More federal prosecutors in Minneapolis are considering quitting their jobs over the handling of the Alex Pretti killing by federal agents last week. A new report from the New York Times shines a light on more division and chaos in the the U.S. Justice Department, especially in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota.
The Times is saying that this past Tuesday, prosecutors in the office’s criminal division confronted the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, Daniel Rosen over concerns that they were being asked to execute orders that went against the department’s mission and best practices. The reporting comes from as many as four people who were briefed on the exchange.
That report includes some of the prosecutors suggesting they were considering resigning in protest. The Washington Post reporting one has already resigned.
It would be a devastating blow to the U.S. Attorney's office in the Twin Cities where they've already seen six quit over similar concerns, including former Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, a highly respected attorney who led investigations into fraud issues in Minnesota, the political assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, and the horrific mass shooting at Annunciation Church last August.
More departures make what is now a staffing shortfall that much worse, and already forced the department to shift prosecutors from other jurisdictions assist in Minnesota.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi spoke about the story Thursday talking to WCCO's Jordana Green, and said this is a key moment for the rule of law in the U.S.
"We need people to be paying more attention, making sure that we're following the Constitution," says Choi. "That's so, so important. I mean, every public servant in the State of Minnesota, in our federal government, when we start our jobs, we all take an oath to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States and the state of Minnesota. And we also are governed by an ethical code about how we're supposed to perform the prosecution function. And when that can't be true, we've got a big problem in this country."
Choi says he knows resignations are coming, because he says some attorneys have already been reaching out to his office for potential employment there.
FBI Director Kash Patel said this Monday they are opening an investigation into the Signal group text chats that Minnesota residents are using to share information about federal immigration agents’ movements. That is one of the more aggressive moves so far for the Trump administration and conflicts with potential free speech implications. It was quickly denounced by free-speech groups, who say it is unlawful and unconstitutional.
After the shooting death of Renee Good in south Minneapolis, local authorities did what they always have done, beginning to open a civil rights investigation into the federal agent who pulled the trigger, Jonathan Ross. But that was interrupted by federal authorities who then demanded the local U.S. Attorney's office abandon any cooperation with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, an independent agency that investigates these sorts of cases frequently.
Despite sharing investigative information, as the federal government did after the shooting of Hortman and the mass shooting at Annunciation, none of that was going to happen between U.S. Attorney Rosen's office and the state or city.
There was also a demand from the Department of Justice that the U.S. Attorney's office begin to investigate Renee Good's partner, something prosecutors in the office were not willing to do, and ended in resignations.
Former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Andrew Luger, told WCCO's Chad Hartman this week the recent resignations of veteran prosecutor Joe Thompson and several others was handled poorly by the DOJ.
"They were then fired by the Attorney General for no reason, and their health benefits and their paid leave that they had earned over 20 years is cut off," Luger says.
Luger is calling for a return to locally-led investigations into the recent deaths involving federal agents. He says this is the "normal practice," and has been under every previous administration he's aware of, and breaks decades of law enforcement tradition.