Rob Kuznia - Investigative Reporter
Rob Kuznia
Investigative Reporter
Rob Kuznia is an investigative reporter for CNN based in Minneapolis.
Featured work
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Once nicknamed ‘Murderapolis,’ the city that became the center of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement is grappling with heightened violent crime -
Power in chaos: Steve Bannon is disrupting democracy. This is how -
From fringe to frontline: How Alex Jones stoked many of the conspiracy theories taking hold in today’s Republican party -
Assault on democracy: Paths to insurrection
Latest
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Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse dedicated to helping others, friends and family saidJan 25, 2026The man killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis legally owned a gun and had no criminal record. -
New documents shed light on Renee Good’s ties to ICE monitoring efforts in MinneapolisJan 14, 2026The woman killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training. -
Scorned by the president, Somalis in Minnesota are embraced by the state that took them inDec 7, 2025The wave of vitriol against Minnesota’s Somali community during the Trump administration’s continued nationwide immigration crackdown has been met with an opposing wave of solidarity. -
Anxiety grips Minneapolis’s Somali community as immigration agents zero in on the Twin CitiesDec 4, 2025The specter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown looms over the Somali diaspora in the Twin Cities – home to the nation’s largest Somali population. -
‘You’re not rushing. You’re just ready:’ Parents say ChatGPT encouraged son to kill himselfNov 20, 2025A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit. -
ICE impersonator incidents rise during Trump’s second termNov 20, 2025A CNN review has found two dozen incidents of people posing as ICE officers in 2025 – more incidents than during the prior four presidential terms combined. -
Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s web of power, revealed in new emailsNov 19, 2025A mass release of 23,000 pages of documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate showed how he placed himself at the center of a web of powerful figures who came to him for advice and conversation – even after he was a registered sex offender. -
Chinese gamblers, cartel cash: The secret pipeline through Las Vegas’ biggest casinoNov 18, 2025A CNN investigation reveals new details about a little recognized participant in a booming Chinese market for underground cash: American casinos. -
Kirk faced personal threats, campus turmoil in recent yearsSep 12, 2025As Charlie Kirk mobilized young conservatives on college campuses, he faced numerous personal threats in recent years. -
‘There is no message’: Journal details warning signs, violent obsessions of Minneapolis shooterAug 29, 2025Robin Westman wrote in a journal about a deep obsession with mass shooters. -
Police examine online videos, writings possibly linked to Minneapolis church shooting suspectAug 27, 2025Police are investigating online videos apparently posted by the Minneapolis shooter, which describe an obsession with school shootings. -
From sermons in the Congo to funeral home jobs, Minnesota suspect’s life took a strange turn in recent yearsJun 17, 2025Vance Boelter turned from decades as a food-service manager to launching security firms and far-fetched African ventures. -
What we know about the Minnesota shooting suspectJun 16, 2025The man sought by authorities for allegedly shooting Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota on Saturday worked for a security company that advertised a fleet of ‘police type vehicles.’ -
Victims’ group alleges Pope Leo XIV mishandled sexual abuse cases involving priests in Chicago and PeruMay 9, 2025Six weeks before American Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, the activist group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a complaint against him, along with other church leaders, to the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. -
Ex-agents question role of Trump’s DEA pick in violent overseas incidentsApr 29, 2025Former officials are asking lawmakers to investigate role that Trump’s DEA pick played in deadly overseas incidents. -
Group that defended undocumented migrants cuts dozens of attorneys and staffFeb 19, 2025With Trump back in the White House after having promised during the campaign to unleash “the largest deportation operation in American history,” the cadre of attorneys at the Southern Poverty Law Center who amounted to a first line of legal defense for undocumented immigrants is no more. -
No ‘water system in the world’ could have handled the LA fires. How the region could have minimized the damageJan 11, 2025Widespread destruction from the L.A. fires was inevitable, given the drought and winds. Still, the region could have been better prepared. -
What we know about the driver who exploded a Cybertruck in Las VegasJan 5, 2025Despite the symbolism that might be associated with exploding a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, law enforcement officials said Thursday they were still trying to piece together why a five-time Bronze Star recipient and new father would orchestrate the New Year’s Day blast. -
As Hegseth’s public profile grew, he faced deepening private turmoilDec 6, 2024Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, faced personal turmoil even as his public profile reached new heights, a CNN review of court records, Hegseth’s writings and public statements, and interviews with people close to him found. -
As fraud scandals erupt in Minnesota on Gov. Tim Walz’s watch, accountability is in short supplyOct 4, 2024An independent auditor has faulted the state for lax oversight in nation’s largest case of pandemic fraud. Gov. Tim Walz has pushed back on calls for accountability. -
Man detained in apparent assassination attempt on Trump criticized former president on social mediaSep 16, 2024A man detained Sunday in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Florida went on social media to weigh in on politics. -
The pot farm next door: Black market weed operations inundate California suburb, cops sayAug 31, 2024A CNN Investigation has found a hot spot for illegal pot farms hiding inside upscale residential homes. The state’s lax weed laws make it hard to stop. -
Link found in Texas between rising infant mortality and state’s abortion restrictionsJun 24, 2024A new study has drawn a possible link between rising infant mortality in Texas and the state’s abortion restrictions, which, when they took effect in 2021, were the strictest in the nation. -
A DNA test turned her life upside down. She’s not aloneFeb 14, 2024Woman’s horror story reflects nature of US fertility industry -
Not MAGA enough: 2020 election skeptic quit his job after facing blowback from angry election deniersJan 12, 2024Not MAGA enough: 2020 election skeptic quit his job after facing blowback from angry election deniers -
