{"id":21821,"date":"2026-07-30T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21821"},"modified":"2026-07-30T08:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:00:18","slug":"st-pauls-first-female-mayor-under-investigation-after-police-chiefs-sexual-harassment-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21821","title":{"rendered":"St. Paul\u2019s first female mayor under investigation after police chief\u2019s sexual harassment complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-e3689e\" class=\"body-graf\">The St. Paul, Minnesota, police chief has submitted a sexual harassment complaint against the city\u2019s first female mayor, alleging she behaved inappropriately toward him and other members of his department, the local NBC affiliate reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-dc1b49\" class=\"body-graf\">The city has hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations against Mayor Kaohly Her, who has been in office for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2026\/01\/02\/first-woman-hmong-american-kaohly-her-to-lead-st-paul-as-new-mayor\" target=\"_blank\">just seven months<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-505f6d\" class=\"body-graf\">Chief Axel Henry, who has led the St. Paul Police Department since 2022, outlined the allegations in an April 1 letter his lawyer sent to the St. Paul city attorney.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-16ed60\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThe City is on notice that Mayor Her has engaged in illegal conduct towards City employees,\u201d attorney Christopher Madel wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the NBC affiliate, KARE.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-13dd6c\" class=\"body-graf\">Henry sent the letter of complaint after having become \u201caware that the Mayor\u2019s conduct has extended beyond isolated incidents and has included sexual harassment of subordinate City employees, including members of the Saint Paul Police Department,\u201d Madel wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3b2b27\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cChief Henry is not only seeking to address the wrongdoing but also create a measure of protection for his team, signaling that such conduct will not be tolerated,\u201d Madel wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-298fcf\" class=\"body-graf\">Included with <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28521832\/s12ak126072910040.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">the letter<\/a> is a screenshot of an alleged text message from Her to an unnamed city employee that reads \u201cHappy Weiner Wednesday! Wish I was having a (hot dog emoji) with you all on 6 today!\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8e3cbb\" class=\"body-graf\">Below the text message is an internet meme showing a swaddled baby with an adult\u2019s head, which has been redacted, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/st-paul-investigates-sexual-harassment-allegations-against-mayor-kaohly-her-involving-police-chief-officers\/601872859\" target=\"_blank\">The Minnesota Star Tribune<\/a> reported.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-beaad3\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWhen she wraps you up in her blanket after you gave her a good weinering,\u201d reads the caption.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-002960\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWienering\u201d is an internet slang term for sexual intercourse and is frequently misspelled as \u201cweinering.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d863a\" class=\"body-graf\">The letter alleges that \u201cHer has used one or more mobile phones to communicate inappropriate, and, indeed, unlawful text messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-de4682\" class=\"body-graf\">But it does not spell out any other specific allegations of inappropriate communications.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-60d8cf\" class=\"body-graf\">Madel wrote that future litigation is \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d and demanded that the city \u201cimmediately take all steps necessary to perform a full filesystem extraction of each of Mayor Her\u2019s mobile phones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-409f8f\" class=\"body-graf\">In a written statement Wednesday, Her said she has cooperated with the investigation and believes the \u201cfull facts will come to light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-25e596\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAs Mayor, I take my responsibility to treat every employee with professionalism and respect very seriously. I recognize that some of my attempts at humor fell short of the standard I expect of myself,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-310b16\" class=\"body-graf\">Police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen said, \u201cChief Henry and the department has no comment at this time.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ff4056\" class=\"body-graf\">The Star Tribune reported that Resolute Law, based in St. Cloud and described on its website as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.resolutelawmn.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">women-owned firm<\/a>,\u201d has been hired to investigate the allegations. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a4f5d2\" class=\"body-graf\">The law firm did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the investigation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-df3fab\" class=\"body-graf\">Her, 53, was born in Laos and spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp. She was 3 when she arrived in the U.S., and she grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/kaohlyforstp.com\/about-kaohly-her\/\" target=\"_blank\">her campaign biography<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5cc791\" class=\"body-graf\">The Star Tribune reported that she had faced an accusation of inappropriate behavior before. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f3ad83\" class=\"body-graf\">Her was hit with a restraining order petition last year by a former friend who claimed she had sent her \u201cinappropriate or sexualized questions\u201d and had gotten her removed from the National Kidney Foundation Board.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7f2bd9\" class=\"body-graf\">The petition was denied by Ramsey County District Court Referee Elizabeth Clysdale, who wrote that the text messages filed showed that Her had not threatened her former friend and that Her\u2019s husband had tried to help resolve the issue.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6ed304\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Clysdale also wrote there was no proof that Her had played a role in the woman\u2019s removal from the National Kidney Foundation Board, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-49db9e\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-Axel-Henry-ew-1212p-723236.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-Axel-Henry-ew-1212p-723236.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-Axel-Henry-ew-1212p-723236.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-Axel-Henry-ew-1212p-723236.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-Axel-Henry-ew-1212p-723236.jpg\" alt=\"St. Paul Police chief nominee Axel Henry\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Axel Henry speaks to the media in St. Paul on Nov. 1, 2022, when he was nominated for police chief.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Shari L. Gross \/ Star Tribune via Getty Images file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The St. Paul, Minnesota, police chief has submitted a sexual harassment complaint against the city\u2019s first female mayor, alleging she behaved inappropriately toward him and other members of his department, the local NBC affiliate reported Wednesday. The city has hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations against Mayor Kaohly Her, who has been&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260729-St-Paul-Mayor-Kaohly-Her-ew-1206p-de6494.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}