Trump DOJ's Witch Hunt Against Renee Good's Widow Instead of the ICE Officer Who Killed Her Triggers Mass Resignations

Donald Trump has been systematically tearing down the barriers that are supposed to prevent the Department of Justice from being used as an instrument of crude political manipulation by the president. But he may find it a hollow victory, because DOJ staff keep resigning in protest, most recently over the politicization of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

Here the story at MS Now (formerly MSNBC):

At least six leaders of a Justice Department unit that investigates police killings have resigned in protest over the administration’s handling of the fatal shooting of a motorist in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, according to three people briefed on the departures.

Top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good last week. The criminal section of the division would normally investigate any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer and specializes in probing potential or alleged abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement.

The departures–including that of the chief of the section, as well as the principal deputy chief, deputy chief and acting deputy chief–represent the most significant mass resignation at the Justice Department since February. At that time, five leaders and supervisors of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which investigates public officials for possible corruption, resigned rather than comply with an appointee of President Donald Trump’s orders to dismiss the bribery case against then-New York mayor Eric Adams.

Trump’s DOJ won’t investigate the shooter, but it will investigate the victim.

NPR reports that this has led to another wave of resignations:

[T]he source I mentioned tells me there are several reasons for the mass resignations. As we mentioned, top Justice Department officials have been pushing the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate Becca Good. She is the widow of Renee Macklin Good, the woman killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross last week. The investigation allegedly centers around any possible ties to activist groups she may have. That, of course, is protected First Amendment activity. The Trump administration maintains that the agent was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Macklin Good, but video evidence contradicts claims that she presented a threat.

Put these stories together, and it is clear that, under Trump, the Department of Justice is no longer in the business of justice but is instead tasked with creating propaganda to support Trump’s authoritarian ambitions.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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