EDITORIAL NOTE
There are two sets of facts in this story, and keeping them separate matters.
Federal prosecutors have charged 15 members and associates of Direct Action Minnesota with crimes including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, stalking, threats, assault and destruction of government property. Those are serious allegations. They remain allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proved guilty. (Justice Department)
The surveillance described below surfaced through government investigative records disclosed in that criminal case and filed in federal court by a defense attorney on August 13. The defense argues that the investigation became politically motivated and constitutionally excessive. No court has ruled that it did, and Homeland Security Investigations has declined to discuss an ongoing investigation or its methods. (Associated Press)
That distinction matters because the troubling part of this story isn’t that federal agents investigated people accused of crimes.
It’s who else they investigated.
There is an extraordinary image buried in the records that came out of Minnesota this week.
Homeland Security Investigations created a presentation slide placing Direct Action Minnesota in the middle of a network of organizations investigators believed were connected through members or associates. Eighteen organizations appeared on it, ranging from local activist groups to some of the biggest names in organized labor. (Associated Press)
At the bottom was the AFL-CIO.
Across the top were two words:
THE CONSPIRACY
That is what the government called the slide.
The AFL-CIO has not been charged in the Direct Action Minnesota prosecution. Neither have several other organizations whose names appeared in the government’s investigative material. Yet somehow an investigation that began with alleged assaults, threats and obstruction had expanded far enough to put the country’s largest federation of labor unions on a federal diagram called “The Conspiracy.” (Associated Press)
That seems like something worth looking at.
THE PART THE GOVERNMENT HAD EVERY RIGHT TO INVESTIGATE
Let’s get the easy part out of the way.
The Justice Department’s case is not about people standing peacefully on a sidewalk carrying signs. Prosecutors allege that members and associates of Direct Action Minnesota participated in coordinated efforts to interfere with federal immigration enforcement, including stalking officers, threats, assaults, and destruction of government property. Individual defendants face different charges, and the indictment remains an allegation rather than proof. (Justice Department)
If somebody assaults a federal officer, investigate the assault. If someone threatens an officer or deliberately destroys government property, prosecute the case and prove it in court. Political opposition doesn’t turn criminal conduct into constitutionally protected speech.
I don’t have a problem with any of that.
My problem starts when the circle keeps getting bigger.
THEN THE INVESTIGATION KEPT GOING
Operation Puppet Master was aimed at what federal officials described as a network helping “violent opportunists and agitators” during the massive immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota. A later investigation called Project Whipple Shield followed. The government’s stated purpose was to identify people and organizations supporting violence, intimidation, property destruction and efforts to impede federal operations while preserving the rights of peaceful demonstrators. (Associated Press)
That’s a reasonable mission.
The records describing what happened next make the boundaries considerably harder to see.
Undercover Homeland Security agents attended political and activist meetings in churches, schools, libraries and parks. They monitored activist communications and used license-plate information to identify people attending gatherings. (Associated Press)
This wasn’t limited to following people suspected of throwing something at an ICE vehicle.
At a January 31 Sunrise Movement meeting in a Minneapolis library, an undercover agent listened as participants discussed sit-ins, de-escalation tactics, police liaisons and safety marshals. The agent’s own report stated that it had been made clear during the meeting that the organization focused on peaceful protests. (Associated Press)
Read that part again.
The federal government’s own undercover agent reported that the meeting was about peaceful protest.
The agent stayed.
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THE LICENSE PLATE PART
Other investigative records describe federal agents collecting license plate numbers from people attending meetings and using them to determine identities.
That takes this beyond monitoring what someone says publicly at a demonstration. Now the government can potentially work backward from a vehicle parked outside a political meeting to the person who owns it. The records described agents using information gathered during the investigation to compile names and other identifying information about attendees. (Associated Press)
Maybe some of those people ultimately mattered to a legitimate criminal investigation.
Maybe some didn’t.
That’s precisely why the boundaries matter.
There is a meaningful difference between surveilling someone because investigators have evidence that the person participated in criminal activity and identifying someone because their car was outside a meeting where people were discussing political protest.
The First Amendment protects more than the words coming out of your mouth.
It protects your right to assemble with other people who share them.
THEN THEY FOLLOWED THE MONEY
The government also obtained years of certain financial records connected to organizations, including the Sunrise Movement, the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America. AP reported that a DHS request involving FedWire, the Federal Reserve’s funds-transfer system, instructed the recipient not to disclose the existence of the summons indefinitely because disclosure could interfere with the investigation. (Associated Press)
None of those organizations has been charged in the Direct Action Minnesota prosecution.
Neither has the AFL-CIO.
That doesn’t automatically mean investigators had no legitimate reason to examine a transaction or financial connection. Criminal investigations routinely follow money, relationships, and communications beyond the person who eventually gets indicted.
But there’s a difference between following evidence wherever it leads and starting to treat association itself as evidence.
That difference gets especially important when the associations are political.
THIS WASN’T INVENTED IN MINNESOTA
The wider investigative approach has roots in federal policy adopted last year.
On September 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, directing federal agencies to make domestic terrorism and organized political violence a national priority. The memorandum specifically ordered agencies to examine organizations, recurring patterns, relationships, and financial networks that could support political violence. Treasury was directed to use investigative tools to trace funding streams connected to domestic terrorism and political violence. (White House)
The Justice Department says the Direct Action Minnesota case is part of that nationwide NSPM-7 initiative. DOJ describes the initiative as an effort to protect First Amendment rights while targeting individuals and organizations engaged in political violence. (Justice Department)
There is nothing inherently sinister about looking for an organization financing violence. If a group is paying for weapons, coordinating attacks, or knowingly funding criminal activity, follow the money until the trail runs out. But Minnesota shows the obvious danger in a strategy built around networks.
