- Trump and GOP allies have been criticizing Walz's handling of the 2020 riots in Minnesota.
- Since Walz was named Harris' running mate, Republicans have accused him of letting Minneapolis burn.
In the ongoing battle to define Gov. Tim Walz, former President Donald Trump and his allies have been going after him for his handling of the unrest in Minnesota following George Floyd's 2020 murder.
However, recently unearthed audio shows that Trump complimented Walz at the time.
He can be heard praising Walz for his response, expressing full agreement with his actions, and even describing Walz, now Kamala Harris' running mate, as an "excellent guy."
Since Walz was announced as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee on Tuesday, Trump and those in his orbit — loosely known as MAGA world — have taken issue with his response to the unrest.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump shared an image that said "Tim Walz let Minnesota burn."
At a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, last month, Trump said: "Every voter in Minnesota needs to know that when the violent mobs of anarchists and looters and Marxists came to burn down Minneapolis four years ago…Remember me? I couldn't get your governor to act."
(Trump also falsely claimed that he, not Walz, activated the National Guard. In reality, Walz signed the May 28, 2020, executive order to mobilize troops.)
On Tuesday, Trump's running mate, JD Vance, accused Walz of allowing "rioters to burn down Minneapolis."
The RNC, GOP House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House GOP Chair Elise Stefanik, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton made similar accusations.
Yet, in the recording of a phone call on June 1, 2020, obtained by ABC News, Trump took a different approach.
Speaking to a group of governors, he said approvingly that Walz "dominated" in his response. "I fully agree with the way he handled the last couple of days," Trump said.
He continued: "You called up big numbers, and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins."
Unearthed audio: Trump tells Tim Walz in 2020 he is “very happy” with his handling of George Floyd protests: “I fully agree with the way he handled it... [Tim Walz is an] excellent guy”
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 7, 2024
(Trump is now trying to criticize Walz over the same issue) pic.twitter.com/5Ii1EhBZo4
In the days following George Floyd's murder on May 25, 2020, there was disorder in Minnesota's Twin Cities— Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
The riots resulted in at least two deaths and extensive damage to the cities.
Conservative critics have accused Walz of delaying the National Guard deployment, prolonging and worsening the disorder.
Walz activated the National Guard on May 28, ultimately deploying more than 7,000 troops. The unrest largely subsided that weekend.
Walz at the time called the response to the riots an "abject failure" — leaving a complicated picture where Trump appeared to take a more sympathetic line than Walz himself.
The audio of Trump could undermine one of the GOP's most promising lines of attack against Harris' running mate.
The Harris-Walz campaign seems to be capitalizing on the apparent hypocrisy, sharing the audio via the Kamala HQ rapid-response account.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
However, in a statement to the AP, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: "In this daily briefing phone call with Governors on June 1, days after the riots began, President Trump acknowledged Governor Walz for FINALLY taking action to deploy the National Guard to end the violence in the city."