated, that would have been unthinkable in the past (especially just one year ago during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, the Worst President in the History of our Country!), we are able to easily hit the $1.5 Trillion Dollar number while, at the same time, producing an unparalleled Military Force, and having the ability to, at the same time, pay down Debt, and likewise, pay a substantial Dividend to moderate income Patriots within our Country!”

Simon Rosenberg of The Hopium Chronicles wrote: “Trump has gone completely mad.”

Hartmann: Trump White House resorts to revisionist history and the oft-used fascist playbook in an effort to normalize violence as a means of clinging to power

Mayhem on Jan. 6 (AP)

The White House's fact-free response to the Jan. 6 anniversary is a sign U.S. democracy might already be on life support. That's the conclusion of Thom Hartmann, author, businessman, radio personality, and a leading progressive voice in America.

What drove Hartmann to reach such a grim conclusion? He read a narrative on the White House website that apparently is Donald Trump's version of what happened on Jan. 6, 2001 when his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Millions of Americans watched as events unfolded that day in D.C., and they heard Trump urge his followers to "fight like hell." But you would never know that from the White House narrative, which lives on a website supported by taxpayer dollars. Writes Hartmann:

The Trump regime has rolled out a new, lie-filled website purporting to tell the history of the January 6 insurrection attempt. It opens with bullshit like this (which, interestingly, appears to be 100% AI-generated):

“The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as ‘insurrectionists’ and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government.

“In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters, all while Pelosi’s own security lapses invited the chaos they later exploited to seize and consolidate power. This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy.”

The most dangerous lies a government can tell aren’t about how tax cuts will create prosperity or that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, although those were bad. When a malicious, corrupt government wants to truly break down trust in a society to more easily seize and manipulate it politically and loot it economically, it inevitably tells lies about the past.

Because once a government convinces its people that what they saw with their own eyes never really happened, what’s left of democracy in that republic is already on life support.

Trump long has been known as a prodigious liar, so it should not be a surprise that he has surrounded himself with others who have a tortured relationship with the truth. But this goes beyond standard-issue political deceit, Hartmann says. It is an extraordinary effort to rewrite the history of an event that huge numbers of American saw with their own eyes. That Trumpers apparently think regular folks are such saps that they will buy an an epic attempt at revisionism suggests the administration has little or no respect for the public, even MAGA supporters. From Hartmann:

That’s what makes the Trump administration’s new official White House website about January 6 so chilling. This isn’t spin or selective memory: it’s an industrial-scale, government-run attempt to erase the memory of a violent insurrection and replace it with a fantasy narrative where Trump and the attackers were the heroes, the police and Mike Pence were the villains, and Joe Biden simply winning the election was the real crime.

The site claims that January 6 was marked by “minimal violence”; that the rioters who smashed doors and windows, smeared feces on the walls, urinated on carpets and papers on Democratic members’ desks, killed Officer Brian Sicknick and four others were “peaceful”; and that the police officers trying to prevent the mob from greater violence weren’t brutally assaulted but instead “allowed” the “protesters” into the Capitol.

The White House claims the police “aggressively” fired “tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters, injuring many and deliberately escalating tensions. Video evidence shows officers inexplicably removing barricades, opening Capitol doors, and even waving attendees inside the building—actions that facilitated entry—while simultaneously deploying violent force against others. These inconsistent and provocative tactics turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos.”

Whoever wrote the official White House version of Jan. 6 has adopted one of Trump's most disturbing personality traits. It's hard to remember when the president has ever accepted responsibility for anything. He almost always plays a game of deflect/deny/finger point. It's as if the writer produced a narrative he or she knew would curry favor with the boss. Hartmann has no trouble finding examples:

One section argues that the real injustice wasn’t the beating of officers with flagpoles, fire extinguishers, and fists, but that Trump’s violent supporters were later prosecuted at all.

Another section claims that the January 6 defendants were victims of “political persecution,” while the police officers who defended the Capitol were the aggressors.

You can almost hear Hartmann catching his breath as he reads the garbage. But he is not falling for any of it:

These are simple, blatant lies, something we’ve grown to expect from Trump and his people but are shocking, nonetheless.

More than 140 police officers were injured so severely that day that they were hospitalized. We watched officers crushed in doors, dragged down stairs, tased into heart attacks, beaten, eyes gouged out, and left bleeding on the ground. We heard their screams live on television.

Multiple courts reviewed thousands of hours of video and multiple juries sent hundreds of Trump’s thugs to prison. Multiple judges — many appointed by Republicans — called January 6 an “attempted coup” and an attack on America’s constitutional order. 

And now our government itself — today in the hands of a billionaire wannabe dictator and his lickspittles because five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court let billionaires buy an election — is trying to tell Americans none of it was real.

Hartmann suggests Americans would be wise to learn about the history of fascist movements -- starting with the man who embodies evil, Adolph Hitler:

History would like to have a word with us about this despicable attempt at revisionist propaganda.

In Nazi Germany, the regime’s most important lies weren’t about economics or foreign policy; they were about violence. Nazi street thugs were recast as patriots while the victims of their violence, including socialists, gays, immigrants, and Jews, were reframed as the provocateurs.

When the Nazi state lied about who committed violence and why, it taught its citizens that paramilitary force is legitimate when used by the “right” people.

