Star Tribune
Minn. Democrats defend Biden after report questions his memory, while Emmer says he’s unfit to serve
Some Democratic congressmembers from Minnesota defended President Joe Biden on Friday after a special counsel who investigated his handling of classified materials raised concerns about his memory.
Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, on the other hand, said he thinks the report demonstrated Biden is “unfit for the Oval Office.” And Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who’s challenging Biden for the presidential nomination, said the president “cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term.”
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report released Thursday determined that Biden willfully kept and shared classified information while he was a private citizen but concluded he shouldn’t be criminally charged. Hur’s report also included an unflattering assessment of the 81-year-old Biden’s memory that alarmed Republicans and drew condemnation from Democrats who accused the special counsel of pushing a political agenda.
Hur described Biden’s memory as “significantly limited” and wrote that the president “would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur noted that Biden couldn’t immediately remember the years he served as vice president, nor could he remember exactly when his son, Beau, died.
In a Thursday evening press conference at the White House, Biden angrily pushed back at Hur’s assertions and insisted his memory is fine.
“How in the hell dare he raise that?” Biden told reporters Thursday night, rejecting Hur’s notion that he forgot when his son died. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?”
Minnesota Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith defended Biden in a statement Friday, calling special counsel Hur “a Trump appointee with a political axe to grind.”
Hur was a U.S. attorney in the Trump administration, but was appointed special counsel to this case by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee.
“Being so blatantly disrespectful as to suggest the President misremembered the death of his son is despicable beyond imagination,” Smith said. “I have 100 percent faith in the President. I spent a full day with Joe Biden less than a month ago – got on the plane with him early in the morning, had a grueling travel day, three different events, and I watched him perform at the very top of his game all the way through it, both in private and in public. Among those who actually see him in action, President Biden’s ability to connect with people and stay on top of policy issues has never been in doubt for a moment.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents St. Paul and east-metro suburbs, also accused Hur of “taking vile political shots” at Biden in an attempt to “score points for Trump.”
“I was with President Biden yesterday at the Democratic issues conference, where he engaged with us on a wide range of issues and was sharp as a tack. The bottom line: President Biden respects the rule of law and leads our nation well,” McCollum said in a statement Friday.
“MAGA supporters will stop at nothing to distract and divide Americans, and the media must stop taking the bait,” McCollum added.
Minnesota Democratic U.S. Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar declined to comment. Sen. Amy Klobuchar hadn’t yet responded to a request for comment as of Friday afternoon.
Other Republicans in Minnesota’s congressional delegation — Reps. Pete Stauber, Michelle Fischbach and Brad Finstad — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democratic Rep. Phillips, who represents suburbs west of Minneapolis and is challenging Biden for the party’s nomination, was more critical of the president. Phillips said the report marks “another sad day for America and particularly for President Biden and his family.”
“The Report simply affirms what most Americans already know, that the President cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term ending January 20, 2025,” Phillips wrote in a text message to the Star Tribune. “Already facing the lowest approval numbers in modern history and losing in each of the key battleground states, this Report has all but handed the 2024 election to Donald Trump if Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee – and I invite fellow Democrats to face the truth.”
Minnesota’s Emmer, the third highest-ranking Republican in the U.S. House, issued a joint statement Thursday with other GOP leaders. They wrote that “Among the most disturbing parts of this report is the Special Counsel’s justification for not recommending charges: namely that the President’s memory had such ‘significant limitations’ that he could not convince a jury that the President held a ‘mental state of willfulness’ that a serious felony requires.”
“A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” read the statement from Emmer and other top House Republicans.
A former Medtronic consultant received an 18-month prison sentence this week for his role in a scheme linked to the $1.6 billion acquisition of an Israeli medical device company in 2018.
A federal jury in February convicted Doron “Ron” Tavlin, 69, of Minneapolis, of one count of conspiracy to engage in insider trading and 10 additional counts related to securities fraud. That same jury found David Jay Gantman, 58, of Mendota Heights, not guilty of all charges against him. A third defendant — Afshin “Alex” Farahan, 57, of Los Angeles — pleaded guilty in 2022 and has yet to be sentenced.
