Tim Walz stood behind his pardon of a convicted child r**ist for weeks.
Now Minnesota's largest newspaper is cheering him on for it.
The excuse their columnist used to justify it will turn your stomach.
Star Tribune Columnist Rochelle Olson Cheered the Pardon of a Child Predator
Rochelle Olson has worked at the Star Tribune for 26 years.
On July 17, she used her weekly "Cheers & Jeers" column to hand Governor Tim Walz a "Cheers."
His crime, according to Olson, was refusing to back down.
Back down from defending his vote to pardon Tou Lue Vang, a Hmong immigrant convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Vang did not steal a car or skip a court date.
He repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl over roughly two years, according to court records.
At one point he offered the child $10 to stay quiet.
He later told investigators that in his culture, it's normal "to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12."
For that, Vang served eight months in a county workhouse and walked away with 30 years of probation.
No prison. Ever.
Olson never mentioned the victim's age in her column.
She never mentioned the years of abuse.
She did mention a letter from the victim supporting clemency – a letter Walz's own administration only handed to reporters after the pardon blew up in his face.
She Compared Raping a Child to the January 6 Protests
Then Olson made the comparison that has half of Minnesota ready to cancel their subscription.
Olson wrote that Vang's crime was awful, "but so were the violent protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021."
Read that again.
There is no version of Jan. 6 that involves a grown man raping a fourth grader for two straight years.
Writer Dennis Neale tore into the comparison on X, and conservative outlets picked the column apart line by line.
This Was Not an Isolated Decision
Walz did not pardon Vang alone.
Attorney General Keith Ellison and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson voted right along with him – unanimously.
Vang is not even the only felon facing deportation this board let off the hook this year.
In May, the same three-person board pardoned Jai Vang, an illegal alien convicted of aggravated robbery, and At Chandee, convicted of second-degree assault.
Vang makes at least three felons facing removal that this same three-person board has pardoned in 2026 alone.
The Department of Homeland Security has now condemned Minnesota's Board of Pardons multiple times in a matter of months.
Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber called one of the earlier pardons "absolutely infuriating," and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said Walz "will move mountains to keep criminal illegal aliens on the streets of Minnesota."
Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called the pardon "disgusting," saying Walz was shielding a convicted child rapist from removal.
Vang got deported anyway, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated his legal status and ICE put him on a plane to Laos.
Walz still wasn't finished defending himself.
Asked about the deportation, he shot back with this: "Did that make us any safer?"
Nobody asked Walz about the ten-year-old.
The Pattern Is the Point
Minnesota's governor built a sanctuary state, and now its flagship paper is running cover for the predators he keeps letting walk.
This is not one columnist's bad afternoon.
Olson sits on the Star Tribune's editorial board with 26 years of institutional backing behind every word she writes.
When a newspaper reaches for a Capitol protest to make a child rapist's pardon look reasonable, it isn't really defending Walz.
It's telling readers exactly what it considers the greater sin.
And that tells you everything about where Minnesota's biggest paper actually stands.
Walz spent 2024 auditioning for the national stage, and he's clearly still auditioning.
But every time DHS puts his own Board of Pardons back in the headlines, it drags his sanctuary record right along with it.
A newspaper willing to compare child rape to Jan. 6 just to protect him isn't doing Walz any favors – it's handing his opponents the exact receipt they'll run on the next time his name is on a ballot.
Sources:
- Fox News Staff, "Firestorm erupts online after Minnesota paper praises Tim Walz's clemency for child sex offender," Fox News, July 19, 2026.
- Alpha News Staff, "'Depraved rag': Star Tribune columnist 'cheers' Walz for backing child sex offender's pardon," Alpha News, July 18, 2026.
- Twitchy Staff, "Crass Media: Minnesota Star Tribune Columnist Cheers Tim Walz for Pardoning Illegal Alien Child Rapist," Twitchy, July 19, 2026.
- DHS Press Office, "Minnesota Madness: Governor Tim Walz Pardons Criminal Illegal Alien Convicted of Sexually Assaulting a 10-Year-Old Girl," Department of Homeland Security, July 1, 2026.
- KNSI Staff, "Walz, Minnesota Panel Pardons Convicted Child Sex Offender Facing Deportation," KNSI, July 2, 2026.
- KSTP Staff, "Walz defends vote to pardon convicted sex offender," KSTP, July 15, 2026.
- CBS Minnesota Staff, "Minnesota commission's pardon of man convicted of robbery 30+ years ago draws backlash from DHS," CBS Minnesota, June 2, 2026.