Evil, of course did not begin and end with Nazi Germany. Hartmann finds it in other directions:

In the Soviet Union, people didn’t necessarily believe the government’s lies, but that didn’t prevent the USSR’s dictatorship from holding power. Instead, it produced something worse: mass cynicism.

A common joke in Russia about the two major newspapers — Pravda (“Truth”) and Izvestia (“News”) — was “In Pravda there is no news, and in Izvestia there is no truth.” (В ‘Правде’ нет известий, а в ‘Известиях’ нет правды.) When citizens assume the government is lying all the time, truth stops mattering, participation becomes mere theater or social climbing, and power becomes untouchable and, thus, increasingly brutal.

Has America reached a point where mass cynicism could set in, where citizens might reasonably believe the Trump government is lying all the time? I fear the answer is yes. Hartmann suggests Trumpers are not being clever or creating anything new; they simply are pulling a page from the well-established authoritarian playbook. It's a sort of political plagiarism, which seems appropriate for an administration that makes regular use of thievery:

This is an old tactic that dictators have used since the days of Ancient Rome. Putin today has motorcycle gangs called the Night Wolves, for example, who terrorize “liberals” and gays in Russia with impunity. It’s not hard to imagine the militia members in America who’re now being recruited by ICE being turned loose on the rest of us in a similar way once the “immigration emergency” is “resolved.”

The police who defend democracy, these White House lies tell would-be vigilantes, will be abandoned by the very government that employs them, while the courts that are the historic arbiters of the law will be smeared and ignored. Elections that should reflect the will of the people will instead be treated as optional suggestions rather than binding decisions.

We’ve seen this movie before in America, too. After the Civil War, the “Lost Cause” mythology rewrote an armed rebellion to preserve slavery into a noble struggle for “heritage.” That lie didn’t heal the country, but instead justified the rise of the Klan and a century of racial terror, voter suppression, and political violence that endures to this day.

The evil that is brewing in America goes beyond Trump. It also includes his Republican enablers -- officials such as Mike Johnson, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and (until recently) Marjorie Taylor Greene. Perhaps most importantly, it includes Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court, who has spent years seeking to enhance power in a "unitary executive." Hartmann writes:

These official lies about January 6 are laying the groundwork for the same kind of future for those of us who may oppose the Trump regime and its successors.

This isn’t just about salving Donald Trump’s fragile, 10-year-old ego. It’s also a setup to condition the public to accept the next time Republicans lose an election and respond with violent attacks.

The message isn’t subtle: if January 6 was “peaceful,” then January 6 is within the new norm and can — or even should — happen again. If police were the villains, then police can be ignored next time. If courts are corrupt, then their verdicts don’t count when they’re inconvenient to these new American fascists.

A democratic republic can survive policy mistakes and bad presidents; G-d knows we’ve had our share of both. What it can’t survive, though, is a government that looks straight into the camera and tells its people that violence didn’t happen when everyone watched it live.

In other words, this depraved new website isn’t just a lie: it’s an invitation.

Will Don Jr. and Eric Trump take time out from killing leopards in Africa to fight in Venezuela? They might be dumb but no more than daddy, who started this mess

(Facebook)

Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela -- even though he doesn't use the "I word" -- already is showing signs of turning into an international slog, a quagmire. Experts are signaling that other nations could become involved. Who might that be? Robert Reich, who worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter -- and as labor secretary under Bill Clinton and a member of Barack Obama's economic transition board -- mentions Cuba and Colombia. Anybody else? Reich goes on to mention Russia and China.

That sounds like fun.

In short, Reich is one smart and experienced fellow. Best of all, he's a libtard. (I've come to use that word as a badge of honor). TIME magazine has named Reich one of the 10 most effective cabinet members of the [20th] century. The Wall Street Journal placed him No. 6 on its list of most influential business thinkers. When Reich suggests Trump has little clue what he is doing -- perhaps leading us into an Afghanistan-style mess -- people around the world should listen.

Reich's take on events of the past few days involves stark, ominous language. At his Substack page, under the headline "The Quagmire of Trump's Venezuela," Reich writes:

The story of what’s happening in Venezuela is unfolding quickly and big questions are mounting. The immediate danger in Venezuela (and potentially in Colombia and Cuba) is chaos.

Asked who’s in charge of Venezuela, Trump answered: “We’re in charge.”

What the hell does this bluster really mean?

Some commentators have noted that Trump -- having ordered the arrest of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro  and First Lady Cilia Flores -- seems so pleased with himself that he is almost taking a victory lap. We have a president who enjoys being a bully. But Reich, serving as the much-needed adult in the room, notes that victory laps can be premature -- and come with downsides. He writes:

U.S. troops are not prepared to occupy Venezuela. Trying to do so would be a disaster.

Maduro’s system of oppression is still entrenched there. It includes the national guard, the army, the national police, the intelligence service, and the Colombian guerrilla group ELN. All remain intact.

Maduro’s top lieutenants also remain, including several who were involved in his alleged crimes. Not to mention his thugs and narco-traffickers who have been controlling Venezuela through violent repression and stolen elections.

