Alpha News is asking the Minneapolis Police Department to turn over all internal communications relating to Assistant Chief of Operations Katie Blackwell’s lawsuit against the news outlet.
The data request, filed late last month, asks the police department to produce all emails and texts between Blackwell and any employee of the department relating to her lawsuit, Alpha News, and its employees.
It also seeks all communications between Chief Brian O’Hara and any employee of the department regarding the same.
Additionally, the data request asks MPD to produce all communications between Blackwell, O’Hara and any department employee “related to any affidavit, declaration, or other statement” pertaining to the lawsuit.
Finally, it seeks information on Blackwell’s and O’Hara’s compliance with certain ethical responsibilities of government employees outlined in the city’s code of ordinances.
“After the outpouring of support from current and former Minneapolis police officers, I became concerned about retaliation against current officers for telling the truth so I asked our client to submit this data request to determine whether that’s occurring,” said attorney Chris Madel, who is representing Alpha News and its writers in the matter.
The request was submitted on Nov. 26 and asked the MPD to produce documents directly to Madel’s law firm. “We’ve received no response since then, just silence,” Madel said.
Blackwell sued Alpha News in October, alleging that she was defamed in the documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis.” Her lawsuit, described by Madel as “garbage,” refers to Alpha News as “extremists.”
Subsequent reports from Alpha News revealed that the law firm she retained to represent her is itself being sued for negligence and malpractice. That law firm, Trautmann Martin Law, is run by an attorney who has described himself as a “friend” of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
