'Let Minneapolis burn': Retired police lieutenant rips Gov Walz for surrendering city to rioters

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Gov Walz ‘dismantling’ public safety in Minnesota: Retired police lieutenant

Retired Minnesota State Patrol Lieutenant John Nagel spoke to Fox News Digital about how Gov. Tim Walz's policies have affected Minnesotans.

MINNEAPOLIS – A retired police lieutenant in Minnesota is pushing back against the narrative that Gov. Tim Walz is a "moderate" and tells Fox News Digital that the governor "intentionally" let Minneapolis burn during the 2020 riots because he "truly doesn’t like police."

"He is not a moderate, he has never been a moderate and here in Minnesota he has been anti-police, he has raised taxes, he is nowhere near being a moderate," retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel told Fox News Digital.

"He’s anti-police, defund the police, when you have police families, and we have an officer killed in the line of duty, when that family looks at the governor and says we don't want you at the funeral. That should tell you a great deal of how law enforcement in general feels about Walz."

Last year, the widow of Pope County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Owen, who was killed in the line of duty responding to a domestic violence call, told Walz he was not invited to her late husband’s funeral because "he does not support law enforcement," Alpha News reported.

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Retired Minnesota State Police Lt. John Nagel blasted Gov. Tim Walz's relationship with police.

Nagel told Fox News Digital that a major reason law enforcement in Minnesota is unhappy with Walz was his slow response when asked to send in the National Guard as the city burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots, which Walz has faced fierce criticism for since becoming the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Nagel, who is running for office as a Republican in Minnesota House District 46A, explained that he believes the slow response was due in part to a political calculation.

"We're hearing this over and over and over again, he let Minneapolis burn," Nagel said. "I think he intentionally let Minneapolis burn."

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Building goes up in flames during the George Floyd riots in 2020. (Getty Images)

"I think it was all part of a much greater scheme because he truly doesn't like the police. [Minnesota Attorney General] Keith Ellison has never liked the police. They have been involved with people who are defunding the police."

Walz, who publicly backed "alternatives to policing" as the Minnesota City Council was pushing to disband the police department in 2020, has been widely criticized by Republicans for not doing more to support law enforcement during the riots. 

"Tim Walz let Minneapolis burn for three straight nights without doing anything," GOP Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents Duluth, Minnesota and surrounding areas, previously told Fox News Digital. "And he called the riots, he stated their actions were, this is a quote, ‘righteous anger.’ Hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to family businesses and buildings in Minneapolis."

Stauber told Fox News Digital the "vast majority" of law enforcement in Minnesota are "disgruntled" with Walz's "lack of support."

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Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at Temple University in Philadelphia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Nagel, who served in uniform for 30 years, told Fox News Digital that Democrat policies are "hurting Minnesota," causing people to leave "in droves" and argued that Walz has played a key part in the "dismantling of public safety in Minnesota."

Fox News Digital asked Nagel what he thinks voters who were not familiar with Walz need to know about him from a veteran law enforcement officer’s perspective.

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"I think they need to understand that he's not truthful, I think they need to understand that he's power hungry, they need to understand that he's not doing this for the good of the people," Nagel said. 

"He's doing it for the good of himself, and he is going to be lockstep with whatever the Democrats want, and I think it would be, just take a look at Minnesota, he's ruined Minnesota along with this trifecta of the Democrats. Can you only imagine what he's going to be able to do with your federal tax dollars? And when North Korea decides to knock on the door, he and his president, are they going to be able to actually handle a national crisis when he couldn't handle a crisis in Minneapolis?"

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