"Violent repression and stolen elections"? Maybe Trump should ask them to join the Republican Party. Reich likely would not see the humor in that line. He notes that Venezuela, as a country, comes with complications -- and suggests Trump neither knows nor cares about such niceties. You mean Dear Leader might not know what he's getting into? Imagine that. Reich writes:

Venezuela has roughly 28 million people. There’s no way to determine the emerging balance of power between pro- and anti-Maduro camps, but it’s a safe bet that any power void is likely to be filled with violence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of “coercing” the Venezuelan government to make policy changes over its oil reserves, rather than “running” the country: American forces will prevent oil tankers from entering and leaving Venezuela until the government opens up the state-controlled oil industry to foreign investment — presumably giving priority to American companies.

But since August, America has had an arsenal of warships, jet fighters, and some 15,000 troops on Venezuela’s doorstep, which hasn’t stopped oil shipments. How big must the arsenal be to do the job? How long will it remain there? At what cost? Will we bomb Russian or Chinese tankers coming into or out of Venezuela?

Let's hope Reich will be careful about what he says. Trump might decide bombing Russian or Chinese tankers is a good idea. Meanwhile, the orange turd's allies explain his actions as being "in the national interests of the United States." Reich scoffs at such naivete:

Rubio emphasized that “the national interest of the United States … is No. 1.” But what exactly is the “national interest” of the United States here? Big Oil? Chevron has been in Venezuela for years. Do we declare victory when Exxon-Mobil is there, too? Do we insist that Venezuela not charge American oil companies any extraction fees? How profitable must Big Oil’s extractions of oil from Venezuela become before Trump is satisfied?

Rubio says Trump hasn’t ruled out troops on the ground. But does anyone remember what happened in Iraq after the U.S. invasion there? Libya? Syria? Hello? How many failed states do we need to create before we understand their danger to the stability of an entire region of the globe?

Trump has talked tough about having no fear of placing American "boots on the ground." That has prompted some online wise crackers to suggest that first sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump should get ready to sign up for the U.S. Army. Some wonder if the Trump boys might, like their father, develop a sudden case of "bone spurs." Junior and Eric, however, are known for flying to far-flung paces like Zimbabwe to kill wild game, such as a leopard -- who likely was minding his own business, munching on a wildebeest. If the boys are fit enough and fearless enough to do that, some have wondered, maybe they should sign up to fight in daddy's budding war for Venezuelan oil. 

Let's assume, for now, that any war in Venezuela will be fought without the efforts of the Trump spawn. Does that mean "boots on the ground" is just a spiffy phrase for daddy to play with -- as he might with a 13-year-old girl at Jeffrey Epstein's New York apartment.

Do the downsides of Trump's venture in imperialism end there? Not by a long shot, Reich says:

"We’re now fanning the flames of anti-Americanism, both in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. In Delcy Rodriguez’s first remarks after Trump made her interim president, she condemned Maduro’s capture. “What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity,” she said, adding that Maduro is Venezuela’s “only president.”

Trump said later that if Rodriguez doesn’t cooperate, “she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

Trump won’t consider anyone who “doesn’t cooperate.”

Earlier, he spoke dismissively about Maria Corina Machado, who recently left Venezuela to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. "I think it'd be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said, even though international election experts say a candidate she supported, Edmundo González, beat Maduro by a wide margin in 2024. “She's a very nice woman but she doesn't have the respect."

For Trump, “respect” means the power to bully. “America is respected again,” he gloated in his address to the nation on December 9. “Our nation is strong, and America is BACK.”

Wrong. Gunboat diplomacy is back.

After an extended absence due to technical difficulties, Legal Schnauzer blog returns to the national discourse as Trump creates more chaos in the Caribbean

 A message to our readers at the Legal Schnauzer blog

 

 

Problems with our laptop computer have forced us to the social-media sidelines since late June/early July. That's by far the longest break we've had in steady publishing since the blog began almost 18 years ago -- and it's the kind of unwelcome absence that is a new experience for us. But starting today, that experience is over, hopefully for good.

What does it mean for us to be back? We are grateful to have a meaningful track record. For example, I'm not aware of another blog having roots in Alabama, or anywhere in the Deep South, that has published continuously since summer 2007 -- until our recent interruption struck. And I don't know of any blog on justice issues that has been around for that length of time. I suspect there are other blogs in those categories that have enjoyed similar longevity, and I tip my hat to those publishers because I know that keeping a blog alive and relevant for, say, 15-20 years is a challenging task.

Longtime readers might recall that in 2013 a Chicago-based online research and marketing firm called Cision ranked Legal Schnauzer among the top 50 independent law blogs in North America. That was an especially nice honor for us because we never have been affiliated with any larger entity -- a law firm, a law school, a media company, an academic institution, a legal society. We might be a truly independent blog, but it's hardly a one-man show. My wife Carol, long known on these digital pages as "Mrs. Schnauzer," has been a supportive and perceptive sounding board from the outset. And she has played a huge role in figuring out how to get us back up and running after encountering technical difficulty. If it were left to me, I probably would still be trying to sign on to a computer I haven't been able to use for several months. But Carol tamed the sign-on and other cyber gremlins, all of which seemed to be well beyond my meager "handyman" skills. Carol long has told me, as a little girl, she would accompany her father, Mark, to various hardware stores in and around Ensley, Alabama. I will be forever grateful that the lessons picked up on those trips stuck with her. I had a handy father too -- and he even hauled me to hardware stores several times -- but the lessons that could have been learned there zipped right through my cranium without passing go.      

