DOJ Abandons Probe of Fatal ICE Shooting of Renee Good

A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is the TPM Morning Memo.

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The feds are investigating everyone except ICE

The only people the Justice Department is investigating for the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE are his widow, the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis.

In a stunning admission this weekend, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal criminal lawyer, confirmed that the Justice Department was no longer investigating the shooting:

It’s unclear when the federal investigation into the Jan. 7 shooting was suspended. This came some time after Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen reportedly excluded state investigators from the federal probe, a move state officials announced on January 8.

The best evidence suggests that the suspension of the federal investigation may have occurred the same week as the shooting, around the time that Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, decided that the DOJ’s civil rights division would not investigate Good’s shooting. This prompted half a dozen career lawyers in that division to resign, a move that was first reported by MSNow on January 12.

The FBI conducted an “initial review” of the shooting and “determined that sufficient grounds existed to initiate a civil rights investigation,” WaPo reports. This was probably before Dhillon shut everything down.

Instead of investigating the shooting, top DOJ officials ordered an investigation into the political activities of Good’s wife, leading to a half-dozen additional resignations in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office last week, including several senior career officials in the office.

Then, on Friday, news came that Trump’s DOJ had launched a criminal investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly conspiring to obstruct federal immigration agents. “[A] A U.S. official…said the investigation stemmed from statements by Walz and Frey regarding the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis area in recent weeks. CBS News reported. For its part, WaPo initially reported that subpoenas had already been issued to the two Minnesota elected officials, before reversing this information and asserting that the subpoenas were only planned.

News of the federal criminal investigation into Walz and Frey’s constitutionally protected political activities came two days after Blanche accused them of “terrorism” on social media: “Walz and Frey – I am working to stop YOU from your terrorism by any means necessary. It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

It was clear from the start that Trump’s DOJ was already too corrupt and compromised by the erosion of its independence from the White House to credibly investigate Good’s assassination. It was clear that the exclusion of state investigators was part of a broader attempt to cover up the shooting to avoid accountability. But the biggest cover-up apparently involved trying to shut down the state investigation because that was the problem. only investigation that was going to be carried out. Top Justice Department officials have simply given up looking into the shooting.

Troops prepared for Minnesota

As President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, the Pentagon has issued readiness orders to deploy 1,500 troops across two infantry battalions of the Army’s Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division, which is specially trained for cold-weather operations.

Trump appeared to back away Friday from immediately invoking the Insurrection Act: “I don’t think I need it right now,” he said.

Judge blocks DHS from arresting peaceful protesters

In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez of Minneapolis barred federal agents from arresting peaceful protesters and returning fire against them with non-lethal munitions and crowd control tools. While the judge essentially ordered DHS to follow existing law, she cataloged in great detail from the record some of the DHS abuses recorded in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, DHS admitted in a social media post that speaking Spanish and having a Mexican accent is sufficient basis for federal agents to demand proof of U.S. citizenship.

Quote of the day

“An ICE agent said if we let you see your clients, we should let all the lawyers see their clients, and imagine the chaos. And I said to this person, yes, you have to let all the lawyers see their clients. You have to adjust to that. It’s the Constitution. You chose to put them here. I didn’t bring this guy here, you did.”unnamed lawyer in ABC News report on DHS’s refusal to provide legal advice to ICE detainees in Minnesota

60 Minutes finally broadcasts the CECOT segment

Most of the original 60 Minutes segment on Alien Enemies Act detainees illegally shipped to CECOT remained when it finally aired last night, but the report was lengthened and supplemented on either side with softening additions after CBS News editor Bari Weiss withheld the story for nearly a month beyond its announced air date.

The irony of this mess: Weiss had insisted on adding an on-camera interview with a Trump official to the segment, even though the administration had initially declined to participate. Weiss would therefore have taken it upon herself to organize such an interview, but she would have failed.

Relatedly, after President Trump finished a 13-minute taped interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil on Tuesday, he issued a threat through his press secretary about what would happen if the interview was not released in its entirety without any editing: “If it’s not released in its entirety, we will sue you.” »

Some witnesses took this as a joking reference to CBS’s absurd $16 million deal with Trump last year for airing an edited video of Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Regardless of the intent of the remark, Trump’s interview went ahead in its entirety, which CBS said was his plan all along.

NEWSFLASH: Greenland is NATO

The absurdity of President Trump’s threats against Greenland should not obscure the fact that he is preparing a direct American attack on the NATO alliance, an outcome that would positively delight Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The current eruption of American expansionism comes after years of threats of withdrawal from NATO by Trump and his many overt efforts, rhetorical and otherwise, to weaken, undermine and disregard the transatlantic alliance that has been a pillar of the post-World War II geostrategic setup of which the United States has been the main beneficiary.

Among the latest developments:

• Trump has bluntly threatened new tariffs on Greenland unless the United States can buy the territory, and Europeans have been weighing whether to negotiate or retaliate.
• In a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store – which was forwarded to European ambassadors in Washington – President Trump linked his threats against Greenland (which is Danish) to Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize (which is not awarded by the Norwegian government).
• The threat the United States poses to Denmark has prompted Europe to organize a small military exercise in Greenland as a show of support.

What the Europeans are saying…

• “When I took office as Secretary General of the Council of Europe a little over a year ago, I did not think I would one day have to write about the possibility of the United States taking military action against a member state. And yet here we are.”Alain Berset
• “It is extremely appalling that your president seems completely immune to data, facts, arguments and common knowledge. He continues to state what is blatantly factually wrong. This seems unbelievable to many people in this country. We cannot understand what is happening. We wonder what’s next.”Danish journalist and Arctic expert Martin Breum

US to resume illegal attacks on ships

The FAA issued seven alerts Friday warning civil aviation of the potential for increased military activity in the Eastern Pacific, off the coast of Latin America.

Corruption: forgiveness edition

President Trump has pardoned a convicted fraudster for the second time after releasing him from prison at the end of his first term. Adriana Camberos was convicted of a new and different fraud in 2024, but Trump pardoned her again last week, freeing her from prison, where she was serving 12 months for her new conviction, plus additional months for violating probation during her prior conviction, the New York Times reports.

2026 Ephemeral

In a rare move against an incumbent senator of the same party, President Trump publicly endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) to challenge Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Letlow, who has yet to officially declare her candidacy, has served in the House since a 2021 special election called after her husband was elected to the seat but died of COVID before being sworn in.

The Promised Land

During a surprise performance Saturday in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen dedicated his anthem “The Promised Land” to Renee Good, imploring ICE to “get the hell out of Minneapolis”:

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