Ex-federal prosecutor who charged George Floyd rioters rips 'radical' Gov Walz for 'letting our city burn'

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Walz ‘not fit’ to be VP after ‘letting our city burn’: former federal prosecutor

Joe Teirab, a former federal prosecutor and GOP nominee for Congress, spoke to Fox News Digital about Minnesota under Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

MINNEAPOLIS - A former federal prosecutor in Minneapolis who prosecuted George Floyd rioters told Fox News Digital that Gov. Tim Walz’s record as governor on that issue, and several others, including fraud, makes him "unfit" for a promotion to vice president of the United States. 

"Kamala Harris is trying to change Minnesota and our country into San Francisco and California, and we definitely don't want that, and she just doubled down and made the most radical leftist presidential ticket in American history," former Assistant U.S. Attorney and the GOP nominee in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District Joe Teirab told Fox News Digital. 

Teirab, who served in the Marines and whose father is an immigrant from Sudan, told Fox News Digital that Walz’s handling of the devastating 2020 riots that destroyed hundreds of buildings and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage shows he is not suited to become vice president.

"I was a federal prosecutor for four years where I tried to put bad guys behind bars all across the state of Minnesota and you had Tim Walz, who couldn't lift a finger during the George Floyd riots for multiple days, letting our city burn, literally," Teirab said. "And then you had at the same time, Kamala Harris getting people to donate to this Minnesota Freedom Fund that bailed out criminals who then weeks later, committed murder and my job during that time was to actually put these arsonists behind bars."

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Gov. Tim Walz has faced criticism for waiting several days to call in the National Guard as Minneapolis burned in 2020. (Getty Images)

Teirab continued, "I actually charged two criminals who threw Molotov cocktails in a courthouse right here in the district that I'm running in. I charged two people who tried to burn down a small business. And so it's just unfathomable to me that happened, and we can't let that happen to our country if Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are in control."

Teirab explained that "everyone in Minnesota" was affected by the 2020 riots.

"Day after day of rioting and people on the news and everyone sitting at home watching the news were just like, where's our leaders?" Teirab said. "Where's our government officials? Where's Tim Walz? Just nowhere to be found."

Teirab rejected the popular media narrative that Walz is a "moderate" and told Fox News Digital that his inability to crack down on fraud in Minnesota is cause for concern.

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Joe Teirab, running for congress in MN-02, speaks to Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)

"I think he's kind of like a caricature of what people on the coast think of is this kind of gruffy middle of the road guy when that couldn't be further from the truth," Teirab said. 

"The way we know that is because of his record in Minnesota, he was a terrible manager of our government resources," Teirab continued. "I mean, sadly, he let so much fraud happen and my job as a federal prosecutor also was to root out waste, fraud and abuse and I had the honor of working on the Feeding Our Future case, where these fraudsters stole over $250 million of hard-earned taxpayer money and Tim Walz was asleep at the switch and so that was unacceptable, and he clearly is not fit to be the vice president."

Walz is facing renewed scrutiny for a $250 million COVID-19 fraud scandal in Minnesota that critics say falls on his shoulders as governor.

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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's military career has been scrutinized since he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Between 2022 and 2024, 70 people have been charged in connection with the fraud scheme that resulted in a quarter-billion-dollar loss from the Minnesota Department of Education's Feeding Our Future program — a federally funded meal assistance plan meant to help give free meals to eligible children and adults.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Teirab will square off against Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who Teirab told Fox News Digital has been a "rubber stamp" for the Biden administration, in MN-02 this November. Teirab elaborated on what issues are most important to voters in his district.

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Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., participates in the news conference outside the Capitol on the Affordable Insulin Now Act vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, March 31, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"The big issues are for sure the economy and prices," Teirab said. "I mean, everyone has to go to the grocery store, pay for groceries, pay your energy bills, going to the gas pump and that's issue number one. And sadly, right now, I mean, you have terrible Bidenomics and you have Angie Craig, who I'm running against, who was for Bidenomics every step of the way."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Craig campaign spokesperson said, "Here are the facts: Angie Craig voted against the Biden Administration 30% of the time last year and ranks in the top 3% most bipartisan Members of Congress. Her record speaks for itself."

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.