The good news is that today's post, thanks to Carol, marks our return to the blogging fray, and it comes at a historically precarious moment for American democracy -- with Donald Trump showing signs of being an even more unstable, lawless, and dangerous president than even his most vocal detractors (including yours truly) likely feared. With a little luck -- and the technical gods willing -- we plan to be part of of your information diet well into the future.

Here is a short version of what seems to have caused our forced break. Seemingly out of nowhere, we started getting messages that our laptop wasn't charging. After conducting online research and checking with several knowledgeable folks, we concluded that the problem likely was on one end or the other of our power cord, perhaps with the battery itself. Coming to that realization took several weeks; trying to figure out how to solve the problem took several more weeks. We aren't certain we have things fully figured out, but this post is a sign of progress. With the Republican Party in a state of decay and dysfunction, the Democratic Part is our only hope for effective leadership at the national level. That makes progressive voices, both yours and mine, more important than ever. 

We appreciate your patience and support while we were missing in action. And as always, we look forward to hearing from you, either through comments at the end of our posts or via email at rshuler3156@gmail.com or text at (205) 381-5673. 

Writing for you and sharing each other's thoughts is a true privilege. Perhaps you are like me and have come to take being called a "libtard" as a badge of honor. That is especially so now that it's clear Trump and his followers never had any intention of "making America great again"; they are about destroying, not building. Look what they've done to the White House East Wing, to the Kennedy Center, to the U.S. Justice Department, the Supreme Court, and the rule of law. American democracy largely has been built by liberal ideas and the people who implement them. Those ideals can help our nation, our world, recover from the menace of MAGA. 

As a longtime Southerner and sportswriter, I can't resist a football analogy. I was pained by the recent thrashing the University of Alabama Crimson Tide absorbed from Indiana University in the college playoffs. But I could not help but be inspired by the story of Indiana, mired in pigskin mediocrity for decades, rising to become the nation's No. 1 team.

It's a classic comeback story, and I think a similar story is in America's future, hopefully its near future.  May we all pledge to do our part to help bring that comeback to fruition, sending Trumpism to the trash bin where it belongs. 

 

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For Americans who long have wondered if the country was being led by a glorified madman who posed an unprecedented threat to our democracy -- and please count me among that group -- we no longer have to wonder. In one of the most stunning news days in modern U.S. history, President Donald Trump proved yesterday that he is -- to borrow a phrase from a Saturday Night Light skit about a mythical 2008 debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin -- "bad at his job and mentally unstable." 

Many Americans probably went to bed Friday thinking, "Trump is a nutty incompetent, but maybe his days are numbered by the Epstein scandal," only to wake up to news that Trump had:

a. Ordered air strikes on five strategic targets around Caracas, Venezuela;

b. Ordered the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores;

c. Oversaw the indictment of Maduro and Flores on drug trafficking and weapons charges;

d. Brazenly stated the U.S. would "run" Venezuela, and American companies would take control of the country's vast oil reserves;

e. Suggested the invasion was more about oil than drugs, stating, "We're going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth from the ground. We're going to get reimbursed for everything we've spent."

Did people around the world have reason to ask, "What is going on, and how could this happen?" The answer is yes, according to a report at CNN under the headline "Trump attacked Venezuela and arrested its president. Is that legal?" Aaron Blake reports that one of the most prominent members of the Trump administration admitted the president could not lawfully order a unilateral strike inside Venezuela. Blake writes:

On November 2, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that land strikes in Venezuela would require the approval of Congress. She said that if Trump “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then (we’d need) Congress.”

Days later, Trump administration officials privately told members of Congress much the same thing – that they lacked the legal justification to support attacks against any land targets in Venezuela.

Just two months later, though, the Trump administration has done what it previously indicated it couldn’t.

It launched what Trump called a “large scale strike against Venezuela” and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, to face charges. And it launched this regime change effort without the approval of Congress.

(Trump in November claimed he didn’t need congressional authorization for land action, but it clearly wasn’t the consensus view in the administration.)  

Is this the work of a thuggish administration that now directly poses a threat to world stability? It's hard to see how it could be viewed any other way. Is there a reason for Americans to see their country as one of the world's "good guys," with the strength and moral authority to keep bad actors in check? The answer? Probably not.The world is left to ask, "If American leadership can't be trusted, how will order be maintained. Blake provides disarming insights:

It appears the mission is, for now, limited to removing Maduro. But as Trump noted, it did involve striking inside the country – the same circumstance some in the administration previously indicated required authorization that it didn’t have. CNN reported back in early November that the administration was seeking a new legal opinion from the Justice Department for such strikes.

And Trump in a news conference Saturday spoke repeatedly about not just arresting Maduro, but also running Venezuela and taking over its oil – comments that could certainly be understood to suggest this was about more than arresting Maduro.

Legally dubious strikes inside another country – even ones narrowly tailored at removing a foreign leaders – are hardly unheard of in recent American history. But even in that context, this one is remarkable.

Shifting justifications

That’s because the Trump administration has taken remarkably little care to offer a consistent set of justifications or a legal framework for the attack. And it doesn’t even appear to have notified Congress ahead of time, which is generally the bare minimum in such circumstances.

