A public statement Republican Congressman Tom Emmer made on social media this week— which criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for her support in 2020 of a Minnesota-based organization that bailed violent offenders out of jail—has become fodder for an above-the-fold story featured in the state’s largest daily newspaper on Wednesday.
The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune published a story Wednesday that lumps Emmer’s statement in with other Republican “political attacks” on Harris it labeled as “false or misleading.” Here’s Emmer’s statement in question that the Star Tribune story scrutinized:
“Kamala Harris supported a bail fund for Minnesota criminals who should have stayed behind bars. One convict she sprung from prison killed a man after Kamala helped release him.”
The print headline for the Star Tribune story read, “Trump, GOP weaponize Minnesota Freedom Fund in attacks on Kamala Harris.” The online version also featured the same headline, but was eventually changed to read, “GOP criticism of Kamala Harris draws attention to Minnesota Freedom Fund.”
The story itself contained a paragraph insinuating Emmer’s statement was “false or misleading,” and then went on to say:
“Contrary to Emmer’s tweet, the Freedom Fund does not — and could not — arrange the release of people who have been found guilty of a crime and are serving prison sentences. Bail is only available to people awaiting trial for charges, and who have been granted the opportunity for bail by a judge.”
When contacted by Alpha News following publication of that Star Tribune story, Emmer blasted that interpretation of his statement, intimating that his tweet never implied that he believed the Minnesota Freedom Fund would even be able to pay for the release of inmates serving time for convicted felonies.
“The Star Tribune has long debased themselves and the principles of ethical journalism to carry water for the Democrats,” Emmer, a five-term member of the U.S. House representing Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, told Alpha News. “This story is more of the same. Shawn Michael Tillman is a proven convict, and Kamala Harris endorsed, enabled, and even promoted the organization that let him out of jail. These are all indisputable facts that the Harris campaign must answer for.”
Harris’s June 1, 2020, tweet asking people to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund— which still appears on her X account and provides a link for a donation account hosted by ActBlue, a Democrat-aligned fundraising platform—has been revisited by Twin Cities and national media multiple times over the last four years.
In 2022 Alpha News published a story about Tillman’s arrest for murder, just weeks after the Minnesota Freedom Fund paid his bail to release him after he was arrested for indecent exposure. Tillman had previously been convicted of multiple felonies before his arrest on indecent exposure and subsequent release, which Emmer told Alpha News is clearly what he was referring to in his statement on Monday.
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Shawn Michael Tillman, DOB: 06/06/1988
Lengthy history of convictions on assault, indecent exposure, robbery.
He was in custody on yet another exposure case when @MNFreedomFund bailed him out.
Three weeks later, he was charged with murder at a St. Paul Green Line platform. pic.twitter.com/JhMkfoBVOe— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) August 26, 2022
In March of this year, Tillman was convicted for what local media outlets described as the “heinous murder” he committed in 2022 on a downtown St. Paul light rail platform.
Emmer said voters in Minnesota and across the nation deserve to know about the now-presumptive Democratic nominee for president’s support for the organization.
“Minnesotans deserve to know the full extent of Kamala Harris’ soft-on-crime record, including her support for a criminal who was later charged for murder,” Emmer said. “Our communities are tired of paying the price for Kamala Harris and the Democrats’ pro-criminal agenda, which is why we will make history by turning Minnesota red for the first time in 50 years.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
