Trump flips Democrats’ ‘no one is above the law’ mantra after Walz drops re-election bid
President Donald Trump flipped the script on Democrats’ "no one is above the law" mantra after years of hearing it aimed at him, invoking the phrase after news broke Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz would not seek re-election as a sweeping fraud scandal rocks his state.
"Governor Walz has destroyed the State of Minnesota, but others, like Governor Gavin Newscum, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, have done, in my opinion, an even more dishonest and incompetent job. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!" Trump posted to Truth Social Monday afternoon.
The message followed Walz announcing Monday that he was withdrawing his re-election effort to continue serving as governor. Walz was first elected the state's top leader in 2018 in a political career that also included him campaigning coast-to-coast in 2024 as former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate.
"As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all," Walz wrote in a statement. "Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences."
Minnesota has come under fierce scrutiny in recent weeks as a sprawling fraud scandal that has led to dozens of arrests, mostly from the state's large Somali community, since 2022 comes to light. Minnesota was allegedly home to a massive COVID-era scheme that allegedly involved money laundering operations related to fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services, according to investigators.
The Minnesota fraud is still being tabulated, with local officials speculating it could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
Trump's use of the phrase "no one is above the law" follows years of Democrats employing the same rhetoric against him as he faced a barrage of charges and court cases in between his first and second administrations.
"No one is above the law," President Joe Biden said after Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsified business records in a Manhattan court in May 2024.
Trump faced four criminal indictments, which resulted in accusations of "lawfare" on the national stage as Trump maintained his innocence and slammed the cases as efforts by the Democratic Party to hurt his political chances for re-election in 2024.
DAVID MARCUS: TIM WALZ'S WHITE GUILT FINALLY ENDS HIS CAREER AS MINNESOTA’S FRAUD EXPLODES
"As I’ve said before, no one is above the law, including Donald Trump," then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 2023 after the Biden administration's Department of Justice announced Trump had been indicted on 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Even during Trump's first administration, Democrats championed the phrase as they combated MAGA Republicans and Trump policies.
"Everybody wants the president to be held accountable in the most serious way," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Trump in 2019 amid a discussion at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, underscoring that Democrats believe "no one is above the law." "And everybody believes, now I'm talking on the Democratic side, that no one is above the law, especially the president of the United States."
"We must be clear: no one, not even the president, is above the law," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement in 2019 when introducing articles of impeachment against Trump.
COMER WARNS WALZ ABSENCE AT MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING WOULD BE 'ADMISSION TO GUILT' BY GOVERNOR
Upon his victory over the Harris–Walz presidential ticket in 2024, Trump has taken a victory lap for allegedly snuffing out the weaponization of government.
"We have ended weaponized government, where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me. How did that work out?" he said during his joint address to Congress in 2025. "Not too good. Not too good."
Trump added in his Monday Truth Social post that "Minnesota’s Corrupt Governor will possibly leave office before his Term is up," and that he's confident the fraud investigations "will reveal a seriously unscrupulous, and rich, group of 'SLIMEBALLS.'"
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson added in comment to Fox Digital on Monday afternoon when asked about the Truth Social post: "It shouldn’t take an education from the Quality Learing Center for Democrats to understand this: Tim Walz and his Somali friends have been caught ripping off hardworking Minnesota taxpayers and now they will face the consequences. President Trump is right, no one is above the law."
Walz has taken ownership of correcting the fraud. He said his administration had been taking action to stop some suspected fraudulent payments over the summer and that his office referred some for prosecution. The governor, however, has said that multibillion figures were "sensationalized" by Republicans.
"This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it," Walz told reporters in December.
Fox Digital reached out to Walz's office for a response to Trump's Truth Social but did not immediately receive a reply.
Fox News Digital's Amanda Macias contributed to this report.