A full explanation of the claimed justification has yet to be issued, but the early signs are characteristically confusing.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said shortly after the strikes that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him the attack was needed to, in Lee’s words, “protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant” against Maduro.

“This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” said Lee, a frequent critic of unauthorized foreign military action.

Vice President J.D. Vance had little problem blowing off the authority of Congress under the U.S Constitution. In fact, Vance seems to think we already are operating under a dictatorship. And he is next in line to run the country. Hmmm:

“PSA [Public Service Announcement] for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism,” Vance said on X. “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.”

Did Vance cite any U.S. or international law to support his position? Nope, Trumpers never seem to do that. Vance focused on being a smart ass, which probably is sufficient to satisfy the MAGA base, assuming anyone still is willing to be counted among that base. CNN's Blake has more:

At a later news conference, Rubio echoed the line that the military had been supporting “a law enforcement function.”

But there are many people living in other countries that are under indictment in the United States; it is not the US government’s usual course to launch strikes on foreign countries to bring them to justice. 

The administration also hadn’t previously indicated that military force could be legally used for this reason.

Initially, Trump threatened land strikes inside Venezuela to target drug traffickers – this despite Venezuela being an apparently somewhat small player in the drug-trafficking game. 

Later, the administration suggested strikes might be needed because Venezuela sent bad people into the United States.

And then, after initially downplaying the role of oil in the US pressure campaign against Venezuela and Maduro, Trump said he aimed to reclaim “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” 

A veteran Republican was left scratching his head, Blake reports:

The signals were confusing enough that even the hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina in mid-December indicated the administration lacked “clarity” in its messaging.

“I want clarity right here,” Graham said. “President Trump is saying (Maduro's) days are numbered. That seems to me that he’s gotta go. If it’s the goal of taking him out because he’s a threat to our country, then say it. And what happens next? Don’t you think most people want to know that?”

Despite the focus on the law enforcement operation on Saturday, Trump at the news conference said the United States would now participate in running Venezuela, at least temporarily. And he repeatedly spoke about its oil.

Lindsey Graham wants to know what happens next? It's doubtful he will find a straightforward answer from the Trump administrtion.

Vance Boelter was trained at Dallas Bible College to engage in spiritual warfare against "demon-possessed politicians" and other foes of charismatic Christians

(YouTube)

The suspect in the deadly Minnesota political shootings has ties to a charismatic Christian movement that focuses on "spiritual warfare" and speaks of those with differing views as "possessed by demons," according to an article at The Atlantic. Raw Story reports on The Atlantic's findings under the headline "MN suspect tied to Christian group that warned of 'demon-possessed politicians.'" Sarah K. Burris writes:

The Minnesota assassination suspect had a history of participation in religious groups that speak of a kind of "political warfare" and warned of "demon-possessed politicians."

Family and friends have spoken out about Vance Boelter, the Minnesota man who turned himself in to police in the shootings of four people, killing two, The Atlantic reported on Tuesday. Among the things they've learned: he had contact with "a charismatic Christian movement whose leaders speak of spiritual warfare, an army of God, and demon-possessed politicians, and which has already proved, during the January 6 insurrection, its ability to mobilize followers to act."

Reporter Stephanie McCrummen found that Boelter attended a Dallas, Texas, Bible College named Christ for the Nations Institute. The college confirmed that Boelter graduated in 1990. It is described as "a prominent training institution for charismatic Christians," according to the report.

The late James Gordon Lindsay was a central figure in the movement's rise to prominence. He helped it grow roots in several denominations, especially those in the Pentecostal and Evangelical traditions. Burris writes:

Pentecostal evangelist James Gordon Lindsay helped found the institute in 1970. Lindsay comes out of the revivalist movement, the New Order of the Latter Rain, which began as a protest movement in Canada, wrote L. Thomas Holdcroft for the Fall 1980 edition of the Society of Pentecostal Studies.

Post World War II followers "believed that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit was underway, raising up new apostles and prophets and a global End Times army to battle Satanic forces and establish God’s kingdom on Earth."

It was a philosophy rejected by the main Pentecostal church but was embraced and promoted by the Christ for the Nations group. That ultimately became the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, which broadcasts its beliefs in "megachurches, global networks of apostles and prophets, and a media ecosystem of online ministries, books, and podcasts, becoming a grassroots engine of the Christian Right."

Burris describes the type of curriculum Boelter would have discovered at Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI):

While at the school, the report said he would have been exposed to leaders who view the world as a physical battleground for a spiritual battle between God and Satan.

"He would have been told that actual demonic forces can take hold of culture, political leaders, and entire territories, and thwart God’s kingdom," the report said. Boelter would have been instructed to consider himself a "spiritual warrior."

In the piece, McCrummen found courses offered at the school, such as "Prayer and the Supernatural."  The class description says, "The Bible is clear that angels and demons are real. This course will cover a wide range of how the Bible and prayer contend against demonic forces. The World is in an era of serious warfare and the Body of Christ must remember that Jesus has already won this war. As in any warfare, the military must know their opponent and how to 'war a good warfare.'"

McCrummen quoted the school founder’s slogan that “Every Christian should pray at least one violent prayer a day.”

In the wake of the shooting, the Christ for the Nations Institute put out a statement saying, "We thought it important to clarify this issue" about the founder's quote. They claim that “violent prayer" means "that a Christian’s prayer-life should be intense, fervent, and passionate, not passive and lukewarm..."

