Donald Trump’s administration allegedly opened, and then terminated, a civil rights investigation into the actions of the federal officer who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis.
An initial review determined there were sufficient grounds to investigate Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross, who fired three shots into Good’s car at close range earlier this month, according to The Washington Post. But the investigation appears to have been aborted shortly after.
The FBI said in a statement Monday night that those decisions “were not made by the FBI.”
“The FBI still continues to pursue evidence in this case with our federal partners, investigating the shooting incident as well as the ongoing violent criminal actors and their funding sources,” the agency said. “The facts are the initiator, and the facts do not support civil rights investigation.”
The existence of an initial probe stands in stark contrast to recent statements from Trump administration officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who told The Independent one week after the shooting that “there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation.”
“We investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate,” Blanche told Fox News Sunday January 18. “And that is not the case here. It was not the case when it happened and is not the case today.”
The only people who now appear to be under investigation in connection with Good’s death and Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement officers in the state are Good's widow, Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted that the shooting is under internal review at the agency, but Noem and other administration officials — including immediately after Good’s death — have repeatedly defended the officer’s actions while accusing Good of intentionally “weaponizing” her car to commit an act of “domestic terrorism.”
“As with any officer-involved shooting, each law enforcement agency has an internal investigation protocol, including DHS,” a Justice Department official told The Independent last week. “As such, [ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility] has its own investigation underway. This runs parallel to any FBI investigation.”
Noem appeared to confirm that Ross was put on three standard days of administrative leave following the shooting during her appearance on CBS Face the Nation Sunday.
“We are following the exact same investigative and review process that we always have under ICE and under the Department of Homeland Security and within the administration,” Noem said.
“There always is [a review of the actions]. Every law enforcement officer knows that when they step up and take the oath to defend the public,” she added.
The suspension of the federal investigation appeared to come some time after Trump-appointed Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen reportedly forced state investigators out of the probe, which state officials confirmed January 8 — one day after the shooting.
At least six people inside a Justice Department division that investigates police killings resigned after the agency’s decision to abandon the probe, a move first reported by MSNOW.
An official with the Justice Department told The Independent that those civil rights division chiefs gave notice of their departure “well before the events in Minnesota” and that “any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
But one day later, it was reported that top federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned after the administration pushed for an investigation into Good’s and rebuffed efforts to investigate Ross.
Veteran prosecutor Joseph Thompson — who was previously appointed by Trump to serve as Minnesota’s acting U.S. attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney — was among at least four other top prosecutors who resigned.
Thompson reportedly objected to the Justice Department’s refusal to investigate the shooting as a civil rights matter, and was outraged by the alleged demand to pursue a criminal investigation into Becca Good, according to people familiar with the matter speaking to The New York Times.
Last week, the Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into Governor Walz and Mayor Frey for allegedly conspiring to obstruct immigration enforcement in the state, two days after Blanche accused the Democratic officials of “terrorism.”
“Walz and Frey – I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary,” he wrote on X. “This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”
Antonio Romanucci, the attorney for Good’s family, argued it is not up to Blanche to determine whether an investigation into the officer’s actions is necessary.
“Todd Blanche is telling us that he’s determining on his own that that was a defensible act without an investigation. And that is not the way it’s done,” Romanucci told CNN. “We need to know, based on the totality of circumstances, not only looking at the video, but also looking at the intent that was there, looking at reasonable police practices.”
Footage taken by several witnesses — as well as footage filmed by Ross himself, who was filming his interaction with Good and her wife with one hand while grabbing his gun and shooting at her with his other — shows masked officers approaching her car in the middle of a residential street earlier this month.
An officer can be heard saying “get out of the f***ing car” while an agent pulls on the outside handle. Ross’s video captures Good telling him “That's fine, dude, I'm not mad at you,” while she’s behind the wheel.
Becca Good, who was outside the vehicle, is also seen filming Ross and telling him they are U.S. citizens. “You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy,” she can be heard saying in the footage from Ross.
Good’s car backs up slightly, then pulls forward and begins to veer to the right. As her car moves forward, Ross moves to the front of her car. He fires three shots and her car accelerates and crashes further down the street. A voice that appears to be Ross’s can be heard saying off camera “f****** b****.”
A robust federal investigation could determine whether lethal use of force was justified.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has prepared nearly 1,500 troops for possible deployment to the state as the president threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress protests in the wake of Good’s death and an aggressive immigration enforcement operation that has targeted immigrants and citizens alike.
Noem says 10,000 people have been arrested.
Trump live: The president’s record-breaking year of executive orders and deportations
Sean Hannity says giving Greenlanders $100K each is a ‘no-brainer’
Why Greenland shows only one rule applies in Trump’s dangerous global power-grab
Netflix intensifies bid for Warner Bros making its $72 billion offer all cash
Newsom roasts world leaders for ‘rolling over’ for Trump
Trump-Greenland latest: Macron hits out at ‘bullies’ after another spate of threats
