Minneapolis Police Group Blasts Mayor’s Treatment and Extortion of President Trump
A police union leader representing thousands of cops from the state of Minnesota has accused the leftist Democratic mayor of Minneapolis of attempting to “bully” President Trump and dissuade him from coming to blue state for a rally on Thursday.
Lieutenant Bob Kroll, the current president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, appeared Tuesday on the news program, “Fox & Friends,” stating that Democrat Mayor Jacob Frey was discriminating against — and disrespectful of — President Donald Trump. Kroll reported that Frey is trying to discourage the nation’s Commander in Chief and his staff and thousands of supporters from attending a planned rally at the Target Center to be held October 10.
Lieutenant Kroll’s allegations against the city’s mayor are echoed by Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who accused Frey of “abuse of power” over a proposed $530,000 security fee to use the arena.
“It’s disparate treatment,” Kroll said. “They have not charged that much for other events.”
The radical leftist mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is abusing the power of his office and attempting to extort President Trump’s re-election campaign by conjuring up a phony and outlandish bill for security in an effort to block a scheduled Keep America Great rally, Kroll noted.
UPDATE: According to the Minneapolis news media, Mayor Jacob Frey caved in and will not harass the Trump Campaign, especially after the police officers had voiced their disgust with the mayor’s treatment of the President of the United States.
Kroll also accused Mayor Frey of using the bogus charges to pressure the Target Center, site of the contracted rally, into preventing Minnesota residents from exercising their First Amendment rights in support of President Trump.
Frey’s city government preemptively informed the Target Center that it would be responsible for $530,000 in security and other costs related to the event. The Target Center attempted to pass the costs on to the Trump campaign under threat of withholding the use of the arena.
The Trump campaign informed the Target Center that the U.S. Secret Service is solely responsible for coordinating security and that withholding the use of the arena would be viewed as a breach of contract and result in court action. Additionally, the ridiculous sum of $530,000 is more than 26 times the estimated security costs for a 2009 Target Center rally held by President Barack Obama. Police officials estimated that the costs then were around $20,000. Again, the costs are a matter between the city and the Secret Service.
“We are well aware of Mayor Frey’s vocal partisan opposition to President Trump and calls to disrupt the rally,” read a letter from Trump law firm Jones Day to the Target Center’s management firm. “This last-minute squeeze seems to be nothing but a pretextual political effort with serious First Amendment ramifications.”
In 2016, President Trump earned more than 1.3 million votes in Minnesota and came within 1.5 percentage points of winning the state which was carried by candidate Hillary Clinton.
“This is an outrageous abuse of power by a liberal mayor trying to deny the rights of his own city’s residents just because he hates the President,” said Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. “People want to hear from their President, and no mayor looking to beef up his resume for a run for higher office should stand in the way.”
In a letter to the Target Center, the Trump campaign wrote: “We presume this contrived legal justification for threatening to terminate the contract is the result of AEG receiving pressure from City leadership determined to cancel the rally. We are well aware of Mayor Frey’s vocal partisan opposition to President Trump and calls to disrupt the rally. This last-minute squeeze seems to be nothing but a pretextual political effort with serious First Amendment ramifications. Politics is no basis to interfere with a contract, and if the agreement with the Campaign is not honored, the Campaign will also look to hold AEG and the City responsible for the apparent infringement on the Campaign’s financial interests and fundamental First Amendment rights, as well as those of its many supporters.”
A Trump campaign press release states: “The radical leftist mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is abusing the power of his office and attempt to extort President Trump’s re-election campaign by conjuring a phony and outlandish bill for security in an effort to block a scheduled Keep America Great rally.
“The dispute came after Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced the implementation of a new rule barring off-duty officers from appearing in a uniform at political rallies or events. Officers will still be assigned as security.
“The new rule quickly drew the ire of members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, which sees the timing as a direct jab at the president, who is determined to flip the state’s 10 electoral votes to the GOP.”
