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Bob Kroll for U.S. marshal among recommendations made to Trump by Minnesota Republicans

The shortlist for Minnesota’s next US attorney general, marshal
The shortlist for Minnesota’s next US attorney general, marshal 02:02

MINNEAPOLIS — House Republicans from Minnesota have made their recommendations to President Trump for the state's U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal, among them controversial former Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll.

In a letter to Trump on Monday, Reps. Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach, Pete Stauber and Brad Finstad recommended Kroll — who has been barred from policing in three of Minnesota's largest counties — for U.S. marshal, along with Minnesota Sheriff's Association Executive Director James Stuart.

For U.S. attorney, Republicans nominated Ronald Schutz, Daniel Rosen and Erica MacDonald, all lawyers in private practice in Minnesota. Andrew Luger, the previous U.S. attorney in Minnesota, resigned earlier this month.

Kroll retired as president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis in 2021. Two years later, he was barred from policing in Hennepin, Ramsey and Anoka counties for a decade as part of a settlement with the ACLU of Minnesota. He also agreed not to serve in a leadership role in any law enforcement agency in those counties or in any capacity on the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training. The settlement stemmed from two class action lawsuits over police misconduct of demonstrators in 2020.

After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020, city leaders — including then-Chief Medaria Arradondo — labor organizations and the public called for Kroll to step down as union president, accusing the union and Kroll's leadership of being obstacles to reform in the Minneapolis Police Department.

Arradondo's predecessor, Janée Harteau, also had a high-profile spat with Kroll. She told Kroll to stop wearing his MPD uniform when speaking on behalf of the union after he accused several Minnesota Lynx players of being "anti-police" and denigrated the WNBA when the players spoke and wore shirts in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He also clashed with Democratic mayors R.T. Rybak, Betsy Hodges and Jacob Frey and faced accusations of racism from the public and fellow police officers, which he has denied.

Kroll has been a vocal Trump supporter. In 2020, he spoke at a Trump rally in downtown Minneapolis, praising the president for his decision to "let cops do their job" after "the handcuffing and oppression of police" during former President Obama's administration. Kroll wore a "Cops for Trump" shirt during the event, which drew praise from Trump.

Stuart, the other marshal recommendation, was the Anoka County sheriff from 2011-2023.

Each of the attorney recommendations has at least 27 years of legal experience, according to the representatives. Two of them — Schutz and Rosen — graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.

In their letter to Trump, the House Republicans said they "are confident the following individuals would honorably serve your administration and the American people, uphold the rule of law, and prosecute crime to the fullest extent of the law."

Law Professor Rachel Moran has closely followed the nominees.

"The US Attorney is specifically in charge of all sorts of law enforcement decisions and policy decisions," Moran told WCCO. "They're deciding to some extent who to prosecute and for what reasons."

Moran says she anticipates Trump loyalty to play a role in who is ultimately chosen. Each decision could take time, she added.

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