The statement also said about the shooter that they were "aghast and horrified," noting, "This is not who we are."

Boelter's spiritual education is addressed in an article titled "On the Christian Education of Dr. Vance Boelter," by Jeff Sharlet, who wrote on the day of the shootings:

In 2024, at the Christ for the Nations Institute, I met a student at the Institute, a pleasant young man who wanted to pursue music ministry. I asked him about “violent prayer.” It was necessary, he said, to remind yourself every day that “the culture”—the rest of us, the unsaved—are the enemy. He clarified: “Not you, in particular,” he said. “Just, you know, the culture.” He wasn’t a killer.

Around 2, 3 this morning, somebody in Minnesota was.

I stopped by at Christ for the Nations Institute because I was in Dallas to speak at a very different church, First Unitarian, which has a 60-year history of fighting for reproductive rights and through volunteers continues to help people seeking abortions make their way to other states. It’s stepped up for trans rights, too. For my talk, the church hired off-duty cops as security. Because a church on the front lines of struggle for so long knows something about the violent prayers of others.

As it happens, Vance Boelter was involved in reproductive rights, too. According to Wired, he was the former president of “Revoformation Ministries,” and as a missionary in Congo—or, possibly, an aspiring oilman, or both—apparently preached a sermon in 2023 against churches that don’t fight abortion. “God,” Boelter wrote in his sermon, “will raise an apostle or prophet to correct their course.”

The hit list said to be Boelter’s included along with the names of Democratic politicians those of abortion providers and pro-choice activists; the addresses of Planned Parenthood clinics. Boelter joins the theological tradition of murder for “life,” heir to the so-called “Army of God,” a long list of killers, bombers, kidnappers, poisoners, and arsonists whose names need no recitation.

Perhaps the most disarming description of Boelter's mindset came in this paragraph from The Atlantic piece, where Stephanie McCrummen writes:

Reporting so far describes Boelter, the 57-year-old man now facing murder charges, as a married father of five who worked in the food industry for decades, managed a gas station in St. Paul and a 7-Eleven in Minneapolis, and recently began working for funeral-service companies as he struggled financially. (According to one report, Boelter worked for a transport service that picked up corpses from assisted-living facilities and delivered them to funeral homes.) At the same time, Boelter had an active, even grandiose, spiritual life long before he allegedly carried out what authorities describe as a “political assassination” and texted his family afterward, “Dad went to war last night.”

Vance Boelter's abandoned vehicle was filled with weapons and ammunition, indicating he planned a "long term," deadly campaign against political enemies

 

The interior of Boelter's vehicle reveals a stash of weapons (ABC7 Chicago)

The deadly political shootings in Minnesota were horrific, but they could have been even worse, with new evidence indicating suspect Vance Boelter had a much more extensive list of potential victims than was originally known, along with a significant amount of weaponry. That comes from an article at Raw Story via reporting at NBC News. From the  article, under the headline "'Going for something long term': Shocking new details about Minnesota shooter":

Evidence gathered by investigators suggest a suspected gunman who allegedly killed a Democratic state legislator and her husband and wounded another planned a "long-term" campaign against his political enemies.

Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested following a two-day manhunt and charged in the killings of Melissa and Mark Hortman and the shootings of John and Yvette Hoffman. NBC News correspondent Tom Winter discussed the evidence already turned up in the case by federal investigators.

"One, they say that they found a note effectively addressed to the FBI in a Buick that he bought," Winter said. "So he bought an e-bike and a Buick after the shooting, while he was on the run, for $900, and they say inside that they found a note where he effectively says, you know, 'Look, I'm the guy that you're looking for, this is me.'

"One of the other things that we found out is that in the course of their investigation, they were able to pull up cell phones that were associated with Boelter, and they used the location-finding services to try to figure out where he could be. They found his wife's cell phone, they pull over the wife's car and they find the kids inside. They find $10,000 of cash and all of their passports. Now, they haven't implicated her with any sort of wrongdoing. They said that she was cooperative in their discussions with her, but they noted that in the affidavit yesterday. So we'll have to see if there's more information that we find out about that. What exactly was Boelter perhaps planning on? "

NBC News is expecting new evidence to reveal more details about Boelter's plans for his campaign of violence, Winter said. That information probably will be revealed in the next couple of days. Winter hinted that Boelter's stash of weapons and ammunition was more extensive and powerful than early findings indicated:

"[Investigators] also found his travel of interest, the idea that he went to Minneapolis, as they said at the press conference on that Saturday, and then he goes back to a location pretty close to his house where he was living," Winter added. "And then that's ultimately, of course, where he was captured. So a lot of information, a lot of detail in there. Undoubtedly, we'll hear more because they're going to file a detention memo, so we might get some updates on this investigation in the next day or two as they continue their court process here as we move towards an indictment."

Federal investigators said Boelter went to the houses of two other Democratic lawmakers in between the two shootings, but the first was not home and a police officer interrupted his stop at the next before he moved on to the Hortmans' home, where he shot and killed the couple and got into a shootout with police.

