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For years, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been criticized by some for his response to riots in his state after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. That criticism picked up again this month when Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz to be her running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket.
“Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020,” Sen. JD Vance, Walz’s vice presidential opponent, told reporters on Aug. 6.
Three days later, former President Donald Trump, the head of the Republican presidential slate, made the same claim about Walz at a rally in Montana. Trump, on multiple occasions, has even falsely claimed that he, not Walz, called in the Minnesota National Guard after rioters in Minneapolis and St. Paul began looting stores and committing arson.
It was Walz who issued the executive order activating the guard — although he didn’t do so as quickly as some thought he should have. According to local reporting, the approval came about 20 hours after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey first phoned Walz on the evening of May 27, 2020, to ask that members of the state-based military force be sent to help local law enforcement. Some protests had turned violent on May 26, the day after Floyd’s death, and the civil unrest continued the next day.
“He did not say yes,” Frey told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in an Aug. 3, 2020, interview, about his May 27 conversation with Walz. “He said he would consider it.”
The governor later said that Frey, in his initial call, did not provide the specifics necessary for deployment at the time — so he did not activate the guard until the following day, when city officials submitted a formal written request and provided a more detailed plan.
“I don’t think the mayor knew what he was asking for,” Walz said about Frey, in an Aug. 4, 2020, press briefing, according to press accounts. “I think the mayor said, ‘I request the National Guard, whew, this is great. We’re going to have massively trained troops.’ No. You’re going to have 19 year olds who are cooks.”
Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard, added: “I asked, what do you want out of the guard? It’s not like pulling a can out. What units do you want? What do their capabilities need to be? How are you going to deploy them.”
An October 2020 report issued by Minnesota state Senate committees controlled by Republicans argued that if Walz “had acted in a decisive manner by activating the Minnesota National Guard when requested, the riots would have been brought under control much faster.”
The report said that, throughout Minnesota, there was an estimated $500 million in property damage, including more than 1,500 businesses and buildings that were burned. There also were more than 160 fires, some which were investigated as arson, according to news reports.
Meanwhile, an independent “after-action review” commissioned by Minneapolis concluded that the delayed deployment of the state National Guard was at least partly the result of inexperienced city officials not following the proper protocols when Walz was first contacted about providing military assistance.
Notably, while Trump has often publicly criticized Walz’s response, an audio recording obtained by ABC News this month documents Trump telling Walz in a June 1, 2020, call with governors that he was “very happy” with how Walz responded in the days after protests turned violent.
“You called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins,” Trump said on the call, according to ABC News.
Below, we provide a brief timeline of events in May 2020 as a guide for readers:
May 25
Floyd, a Black man, is arrested in the evening on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase at a Minneapolis convenience store. He dies after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck during the arrest for more than nine minutes, ignoring Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe while being pinned to the ground.
May 26
The Minneapolis Police Department releases a statement saying that Floyd “resisted arrest” and died following a “medical incident during police interaction.” The statement is countered by video of the arrest, which was recorded by a bystander and posted on social media.
The MPD later updates its statement to add that the incident, because “additional information has been made available,” is under investigation with FBI assistance.
Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, announces that four officers who were involved in Floyd’s arrest and subsequent death were terminated.
People start protesting in response to Floyd’s death. Some demonstrations turn violent, with participants damaging property, including a police station that was vandalized.
May 27
Protests and riots continue throughout the day, with some individuals looting stores, including a Target near Minneapolis’ Third Precinct police station.
Medaria Arradondo, then the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, determines that officers are overwhelmed and, according to the Star Tribune, calls the mayor at 6:23 p.m. to ask for assistance from the Minnesota National Guard. Minutes later, Frey calls to relay that information to Walz, who, according to Frey, was noncommittal about sending in guard soldiers.
Frey later told the newspaper that the phone conversation with Walz was a formal request for National Guard support. Walz and his office countered that it wasn’t.
At 9:11 p.m., Arradondo also forwards an email, from then-MPD Commander Scott Gerlicher, to John Harrington, then the state’s public safety commissioner. The message reportedly includes a document with the outline of a plan asking for 600 National Guard troops.
Also that night, rioters in Minneapolis set fire to an AutoZone and other businesses.
May 28
Frey submits a written request for the National Guard at about 10:55 a.m. He also issues a local emergency declaration.
In the afternoon, at about 2:30 p.m., Walz issues an executive order activating his state’s National Guard, which, according to reports, had been notified earlier of a possible deployment. The executive order says that Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter both requested assistance “to help provide security and restore safety.”
At 11:41 p.m., the guard tweets that it has “activated more than 500 soldiers to St. Paul, Minneapolis and surrounding communities.”
But that was after rioters took over the MPD’s Third Precinct station, which officers were ordered to evacuate earlier that night. Rioters went on to set fire to the police station and nearby buildings.
May 29
At 12:53 a.m., more than an hour after the state guard posted about the deployment, Trump tweets: “I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”
By that point, Walz had already activated the guard.
About seven hours later, Trump’s then-White House Twitter account quotes him saying: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
In the afternoon, Chauvin is arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
An 8 p.m. curfew ordered by Walz goes into effect, but rioting in Minneapolis and St. Paul continues.
May 30
Walz orders a full mobilization of the guard.
In a post at 10:33 p.m., the guard writes, “We now have more than 4,100 — quickly moving toward 10,800 — Minnesota Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen supporting our friends and neighbors in the Twin Cities.” That was up from about 700 on duty, as of May 29.
June 1
The violent protests begin to ease. By this point, about 7,000 guard members had been deployed, a guard spokesperson told us for a June 2020 story.
In a phone call with Walz and other governors, Trump compliments Walz for bringing in military support.
“I know Gov. Walz is on the phone, and we spoke, and I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days,” Trump said, according to audio obtained by ABC News.
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