Trump Official Says It Won’t Investigate the Killing of Renee Good

It’s laborious to be shocked by something the Trump administration does. However when Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche advised Fox Information Sunday that the Division of Justice is not going to examine the actions of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good on January 7, I’ll admit to a second of shock.

“What occurred that day has been reviewed by tens of millions of People as a result of it was recorded when it occurred,” Blanche advised anchor Shannon Bream. “We don’t simply exit and examine each time an officer is compelled to defend himself towards any person or placing his life in peril, we by no means do…”

We examine when it’s applicable to research. That’s not the case right here…. We’re not going to bow to strain from the media, from politicians. So no, we’re not investigating.”

Minnesota Lawyer Normal Keith Ellison, nevertheless, was not shocked. “No, I wasn’t shocked, as a result of that is what we’ve been listening to on the bottom for days,” he advised me Monday morning. “I used to be glad to listen to him say it, as a result of we will convey it to a courtroom.”

Ellison and Hennepin County District Lawyer Mary Moriarty have promised to research Good’s killing, however the Justice Division has refused to share the proof it has collected. “But when they’re not investigating? How do they justify not giving us shell casings, the vehicles [Good’s and Ross’s], the images?”

Blanche did get one reality proper on Sunday: “Hundreds of thousands of People” have certainly seen the footage of Ross taking pictures Good at shut vary—and most of them suppose the ICE agent was within the fallacious. An astonishing 82 p.c of individuals polled by Quinnipiac stated they’d seen video of the incident, and a majority stated Ross was at fault; his life was by no means “in peril.” A number of painstaking New York Times analyses examined the numerous cell-phone movies of the incident—together with Ross’s personal—and concluded there is no such thing as a proof Good’s automobile ever struck the agent. He shot her at the very least twice—one shot instantly into her left ear—after she had clearly turned the SUV away from him. There’s at the very least a foot of daylight between the automobile and the ICE agent as he fires his final pictures.

“I feel it’s the purest signal that we’ve deserted procedural justice and are full on in an outcomes-driven system,” Ellison stated. “Blue lives matter, till they’re upholding the democratic switch of energy [on January 6]. This can be a clear hallmark of fascism.”

Blanche stated this the identical weekend that we discovered that Good was still alive when paramedics reached her—not respiration, and with an erratic pulse, however a pulse nonetheless. At the very least quarter-hour earlier, moments after the taking pictures, a neighborhood physician approached ICE brokers and requested if he might verify her pulse, and he was turned away. “I’m a doctor!” he advised them. “I don’t care,” the agent replied. I’d prefer to know that agent’s identify and place. His actions advantage investigation, too.

Not solely is the DOJ refusing to research Ross, however Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem instructed CBS’s Margaret Brennan to not even say his identify on the air. “Don’t say his identify! I imply, for heaven’s sake, we shouldn’t have folks proceed to dox regulation enforcement.”

“His identify is public,” Brennan replied. “I do know, however that doesn’t imply it ought to proceed to be stated,” our puppy-killing cupboard secretary insisted. 

In contrast, the Justice Division is investigating Good’s widow Becca for her ties to native activist teams, in addition to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for obstructing ICE’s work. On Wednesday, Blanche known as each males terrorists on X: 

“Minnesota riot is a direct results of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence towards regulation enforcement. It’s disgusting,” he wrote on X on Wednesday. “Walz and Frey – I’m targeted on stopping YOU out of your terrorism by no matter means vital. This isn’t a risk. It’s a promise.”

On Sunday, Blanche told Bream: “You noticed the Governor and the Mayor actively encouraging criminals to exit on the road and impede ICE. That’s not allowed below our regulation… That’s what we’re taking a look at.”

Final week, at least 10 Justice Department attorneys resigned due to the division’s failure to research Ross and the strain to research Becca Good. Six got here from the native US Lawyer’s workplace, which additionally objected to shutting out native regulation enforcement and prosecutors from probing the taking pictures.

However, Ellison says his workplace and Moriarty’s are already investigating the taking pictures, interviewing witnesses, and accumulating proof by means of a web based portal. Whereas some analyses maintain that it’s powerful for state officers to prosecute a federal agent, Ellison insists in any other case. “No, it isn’t,” he advised me. “No it isn’t. All circumstances prosecuting regulation enforcement are tough,” he acknowledged, however “to say the states should abandon their energy to take care of order of their state? We now have the authorized proper to prosecute and the authorized proper to research.”

Although Ellison stated he wasn’t “shocked” by Blanche’s brazen assertion that the Justice Division isn’t investigating Ross, he did admit it was proof that “we’re in one other form of second.” Earlier than Trump, he stated, the Justice Division “would have at the very least performed some form of investigation, assembled a grand jury,” whereas in the long run probably clearing the agent. The notion that the administration now not has to even fake to comply with the regulation—Trump final week stated solely his personal “morality” constrains him—places is in “harmful” territory,” he stated.

“The large hazard is considering there’s going to be some ‘snapback’ second,” he added. “There is not going to be one which we don’t ourselves create.”