"I think the fact that this could have been so much worse is what we're seeing come out of the evidence that was presented," Winter said. "So we obviously have the double homicide that occurs. One of the state lawmakers' houses, the first one, which is horrible. The idea that it was their daughter who called 911 to alert police to what was happening. They obviously uncovered a lot of video evidence from a camera that was near the doorway. Then they find evidence here, we're looking at it right now. This was really something to see in the vehicle, the amount of weapons that he had, including assault-style rifles, handguns, ammunition, other things that were found inside the car, so clearly he was going for something long-term here."

Video of the Winter discussion at NBC can be viewed at at this link.

Suspect in deadly Minnesota political shootings, described as a religious pro-life conservative who attended Trump rallies, "stalked his victims like prey"

Vance Boelter caught on video wearing a disguise (Fox)

Vance Luther Boelter, who a friend described as an ardent pro-life conservative,  was arrested Sunday night in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, leaving behind an apparent hit list in his vehicle that included dozens of names. Boelter was a registered Republican and attended rallies for President Donald Trump.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband died from their injuries. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot multiple times but are in stable condition following surgery. Boelter went to the homes of two additional Minnesota political figures, four total, according to an article at Newsweek:

Vance Boelter, who faces several charges in the deadly shooting of a Minnesota Democrat lawmaker and her husband, targeted four different lawmakers during his rampage, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said during a press conference Monday.

Thompson said Boelter's alleged crimes "are the stuff of nightmares," calling them "truly chilling."

"He stalked his victims like prey," Thompson told reporters.

Thompson said Boelter will face at least six federal charges, including stalking, murder, and shooting with a firearm, following his capture in the "largest manhunt in Minnesota history."

Thompson said Boelter went to the homes of four Minnesota State politicians, who he stalked before his crimes.

Boelter allegedly researched the families he targeted and went to their homes before the shootings and took notes, Thompson explained.

Those notes were found in a notebook that had a list of more than 45 Minnesota elected officials, including Hortman, Thompson said.

Boelter went to homes in Maple Grove and New Hope during his rampage, according to Thompson, but did not reach his targets.

Thompson said when he went to the Hoffman's house in Champlin, he knocked on the door and shouted multiple times, "This is the police! Open the door."

When the Hoffmans answered, he shined a flashlight in their faces and told them there was a shooting reported in the house.

Thompson says that the video surveillance he reviewed shows the Hoffmans making the terrifying realization before they are shot.

Background on Boelter comes from a report at CNN under the headline "What we know about the Minnesota shooting suspect":

The man accused of shooting Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota on Saturday while impersonating a police officer worked for a security company that advertised a fleet of “police type vehicles,” and other equipment that could potentially have aided him in appearing to be law enforcement.

Vance Boelter was also an outspoken evangelical Christian who traveled to Africa to tell his faith story and, in at least one sermon, pointedly questioned American morals on sexual orientation, according to videos and social media posts reviewed by CNN.

Boelter was a conservative who was strongly against abortion rights, a longtime friend told CNN on Saturday. But Boelter never mentioned any particular anger with the lawmakers who were shot, said David Carlson.

“It wasn’t the thing that defined him,” he said of his religious and political beliefs.

Carlson added, “He wasn’t a hateful person. But he needed help.”

Boelter, 57, was arrested Sunday night in the city of Green Isle, Minnesota, where he lived, according to authorities. He’s accused of killing one lawmaker and her husband and wounding another and his wife early Saturday. Officials said he left behind an apparent hit list with dozens of names in his car after exchanging fire with police outside the home of one victim and fleeing the scene. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said the attack “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”

Evidence indicates Boelter targeted Democrats and those connected to Planned Parenthood and the abortion-rights movement. He appeared to be strongly opposed to LGBTQ rights. CNN reports:

State officials said authorities early on Saturday encountered what appeared to be a police vehicle with emergency flashing lights in the driveway of Rep. Melissa Hortman’s home. Officers at the home “saw (Boelter)…dressed as a police officer, shoot an adult man” through the open front door, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune. The suspect “exchanged gunfire” with police and ran into the house, ultimately disappearing from the area, according to the complaint.

Hortman – the top Democrat in the Minnesota House – and her husband were both killed. At a nearby home, Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot but are in stable condition after surgery. 

Police said they are still investigating a motive for the attacks. The names on the list, which CNN obtained, are largely Democrats or figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement. The list included prominent lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith as well as Planned Parenthood leaders. Police said Boelter also had fliers for anti-Trump protests in his car, raising fears that he may also have intended to target those rallies.

Boelter largely shied away from political posts in his publicly available social media feeds and did not discuss abortion rights in any religious speeches reviewed by CNN. In one talk he gave in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, he appeared sharply critical of LGBTQ rights.

“There’s people especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are, they don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul,” he said in a sermon at a Pentecostal church in eastern DRC.

Carlson said Boelter was recently having financial problems, possibly due to his regular travels to Africa. The security firm had failed to find traction, Carlson said, leaving Boelter scrambling to find work, including at a funeral home.

“Problem is, he quit all his jobs to go down there,” he said. “And then he comes back and tries to find new jobs. Wasn’t working out that good.”

Boelter's ties to the shootings was a shock to those who knew him via church work. They never expected to learn of any connections to violence:

Those who knew Boelter from his church work said they were stunned that he was linked to the violence on Saturday.

