Zinger! Trump Calls Out Walz for Minnesota Water System Hack

On Friday, at a press conference at Camp David, President Trump was in rare form. He spoke and took questions on a variety of subjects, but one of note came when the president was asked about the recent cyberattack on a Minnesota area's water system. That attack had fingerprints on it very similar to attacks made by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) but President Trump has an idea that it was someone else whose name is on the blame line.

That someone? Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and his band of merry men/women/whatever.

.@POTUS: "You know who's behind it? Minnesota — because they're grossly incompetent... I don't think there was an Iranian cyber attack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It's one of the worst-run states—@VP will tell you. He found tremendous corruption in… https://t.co/7lIPKIXBH4 pic.twitter.com/XB3l7iDisA
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2026

.@POTUS: "You know who's behind it? Minnesota — because they're grossly incompetent... I don't think there was an Iranian cyber attack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It's one of the worst-run states—@VP will tell you. He found tremendous corruption in Minnesota. And by the way, just gave me a report — MASSIVE future things having to do with corruption in Minnesota are happening right now."

The president made the statement in response to a question from the media.

Question: Can you rule out that Iran was behind the water attack? Can you rule out that Iran was behind that cyber-attack?
President Trump: No, I think Minnesota is behind it. You know who's behind it? Minnesota, because they're grossly incompetent. I think the governor's behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyber-attack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It's one of the worst-run states... JD will tell you. In fact, tremendous corruption in Minnesota. And by the way, just gave me a report, massive, massive future things having to do with corruption in Minnesota are happening right now.

We covered the initial story of the hacking attack on Thursday:

Now, it's unlikely that Governor Walz, troubled as his rather slapdash governance has been, was directly involved with the attack, nor was anyone in his administration, but President Trump's implication would seem to be that incompetence in the cybersecurity of this municipal water system may have allowed it to happen - which doesn't preclude any Iranian involvement. And the IRGC has conducted similar attacks in the past, using similar software and similar tactics. A Fox News piece on the matter points out:

Trump’s dismissal puts him at odds with a preliminary assessment reportedly shared by U.S. and state officials and comes days after federal agencies warned that Iranian-affiliated hackers were targeting the same kinds of systems. Iranian involvement and poor cybersecurity are not mutually exclusive: previous Iranian-linked attacks on U.S. water facilities exploited internet-connected equipment protected by default or nonexistent passwords.

It would be mildly surprising to learn that Iran wasn't trying to infiltrate American government systems, and identifying inadequate cybersecurity, the better to exploit weaknesses. If they could manage to shut down water to a few towns, they may well learn lessons that would enable them to, in time, shut down water to a city, like Minneapolis/St. Paul.

And, yes, the administration of Tim "Great Walz of China" has been marked with incompetence and corruption. It would be a logical first target for just such hacking attempts.

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