Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday that he still plans to seek reimbursement from President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for the costs associated with its October campaign rally and revealed that the actual costs were $12,000 more than initially estimated.
Frey and Trump publicly sparred on Twitter ahead of the president’s October 10 rally at the Target Center, and the reelection campaign accused Minneapolis of “extortion” when it attempted to stick the campaign with a $530,000 security bill.
“The city alone should not bear the costs of keeping residents, visitors, and the president safe for a campaign rally and we will continue to seek reimbursement for the event on behalf of Minneapolis residents and taxpayers,” Frey said during a Tuesday press conference.
As of now, the city has paid $542,733 for costs associated with the event, Frey said Tuesday. He plans to seek reimbursement from the Trump campaign through AEG Worldwide, which manages the Target Center, though the venue is owned by Minneapolis.
“We contract with AEG. AEG in turn contracted with the Trump campaign. The reason that we contract with AEG is so that we have a managing agent of the Target Center that ultimately helps generate resources for city hall,” Frey explained. “We have moneys that come in in the form of both sales and entertainment tax. If the costs that we incur during those events to account for safety rise dramatically above the resources that we’re generating in the form of taxation, that’s a problem and it probably says that it’s an event that’s not worth doing.”
The mayor repeatedly emphasized that “the city will continue to seek reimbursement for associated costs of the event on behalf of our taxpayers.”
“The city should not be solely and exclusively accountable for every single one of these expenditures associated with a campaign rally. That’s the position I would hold regardless of the candidate, regardless of the party, and regardless of the style of the event—politics or playoffs,” he said. “We will continue to attempt to get our costs reimbursed.”
He said the additional costs to the city came from public safety efforts, overtime pay for police officers, and public infrastructure, such as road closures and barriers.
Frey didn’t offer specifics on how the city plans to seek reimbursement, but said he’s “not taking any option off the table at this point.” Going forward, he suggested crafting “some form of policy” that prevents cities from bearing all the costs of special events—an idea he elaborated on in an October Washington Post op-ed.
“Regardless of whether the event is political, is sports or entertainment or music, we can’t have our costs rising dramatically beyond that which we expect to receive in the form of sales and entertainment tax,” he added.
Minneapolis has hosted a number of high-profile events during Frey’s tenure, including the Super Bowl in February 2018 and the Final Four in April 2019.
The Trump campaign is reportedly referring all requests for comment on the matter to the Secret Service.
The full press conference can be watched below:
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jacob Frey” by August Schwerdfeger. CC BY 4.0. Background Photo “Minneapolis City Hall” by Tony Webster. CC BY 2.0.
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