I am NBC News’ Senior Homeland Security Correspondent.
At least three prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota have resigned over their concerns with the direction of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a person familiar with the resignations told NBC News Tuesday.
The person confirmed the resignations of Joseph Thompson, Melinda Williams and another attorney. The two named attorneys, Thompson and Williams, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment by NBC News. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Thompson was a “principled public servant” who spent more than a decade on law enforcement in Minnesota. “This is a huge loss for our state,” Walz said of the resignations. “This is the latest sign that President Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the Department of Justice.” Good was in the driver’s seat of an SUV in a residential part of Minneapolis last week when she was killed. Video obtained by NBC News that appears to have been recorded by Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, captured Good and her wife talking to the officer in the moments before he opened fire. Video from eyewitnesses shows officers telling Good to get out of her car before she begins driving away. Gunshots can be heard, and the SUV slams into a parked vehicle. The FBI is investigating. But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Tuesday there was 'currently no basis' for an investigation by the Justice Department’s criminal section of the civil rights division. ICE’s Office of Public Responsibility is conducting its own internal investigation into the shooting, Blanche said, as is protocol for the agency after every officer-involved shooting. Any investigation runs parallel to the FBI’s investigation into the shooting, a DOJ official said. DHS has said Good, a prize-winning poet, “weaponized” her vehicle against the ICE officer who fatally shot her in self-defense. Local and state officials have disputed that claim, saying Good, 37, was only trying to leave the scene. Officials in Minnesota have criticized federal authorities for barring the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation of Good’s death. Asked about the decision last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused state investigators of allowing people to harass and incite violence against federal officers. The New York Times reported that at least three other prosecutors in Minneapolis have also quit. Thompson oversaw a yearslong investigation that resulted in dozens of charges against individuals accused of defrauding millions of dollars in government funds. The Trump administration cited the fraud investigation when dispatching ICE officers to Minnesota. The statement from the governor’s office said Thompson “has worked extensively with state regulators and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to bring federal prosecutions against fraud involving public programs. His work supported oversight, enforcement, and program integrity.” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement to NBC News about the resignations, “The legitimacy of the justice system depends on institutions—not rhetoric.” “Joe Thompson is an institution within law enforcement, directly responsible for building and prosecuting the fraud cases now being cited to justify this moment,” he said, referring to allegations of fraud at childcare facilities. “When you lose the leader responsible for making those cases, it signals that this isn’t about prosecuting fraud,” O’Hara said in the statement. Last week, the Trump administration deployed more than 2,000 officers and agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations to Minneapolis after a right-wing influencer accused several Somali-run day care facilities of fraud. State officials who investigated the allegations said they found no evidence to back up the claims.
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