A deluge of violent messages: How a surge in threats to public officials could disrupt American democracyDec 8, 2023By the time the FBI first showed up to Kevin Patrick Smith’s home in early February, he’d already left dozens of threatening voice messages for US Senator Jon Tester. -
Nobody told her about this gun-safety measure in her state. Now, she wonders if it could have saved her daughter’s lifeJul 10, 2023Vanessa Salgado’s nightmare began on what should have been a regular evening in the spring of last year, while she was waiting for her boyfriend to bring back tacos from a fast-food restaurant. -
Bailed out, arrested again: These charities boomed after the murder of George Floyd. They’re under fire for bailing out violent offendersMar 21, 2023In late August of 2021, Minneapolis police responded to a shooting along I-94, where they found a BMW sedan that had crashed into a freeway median. Slumped behind the steering wheel was 38-year-old Luis Damian Martinez Ortiz, who’d suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. -
Americans have rushed to rescue Ukrainian orphans. One mission led to a child trafficking probeApr 22, 2022Americans traveled abroad to save endangered Ukrainian orphans in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One attempt led to a child trafficking investigation. -
US has ‘significant’ cyber vulnerabilities, but a sweeping Russian cyberattack is unlikelyMar 16, 2022In the winter of 2015, computer hackers working for the Russian government attacked Ukraine’s power grid and switched off the lights and heat to more than 200,000 consumers. -
US has ‘significant’ cyber vulnerabilities, but a sweeping Russian cyberattack is unlikelyMar 16, 2022
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Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here’s why its CEO insists on doing itDec 9, 2021 -
They take an oath to do no harm, but these doctors are spreading misinformation about the Covid vaccineOct 20, 2021They take an oath to do no harm, but these doctors are spreading misinformation about the Covid vaccine. -
In the wake of Trump’s attack on democracy, election officials fear for the future of American electionsSep 13, 2021Trump’s efforts to subvert the election leave the future of free and fair elections in jeopardy. -
‘Tragedy beyond tragedy’: Champlain Towers South was a catastrophe in slow motionJul 3, 2021Sara Nir was up late, checking her email when she heard knocking sounds that went from a soft tapping to hard pounding to a frightful crash overhead – as if a wall had collapsed in the unit above her ground-floor condo. -
How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hateFeb 20, 2021Weeks before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, a burly and bearded neo-Nazi told a CNN reporter on camera that “Jews are terrorists.” -
Vaccine rollout stumbles as a ‘Hunger Games’ approach leaves states and counties to fend for themselvesJan 27, 2021Eighty-year-old Belma Requejo of Los Angeles County is trapped in her home with her 83-year-old husband and two other elderly relatives. -
How Trump allies stoked the flames ahead of Capitol riotJan 19, 2021Steve Bannon evoked the beaches of Normandy. Michael Flynn drew comparisons to Civil War battlefields and spoke of Americans who died for their country. Roger Stone called it a struggle “between the godly and the godless, between good and evil.” Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat.” Ali Alexander said it would be a “knife fight.” -
They swore to protect America. Some also joined the riotJan 15, 2021Among the mob of extremists and Trump supporters that invaded the US Capitol last week in a deadly riot were former members of the very institution that is supposed to protect America from invasion: the US military. -
Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration DayJan 9, 2021In the weeks before the riot at the US Capitol, the warning signs were clear: online posts from hate groups and right-wing groups agitating for civil war and attacks on law enforcement. Experts are warning that the calls for violence have only intensified ahead of Inauguration Day, when President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as commander in chief. -
Insurrection fueled by conspiracy groups, extremists and fringe movementsJan 7, 2021The mob of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday included conspiracy theorists linked to QAnon and the Proud Boys – two right-wing extremist factions that President Trump repeatedly refused to condemn during his election campaign last year. -
How QAnon’s lies are hijacking the national conversationDec 16, 2020It started with a Tweet from a QAnon supporter at 2:09 in the morning: #SubpoenaObama. -
Stop the Steal’s massive disinformation campaign connected to Roger StoneNov 14, 2020It is an internet battle cry: Stop the Steal has swept across inboxes, Facebook pages and Twitter like an out-of-control virus, spreading misinformation and violent rhetoric – and spilling into real life, like the protest planned for DC this weekend. -
Weird science: How a ‘shoddy’ Bannon-backed paper on coronavirus origins made its way to an audience of millionsOct 21, 2020A respected Chinese virologist authored two studies that attempted to prove the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was engineered in a Chinese lab. The discredited reports link to Steve Bannon. -
Congressional candidate’s apparent ascent to Congress could be a ‘bellwether’ for QAnonSep 23, 2020The apparent inevitable ascent to Congress of a Georgia Republican who has promoted the outlandish conspiracy theories of QAnon could be a bellwether for American politics, in which extreme views creep increasingly into the mainstream, experts say. -
Laid off and now evicted amid Covid-19, a Houston father contemplates homelessness in a pandemicSep 3, 2020Twenty-month-old Israel Rodriguez’s tiny head peeked over the second-story Houston apartment railing. His 4-year-old brother, Fabian, emerged next to him, holding a package of toilet paper and an empty baby bottle.
About
Rob Kuznia is an investigative reporter for CNN based in Minneapolis.
His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Daily News and other outlets.
Prior to joining CNN, Kuznia worked at The Torrance Daily Breeze where he won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting alongside two colleagues for uncovering a web of corruption in a Los Angeles County school district.
At CNN, he was part of the team whose digital interactive project, Assault on Democracy – an immersive examination of some of the Capitol rioters and election-lie spreaders – won a David Bloom Award and a National Headliner Award and was nominated for an Emmy.
He also co-developed a class at the University of Southern California in which students record on-camera oral histories of mass-shooting survivors.
Kuznia grew up in Grand Forks, N.D. and is a graduate from the University of Minnesota.
