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A Republican effort to advance impeachment articles against Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison failed Wednesday in the House Rules Committee, after Democrats voted in unison to block the resolution. Representatives Mike Wiener and Ben Davis, two leaders of a conservative faction of the GOP known as the Minnesota Freedom Caucus, testified before the committee attempting to initiate a formal impeachment process against the two public officials. While the resolution to impeach Ellison focuses on a number of topics, the resolution to impeach Walz more narrowly accuses the governor of failures around fraud.  "There should be accountability. We are accountable to the taxpayers in this state, and when $9 billion worth of fraud takes place," Rep. Wiener said, referring to a total floated as a possibility by former U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson but rejected by Walz as lacking evidence, "I would expect a moral outrage whether you have a 'D' or an 'R'." Impeachment requires a majority vote by the House and the approval of a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict. With the House currently tied 67-67 between Republicans and Democrats, and the DFL controlling the Senate by one vote, there is virtually no chance either Walz or Ellison would be impeached or convicted. In the tied Rules Committee on Wednesday, the DFL was able to stop the impeachment proceedings from even moving forward for consideration. The effort to create a process for proceedings ended in a tied 8-8 vote, deadlocked along party lines. Democratic members of the committee accused the Freedom Caucus of engaging in a partisan exercise. "This is a fundamentally unserious proposal by a fundamentally unserious party who isn't interested in governing," DFL Rep. Michael Howard said. "Gas prices are rising because of Trump's illegal war in Iran. Health care, housing, child care costs are spiking. We hospitals closing, yet this is what we're going to do today? A bill that's absolutely going nowhere, dead on arrival."

A former Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office employee was charged in Benton County Court last week for possessing child sexual abuse material. Jon Max Rasmussen Jr., 43, a former Mille Lacs County correctional sergeant, is facing five counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, according to court records. A criminal complaint states that in July of 2024, Benton County investigators recieved a tip from Kik that a user was uploading child sexual abuse material. An investigation revealed the user’s name and address, which led law enforcement to Rasmussen. On April 8, Rasmussen was arrested and brought to Benton County Jail, where he admitted to investigators he downloaded Kik over a year ago to “cheat his wife,” court records say. The complaint goes on to say Rasmussen admitted to viewing child sexual abuse material and said he would befriend people on Kik and trade the material. Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton confirmed Rasmussen was removed from his position on April 9. The full statement from Sheriff Burton: “I can confirm that Jon Rasmussen Jr was charged by Benton County with possession and dissemination of child sexual abuse materials. The investigation was initiated by and is being conducted by Benton County. Once I was informed by Benton County of this investigation, I immediately placed Jon Rasmussen Jr on administrative leave. “After his arrest, I took additional steps to separate his employment with us, and as of 4/9/2026, he is no longer an employee of the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office. Jon Rasmussen Jr was a Corrections Sergeant (non-sworn) assigned to the Mille Lacs County Jail while he was employed with the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office.”