DOJ Tracker: January Update
Our monthly update to track the attacks on the rule of law and the Justice Department. Here’s what you need to know from January.
Welcome back to our Substack series to help you stay informed and engaged in protecting the Justice Department. Each month, we pull highlights from Justice Connection’s DOJ Tracker to offer a more digestible way to keep up with the latest attacks.
Here’s what happened in January.
ICE descends on Minnesota
The story that dominated the news in January was, of course, ICE and CBP enforcement in Minnesota and DOJ’s actions—or lack thereof.
In December, an online influencer posted a video accusing child care facilities run by Somali immigrants in Minnesota of widespread fraud. The video gained the attention of the Trump Administration world, prompting a sudden surge in attention from DOJ and DHS. Justice Department leaders sent additional prosecutors and resources to support the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office. On Jan. 8, Vice President Vance announced the creation of a new Fraud Division to oversee the investigation in Minnesota — no matter that there already are fraud sections in the Criminal and Civil Divisions. Vance told reporters that the new division head would report directly to the White House, obliterating whatever was left of DOJ’s longstanding contacts policy designed to protect the department’s criminal and civil law enforcement decisions from partisan influence.
At the same time, the Trump administration began surging immigration enforcement resources to Minnesota, meeting strong backlash. On Jan. 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year old Minneapolis resident Renee Good. Instead of allowing the Civil Rights Division to investigate the officer-involved shooting according to protocol, DOJ leaders pivoted the investigation to focus on Good’s widow, who was present when Good was killed. The FBI reportedly rewrote a search warrant for Good’s car to suggest that Good assaulted an officer with it. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on CNN that there was “no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation” into the shooting.
Justice Connection spoke out about the department’s abdication of its role, through interviews with MS NOW, CBS News and others, along with helping to provide behind-the-scenes support for a signed by 33 former federal prosecutors from Minnesota.
As a result of DOJ leadership’s orders, six prosecutors in Minnesota resigned, including one who was leading the fraud investigation into the child care facilities. Six attorneys at the Civil Rights Division likewise announced that they would leave the department after DOJ refused to allow a civil rights investigation to go forward. Weeks later, a supervisory FBI agent who tried to investigate Good’s shooting resigned after being forced to close her investigation.
On Jan. 24, two CPB agents shot 37-year old VA nurse Alex Pretti, who died of his wounds. DOJ once again said it would not open a civil rights investigation into the shooting, but reversed its decision days later following nationwide outrage. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on a podcast that he would launch an investigation into a Signal chat used by Minnesota protesters following a social media post by a far-right personality.
DOJ has also ramped up its targeting of journalists. DOJ launched an investigation into former CNN host Don Lemon after he accompanied a group of protesters who interrupted services at a church where the pastor serves as an ICE official. Lemon, who now works as an independent journalist, was there to report on the protest. A magistrate judge rejected prosecutors’ first attempt to bring criminal charges against Lemon, but a week later the FBI arrested Lemon and another journalist, Georgia Fort, setting up a major First Amendment battle. In February, former Civil Rights Division attorney Laura-Kate Bernstein published a piece on Justice Connection’s Substack that highlights the significant legal risks inherent in this prosecution.
In the midst of all this chaos, the Trump DOJ antagonized state and local officials instead of working with them. State investigators were frozen out of the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and unable to access evidence. On Jan. 16, DOJ opened a criminal investigation into a number of Minnesota officials — all Democrats — for allegedly impeding immigration enforcement. DOJ leadership also pressured the FBI into investigating Minnesota officials’ campaign contributions for potential ties to child care fraudsters.
On Jan. 24, Attorney General Bondi sent a letter to Governor Tim Walz demanding three things in exchange for deescalating the situation: records from welfare programs, repeal of sanctuary policies, and access to Minnesota voter rolls. In response, Walz quipped, “There’s two million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those.”
Here are a few other things you might’ve missed:
On Jan. 11, DOJ subpoenaed the Federal Reserve over Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony about renovations to the Fed’s building. This move garnered some of the harshest criticism of the administration so far from Congressional Republicans, who warned that the investigation could threaten the Fed’s independence.
On Jan. 28, DOJ executed a search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia, election office seeking 2020 election records as President Trump continues to claim he won the election. The FBI special agent in charge of the Atlanta field office was forced out after he expressed concerns over pursuing the case. The search warrant came not from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, but from the USAO for the Eastern District of Missouri. According to Bloomberg, Attorney General Bondi authorized the U.S. Attorney there, Thomas Albus, to investigate election integrity cases nationwide. On Jan. 29, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard facilitated a phone call so President Trump could speak directly with the agents who conducted the search, asking them questions and praising them for their work in what was a gross violation of investigative impartiality.