The Federal Cover-Up of Three Minnesota Shootings Finally Unravels

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

‘Now We Have All the Evidence’

The first hints that the Trump administration might be softening its position of refusing to cooperate with Minnesota’s investigations into the three shootings by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge emerged on June 22.

In its unusual lawsuit against DOJ and DHS in federal court in D.C. seeking to obtain evidence that the feds refused to share, the state of Minnesota asked for filing deadlines in the case to be pushed back 11 days until July 6 because state and federal law enforcement agencies had “recently reengaged in discussions about the prospect of mutual information sharing.”

Then on June 30, both sides jointly asked for another much larger extension of 45 days, until Aug. 20, “in light of ongoing discussions … about the prospect of mutual information sharing” between state and federal law enforcement.

We now know that sometime in the past two weeks the Trump administration finally relented and coughed up what state prosecutors are suggesting was the whole enchilada of evidence gathered by the feds in the shootings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

The evidence includes the car Good was driving when she was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. It also includes body cam footage and statements by federal agents across all three cases.

“The wonderful thing is now we have all the evidence,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a press conference in Minneapolis yesterday announcing the breakthrough:

As part of the information sharing, Minnesota law enforcement reciprocated by sharing with federal law enforcement the evidence it had independently gathered in the three cases.

The Trump administration has not publicly acknowledged that it has come down from its maximalist position of withholding evidence from state investigators. Even after Moriarty’s press conference, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen “refused to confirm any cooperation agreement between state and federal agencies,” according to Steve Schleicher, an attorney representing the Pretti family who met for an hour with Rosen yesterday afternoon.

It took a virtually unprecedented lawsuit by a state against the federal government to puncture what had effectively been a cover-up of the shootings — which given everything we know about the Trump administration would have been directed from and by the White House. What we don’t know is why the White House relented, if, in fact, it did.

The Associated Press suggests the breakthrough came after, ironically, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office sought evidence from the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension about its investigation into the shooting of Sosa-Celis, which led to the state indictment of ICE agent Christian Castro. In a June 3 letter filed in the D.C. case, BCA superintendent Drew Evans told federal prosecutors that the state would share its evidence if the feds would share theirs.

While this breakthrough is huge and gives state prosecutors a fighting chance to complete full investigations and make sound charging decisions, a lot has already been lost that could come back to bite any attempted prosecutions of federal agents.

There’s little indication that federal law enforcement fully investigated the three shootings so while the evidence the feds do have is critical it may be incomplete. In addition, time was wasted. Leads that might have been followed if the evidence was available may be harder to follow now.

If any federal agents are eventually charged, they may use the fact of the contested investigation in their defense, raising questions about the delays, the chain of custody of the evidence, and other anomalies that wouldn’t have occurred if the feds hadn’t circled the wagons and refused to cooperate.

It’s also difficult to draw any broad lessons from this episode that might apply in future cases, especially after fatal ICE shootings over the past week in Texas and Maine — other than the obvious: Minnesota’s elected Democratic officials presented a united front and took aggressive action to assert their rights to investigate state crimes and protect their prerogatives in our federal system.

For Your Radar …

In a notable departure from recent ICE shootings, DHS said the agent in the fatal shooting of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, in Maine yesterday fired after “fearing for public safety” — rather than fearing for his own life.

I’m not sure what to make of this exactly, especially given that DHS provided a separate explanation to Congress saying the driver had “weaponized his vehicle toward law enforcement.”

Stay tuned …

Quote of the Day

“I heard agony. I heard a howl that came from your soul, that your whole life had just changed and it was never going to be the same.”—Mary Hayes, a witness to the fatal ICE shooting in Maine, who described seeing a screaming woman on her knees, next to a young girl.

ICYMI …

This story last week from Bolt is newly relevant: “Maine Lawsuit is Testing the Boundaries of Suing Federal Immigration Agents”

Judge Blasts Trump’s IRS ‘Settlement’

You’ve seen by now that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams eviscerated President Trump, his lawyers, and top Justice Department officials for Trump’s collusive lawsuit against the IRS and the purported “settlement” of the case which produced the since-abandoned $1.776 slush fund and the still-live federal tax immunity for Trump.

I don’t have much to add except to note that Williams went as far as she could given the limits of the law — sanctioning Trump’s lawyers and sending her order to bar authorities in two states that have open complaints against two of the three top DOJ officials, Todd Blanche and Stan Woodward — but that is still not enough and won’t be enough until Republicans in Congress begin to put country above party and prevent the wholesale looting of the Treasury.

There is every reason to think Trump and Blanche will find some other way to compensate Jan. 6ers other than the aborted slush fund.

Good Read

Via NOTUS, Rapper Boosie Badazz is in arbitration with TPM faves Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman after he paid them $600,000 to work on obtaining him a pardon from President Trump. They allegedly told him they had secured him a pardon, but it never materialized. Now they say they’re effectively bankrupt.

Quick Reminder

I’ve heard from some of you who have already contributed to the TPM Journalism Fund during our annual fund drive, and some who have given and plan to give more. Thank you! Really!

If you haven’t taken a moment to contribute yet, it’s a streamlined process intended to get you in and out quick. If you can swing it, we’d sure appreciate it. Click here.

News? Tips? Feedback? Please let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methods here.