“His crime was cynical and brazen. It was also reckless,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert wrote in a memo calling for a 3-year prison term. “Tavlin’s conduct had the potential to blow up a deal that a team of executives and financial advisers had been diligently negotiating for months.”
Tavlin is now scheduled to self-surrender Jan. 5 to begin his prison term, which will be followed by 320 hours of community service.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Tavlin learned about a secret, pending acquisition by Medtronic of Mazor Robotics, where he worked as vice president of business development, in 2018. Tavlin also previously worked as a consultant to the Ireland-based Medtronic, which also has a headquarters in Fridley.
Tavlin illegally tipped off Farahan, his friend, about news of the imminent acquisition and told him to keep the news secret. Farahan knew the deal would likely result in a boost to Mazor’s stock price and quickly bought more than $1 million of the company’s stock throughout August and September 2018. Medtronic announced plans to acquire Mazor, which specialized in robotics for spinal procedures, in September 2018 and the deal closed three months later.
Prosecutors said Farahan netted more than $245,000, and Gantman made $255,000 in profit by selling the securities quickly after the deal was publicized. Farahan paid Tavlin for the secret information about the pending deal — including a $25,000 kickback about a year later —according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, who sentenced Tavlin Monday, also ordered Tavlin to pay a special assessment fee of $1,100 – or $100 per each count. Frank did not impose a fine.
Star Tribune
Charges detail assault in Minneapolis that led to shooting rampage, killing one in Kandiyohi County
Another friend of the ex-girlfriend arrived to help. He pulled up in a car as the group exited the apartment and Matariyeh immediately pointed a gun at him before pounding on the windshield with the gun. Everyone fled as Matariyeh ran back inside the apartment.
The two men met in a parking lot before attempting to return to the apartment. That’s when they looked up and saw Matariyeh on the balcony. Matariyeh immediately began firing multiple shots at them as they took cover behind parked cars.
It was around this time that Minneapolis police officers arrived and made contact with Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend. She believed he was still inside the apartment, but officers later learned that he had fled. They reached him on the phone. He told officers he was going to kill innocent people if he couldn’t speak with his ex-girlfriend or see his daughter, who was at daycare at the time. He later told police negotiators that “he wanted to go out by ‘suicide by cop.’”
All the while, Matariyeh was speeding westbound.
Police officers pursued him near Cosmos in Meeker County after being alerted that Matariyeh might have stolen another vehicle at gunpoint in Carver County.
Around 2 p.m. he pulled into the rural driveway of Peter Mayerchak in Lake Lillian. Mayerchak, who was in his yard placing hay over his septic mound, went and greeted Matariyeh, who shot him in the chest.
Mixing progressive dreams with dire warnings, a group of DFL leaders riled up a group of volunteers in St. Paul on Thursday morning, urging them to push on through the day’s freezing rain and fatigue in the remaining days before the election.
Several elected officials including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the group of about 150 campaign staffers, volunteers and union members about how meaningful their work is to keeping DFL control of the Legislature, as the electeds start a statewide bus tour to turn out votes.
“We are here to keep our trifecta here in Minnesota,” U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got five days, people!”
On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said earlier this month that the House Republican Campaign Committee had raised a record $2.7 million ahead of the election and she said Republicans have also set records in volunteering and door-knocking as they work to break DFL control.
Minnesota Democrats hold a rally before starting a bus tour around the state to get voters excited, including Rep Ilhan Omar, Sen Amy Klobuchar, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, Rep Betty McCollum and Sen Tina Smith on Thursday. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” Demuth said in a statement. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule.”
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said she thought voters preferred action to the gridlock of divided government. “They’re looking for people who can get things done,” she said.
These last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts come as Democrats around the country push to keep control of state legislative chambers and try to flip a few statehouses that Republicans hold by just a few seats.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the national Democratic party that works on statehouse races across the country, has spent $500,000 on Minnesota races this year, including House races and the state Senate contest.