Pastor McNay Nkashama, who said he knew Boelter as a volunteer who preached Christianity, said he was struggling to reconcile the allegations with the man he knew.

“Of all the people I know, he would not hurt a fly,” Nkashama said in a brief telephone interview. “I just cannot believe it.”

Although Boelter lived in the small town of Green Isle about an hour outside Minneapolis, he often crashed in Carlson’s rented home in the city.

Carlson, 59, spoke with reporters Saturday night in front of the small home after returning from the lumber store to buy plywood for the windows, which had been busted open by a SWAT team earlier in the day.

Carlson said he last heard from Boelter around 6:30 pm on Friday night. He said he knocked on Boelter’s door, and when Boelter said he was tired, Carlson watched TV and went to bed.

He said he awoke around 6:30 am Saturday and soon after he saw a text message from Boelter. It’s unclear when the text was sent. Carlson declined to read it to reporters on Saturday night, but Reuters had reported earlier that Boelter told Carlson that he might be dead soon.

After seeing the text message, Carlson said, he called the police.

“I thought he would do self-harm; I didn’t think he was … ” his voice trailed off.

Boetler's interests in politics went beyond voting and attending rallies. He also held an appointed position in state government, work that crossed party lines, CNN reports:

Boelter served on a state board with Hoffman, records show. In 2019, Walz put Boelter on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board – a group of business owners who recommend policies to the state government. In a letter, Walz said the post was in recognition of Boelter’s “integrity, judgment, and ability.”

According to a spokesperson for the governor, the development board, which has more than 60 members, is one of many external boards and commissions whose members are unpaid and come from “all parties.” The spokesperson said the governor does not interview applicants to the boards.

It’s unclear how closely Boelter and Hoffman interacted in that role, if at all.

“We are still exploring that,” Drew Evans, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension superintendent said in a news conference Saturday afternoon about whether Boelter knew the victims directly. “There’s certainly overlap with some public meetings, I will say, with Sen. Hoffman and the individual, but we don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other.”

Boelter and his wife apparently have ties to the security industry, and that might have helped him prepare for the attacks. From CNN: 

Boelter has worked as director of security patrols for Praetorian Guard Security Services, which provides “random armed patrols” of customers’ properties, according to the company’s webpage – which also suggests he could have had access to uniforms and equipment that could aid in impersonating a police officer.

The firm was registered to Boelter’s home address and listed a woman who is apparently his wife as president and CEO; she did not respond to messages from CNN.

The site advertised that the firm had “police-type vehicles” and noted, “We drive the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the U.S. Currently we drive Ford Explorer Utility Vehicles.”

The firm’s website boasted of Boelter having experience in foreign conflict zones. It said that he was “involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”

Video from outside Hortman’s home on Saturday showed law enforcement towing a black Ford Explorer equipped with police lights. Archived photos from a home previously owned by Boelter show a similar vehicle in the driveway.

Boelter often spoke publicly of his faith and had a special interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). An online biography described him as a reverend and author:

In speeches reviewed by CNN, Boelter discussed his deep faith and said he was born again into the church as a teenager.

“I met Jesus when I was 17 years old and I gave my life to him,” Boelter told the church in the DRC in February 2023. “And I just wanted to tell everybody about Jesus.”

Records also show that Boelter once launched a Christian nonprofit called Revoformation Ministries. An archived website under that name includes a biography of him, describing Boelter as having traveled extensively to preach Christianity, including in the Middle East, where the site says he had sought out “militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”

That website described Boelter as a reverend and an author, noting that he had written a book that presents a “different paradigm on the nature of man and our relationship with God.”

CNN reviewed numerous videos of Boelter preaching in the DRC from 2021 to 2023. Boelter appears emotional when describing his religious devotion. He also frequently talked about his connection to the DRC and what he perceived as the suffering the country has endured due to decades of internal conflict and meddling of other countries.

“I’ve been to North and South America, I’ve been to the Middle East, I’ve been to Eastern Europe, and I’ve been in the DRC. I’ve never been in a country before like the DRC that has had so much taken away. I hear the history, and it hits my heart. So many people, so many countries have taken, taken, taken,” he said in 2022.

Boelter said he worked at major food brands such as Nestlé, and was the general manager of a 7-11, according to an online resume.

Boelter registered to vote as a Republican in the early 2000s, state records show. Carlson said he was a Trump voter. In a post six years ago on LinkedIn, Boelter encouraged people to vote and wrote, “I think the election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been apart of, or will be apart of for years to come.”

A state document that listed his 2019 appointment to a development board noted he had “no party preference.”

Boelter’s LinkedIn page claims he had a doctorate in educational leadership and a masters of science in management, both from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, and he used the prefix Dr. on his website and social media. Social media posts also indicate he has multiple children.

A search of Minnesota criminal records showed no cases against Boelter aside from some traffic charges.

Boelter had a property outside the small town of Green Isle, about 50 miles west of Minneapolis, according to records. A sheriff’s deputy was blocking a gravel road leading to the home on Saturday afternoon. In the town’s restaurants and bars, no one who spoke to CNN knew Boelter or his family.

Carlson said he thought Boelter’s recent financial struggles may have pushed him into violence.

“He was looking around, but maybe things didn’t work out and he just gave up and decided to go out in the blaze of glory,” he said. “I have no idea what he was thinking.