Trump administration officials used a "seriously flawed" process when they rejected a Minneapolis grant request over City Council members' support for the "defund the police" movement, according to a newly released audit.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance denied Minneapolis' 2020 application for $900,000 to address opioid overdoses, according to the report published this month by the Department of Justice inspector general.

"BJA's justification for denying Minneapolis funding contained critical errors and omissions that we believe rendered the justification inadequate," the inspector general's office wrote.

The federal denial came as opioid overdose deaths across Minnesota were skyrocketing. The number of deadly overdoses involving opioids more than doubled from 2019 to 2021, according to Minnesota Department of Health data.