- Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office left after pressure to investigate the widow of a woman slain by an ICE officer. [no paywall] “Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned today over the Justice Department’s handling of the Renee Good shooting, bringing the total to ten after four Civil Rights Division prosecutors walked out yesterday. The biggest name is Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota and the prosecutor leading the sprawling fraud investigation Trump used to justify the Minneapolis crackdown. Thompson says the Justice Department demanded he open a criminal investigation into Becca Good, Renee’s widow, over her “activist ties” — and he refused. The DOJ also blocked cooperation with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and refused to investigate whether the shooting itself was lawful. “What these ten prosecutors are saying by leaving their jobs is the DOJ is no longer going to protect the American citizen against anything ICE does,” Zev explained. “ICE can do whatever they want, and the DOJ is not going to be there to defend Americans. The rule of law no longer applies.”
- The New York Times Gift Article – 3 Prosecutors Quit After Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow. “Joseph H. Thompson, a career federal prosecutor who was the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota last year, quit after the Justice Department sought to examine the woman’s supposed ties to activist groups. Three Minnesota federal prosecutors resigned over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and its reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision. Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled Minnesota’s political landscape, was among those who quit Tuesday, according to three people with knowledge of the decision. Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior Justice Department officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent last Wednesday. Mr. Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said. Two other senior career prosecutors, Harry Jacobs and Melinda Williams, also resigned on Tuesday. Mr. Jacobs had been Mr. Thompson’s deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Williams declined to discuss the reasons they resigned.”
- Ken Klippenstein – ICE Is Okay With Renee Good’s Killing. Read the use of “deadly force” documents laying out the logic: “As the media is doing what it does, analyzing videos like the Zapruder film while relying on former federal law enforcement “experts” and talking heads stressing how very complicated this all is, the most important piece of the puzzle is missing: homeland security and ICE’s use of force policies. I have obtained and am publishing here the two most central policy documents. They are bureaucratically dense and elastic to the extreme, offering every possible excuse for ICE’s killing of Renee Good. But they are also stark in their failure to address any aspect of the dramatically new environment created by ICE’s expanded mission. What they reveal is that the rules literally have not changed since Trump came into office. This despite the fact that homeland security has completely changed the conditions under which its agencies are operating in America, especially with the twisted claims that it is fighting “domestic terrorism.” The rules as they exist, however, say nothing about protesters, nothing about agents masking up or arming to the teeth, nothing about the arrogant behavior that leads to this chaos, nothing about domestic terrorism. I asked the Department of Homeland Security about the current rules. “The agency’s current use of force policy is the same as it was in 2023 under President Biden’s administration,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded.”
- The Hill – DOJ sees no basis for civil rights investigation following ICE shooting in Minneapolis, official says
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State, Local Prosecutors Must Commit to Prosecuting ICE Crimes – Phone scripts, talking points, email tools to demand AGs and DAs step up
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