Justice department ‘not investigating’ Renee Good killing in contrast to 2020 inquiry on George Floyd death | Minnesota ICE shooting
Six years after the US justice department launched an emergency criminal investigation into the videotaped murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche confirmed on Sunday that the department was “not investigating” the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in the same city on January 7.
Good’s killing, less than a mile from where Floyd was killed in May 2020, was recorded on at least five phones; one of them was in the possession of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot him.
Blanche, who was Donald Trump’s former personal attorney before he won his second presidency, dismissed the need for any criminal investigation into Ross. report With Fox News. He argued that the officer was exonerated by publicly available video evidence.
“Is the FBI conducting an investigation into that agent regarding the shooting?” Blanche was asked this question in response to criticism from Minnesota governor Tim Walz.
“Look, what happened that day was studied by millions of Americans because it was recorded on phones,” Blanche said. “The Department of Justice, our civil rights division, every time a police officer has to defend himself against someone who’s endangering his life, we don’t go out and investigate. We never do.”
“The Department of Justice is not standing up and investigating because some congressmen think we should, some governors think we should,” Blanche said. “We investigate when it is appropriate to investigate, but that is not the case here.
“We’re not going to bow to media pressure, we’re not going to bow to pressure from politicians, and we’re not going to do anything that we’ve never done under this administration or under the previous administration. So no, we’re not investigating.”
Blanche was not asked what makes this case different from the Floyd case investigated by the previous Trump justice department. His claim that the video of the incident left no doubt that the police officer acted in self-defense was also not challenged.
Forensic analysis of video New York Times, bellingcat and other media outlets claim Good’s claim that he “ran over” the ICE agent who shot him at point-blank range as he walked past is false.
Earlier Sunday, Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE as Trump’s homeland security chief, said: insisted CBS He said there was no need for an investigation as “anyone could watch the videos” and see Ross “being attacked by a car trying to take his life”. Noem said a standard internal review by the agency would be sufficient.
The deputy attorney general’s claim that the justice department’s civil rights division “never” responded to public outrage over killings by law enforcement officers is contradicted by the fact that the U.S. attorney in Minnesota and the FBI served during the first Trump administration. announced Three days after George Floyd was killed, he said the department was “conducting a robust criminal investigation” with its civil rights division.
The next day, May 29, 2020, then-attorney general William Barr in the name “The video footage of the incident that resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers… is distressing and deeply disturbing to watch.” He added that the Justice Department and FBI “conducted an independent investigation to determine whether any federal civil rights laws were violated.”
That investigation brought this convictionsin 2022 for federal civil rights crimes against four Minneapolis police officers. Derek Chauvin, the police officer who choked Floyd, pleaded guilty.
Three other officers were also found guilty of “deliberate indifference” to Mr Floyd’s serious medical needs when they saw that he was being held in police custody and clearly required medical attention, and that their deliberate failure to assist him led to Mr Floyd’s bodily injury and death. Witnesses, including someone who witnessed and recorded video of Good’s shooting this month, said federal officers prevented a man who identified himself as a doctor from treating him and blocked ambulances when they arrived.
Since returning to office last year, Trump has been rough on the Justice Department’s traditional independence, appointing partisan leaders, directing prosecutors to open criminal investigations against his enemies and drop charges against his allies, and even granting pardons and commutations to political supporters accused or convicted by prosecutors appointed by him.
On the day Good was killed, Republican activist Harmeet Dhillon, who now heads the justice department’s civil rights division, shared Trump’s false claim that Good “violently, willfully and brutally overpowered the ICE officer” at X.
A day later, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, made a post. expression There was no mention of Good’s death, but he warned Minnesota protesters that “obstructing, impeding, or attacking federal law enforcement is a federal crime.”
After a number of federal prosecutors in Minnesota and Washington, D.C., resigned in protest of the justice department’s decision not to pursue a civil rights investigation into Good’s fatal shooting, Blanche and FBI director Kash Patel visited Minneapolis to meet with prosecutors and federal immigration officials.
Amidst reports that the Ministry of Justice is on duty Investigating Renee Good’s widowBecca allegedly restrained ICE agent Ross by taunting him moments before he opened fire, Blanche I promised To “prosecute anyone who assaults or obstructs” ICE officers. Patel sent The FBI is “cracking down on violent rioters” in the city, a term Trump administration officials routinely apply to peaceful protesters in Minneapolis who oppose the detention or shooting of their neighbors by federal officers.