Networks expand. One person belongs to one organization. That organization works with another. Somebody attends a meeting with somebody who knows somebody under investigation.
Keep drawing lines long enough, and eventually everybody winds up on the corkboard.
Apparently, sometimes the government even gives the corkboard a title.
“THE CONSPIRACY”
That slide bothers me more every time I look at what it represents.
Maybe the government intended “The Conspiracy” to refer narrowly to the people prosecutors believe conspired to obstruct federal officers. Maybe every organization appeared only because investigators were mapping affiliations and not because they considered the organization itself part of a criminal conspiracy.
Then somebody should explain that.
Because words matter when the federal government uses them.
Putting the AFL-CIO, activist organizations, and community groups on something labeled THE CONSPIRACY creates a very different impression from a slide labeled “Known Organizational Affiliations.”
One describes connections.
The other sounds like a conclusion.
THE BLIND SPOT
There’s an easy way to argue about this story, and it doesn’t get us very far.
One side can say the Trump administration was spying on peaceful political opposition. The other can point to serious allegations against members of Direct Action Minnesota and say federal agents were simply investigating criminals.
Both descriptions leave out inconvenient facts.
Yes, prosecutors allege genuine criminal behavior. And yes, government records also show federal agents inside meetings that their own reporting described as peaceful, identifying people through license plates and obtaining financial records involving unions and nonprofits that haven’t been charged with crimes. (Associated Press)
Those facts can exist at the same time. The question isn’t whether the federal government may investigate political violence. Of course it may.
The question is how far away from the alleged violence the government gets to travel before investigating a crime becomes investigating a political movement.
That’s the line nobody should be comfortable leaving blurry.
And before anybody decides this is fine because they don’t particularly like the groups involved, remember how government power works.
Administrations change.
The surveillance authority you cheer when it lands on somebody else’s political meeting does not disappear when somebody else takes the oath of office.
Civil liberties are irritating that way.
They have to work for people you can’t stand, too.
THE RECORD
Federal prosecutors charged 15 members and associates of Direct Action Minnesota in June with various crimes including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, stalking, threats, assault and destruction of government property. The Justice Department says the prosecution is part of the nationwide NSPM-7 initiative. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty. (Justice Department)
Government investigative records disclosed through the case describe undercover Homeland Security agents attending political meetings, monitoring activist communications and using license-plate numbers to identify people at gatherings. At a Sunrise Movement meeting, an agent specifically reported that the organization focused on peaceful protest. (Associated Press)
A Homeland Security investigative slide titled “The Conspiracy” showed 18 organizations connected to Direct Action Minnesota through investigative mapping, including the AFL-CIO. The government also obtained years of certain financial records involving organizations including the Sunrise Movement, SEIU and CWA. (Associated Press)
None of those organizations has been charged in the Direct Action Minnesota prosecution.
HSI has declined to discuss the existence or status of an ongoing investigation or its investigative methods. (Associated Press)
FROM OFF SCRIPT: THE BULLSHIT DETECTOR
NO, 300 GENERALS DIDN’T JUST QUIT THE PENTAGON
Viral posts claimed that 300 generals and senior military officers had resigned en masse from the Defense Department, supposedly in revolt against the Trump administration. There is no evidence that happened. The claim spread widely enough to sound like a developing Pentagon mutiny, but no corresponding mass resignation was announced, documented, or confirmed. Sometimes a story sounds enormous because enormous is the only thing keeping it alive.
Source: Snopes
NO, NEW YORK WON’T MAKE YOU SHOW ID TO BUY GROCERIES
Posts claimed New York City’s planned subsidized grocery stores would require shoppers to show identification proving they live in the city — usually followed by the inevitable comparison to voter-ID laws. City officials said that was false. The stores may use voluntary loyalty-style cards to control bulk purchases and resale, but shoppers will not have to provide ID, proof of residency, or income verification just to buy groceries.
Source: Reuters Fact Check
THE ASHLEY MOODY STORY IS BAD ENOUGH WITHOUT IMPROVING IT
Democratic Senate candidate Alexander Vindman said then-Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody transferred $10 million in taxpayer money intended for children’s health care directly into a campaign fund. That’s not what the records show. Moody’s office approved a Medicaid settlement that sent $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation; the money later moved through nonprofits before millions reached DeSantis-aligned political committees. That chain is plenty worthy of scrutiny. It doesn’t need a shortcut the documentation doesn’t support.
Source: PolitiFact
THE BULLSHIT DETECTOR
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ONE QUESTION BEFORE YOU GO
If federal investigators have legitimate evidence of political violence, how far should they be allowed to follow someone’s political associations before they’ve crossed the line into surveillance of lawful political activity?
Where would you draw it?
ONE LAST THING
The part of this story that bothers me most isn’t that federal investigators went after people they believe assaulted, threatened, or obstructed officers.
That’s their job.
It’s that somewhere along the way an undercover federal agent was sitting in a library listening to people discuss de-escalation. Investigators were identifying people through license plates. Union financial records were being examined. And Homeland Security produced a slide connecting 18 organizations under the words “The Conspiracy.” (Associated Press)
Then they put the AFL-CIO on it.
Maybe every step has an entirely reasonable explanation.
If so, explaining it shouldn’t be this difficult.
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As the Federal government stands now...the lack of accountability screams, rages and wreaks havoc daily here in Minnesota. Supreme gaslighting! The case of the 15 you are highlighting is about Legal Observers. Which is what Rene Good was doing when she was murdered by the Federal government in South Minneapolis. And what of the ICE agent still not charged?!?!?