The Department of Justice abandons the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Judd

Many things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s morning memo.

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The feds are investigating everyone except ICE

The only people the Justice Department is investigating in the fatal shooting of Renee Judd are her widow, the governor of Minnesota, and the mayor of Minneapolis.

Amazingly acceptance Over the weekend, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal criminal defense attorney, confirmed that the Justice Department was no longer investigating the shooting:

It’s not clear when the federal investigation into the Jan. 7 shooting was suspended. This came sometime after Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen reportedly pressured state investigators to dismiss the federal investigation, a move announced by state officials on January 8.

The best evidence suggests that the suspension of the federal investigation may have been the same week the shooting occurred, around the time that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, made the decision. Won’t investigate Good shooting. This prompted six professional lawyers in this department to resign, a move that was Reported for the first time By MSNow on Jan 12.

The FBI conducted a “preliminary review” of the shooting incident and “determined that there were sufficient grounds to open a civil rights investigation.” Wabo reports. That was probably before Dillon shut everything down.

Instead of investigating the shooting, top Justice Department officials ordered an investigation into Judd’s wife’s political activities, which led to the resignation of six others in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office last week, including several of the office’s top career officials.

Then on Friday, news came of Trump’s Justice Department A criminal investigation was launched to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly conspiring to obstruct federal immigration agents. “[A] A US official… said the investigation stems from statements Walz and Frey made about thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis area in recent weeks. CBS News reported. For its part, Wabo Originally reported that subpoenas had already been issued to elected officials in Minnesota, before retracting that report and saying the subpoenas were only planned.

News of the federal criminal investigation into Wells and Frey’s constitutionally protected political activities came two days after Blanche accused them of “terrorism” in… Social media: “Walls and Fry – I’m focused on preventing you from engaging in terrorism by any means necessary. This is not a threat. It is a promise.”

It was clear from the beginning that Trump’s Justice Department was already too corrupt and compromised by the erosion of its independence from the White House to conduct a credible investigation into Judd’s shooting. It was clear that the exclusion of state investigators was part of a larger cover-up of the shooting to avoid accountability. But the larger cover-up appears to have meant trying to shut down the state’s investigation because he was the reason behind it only The investigation that was scheduled to take place. Senior Justice Department officials simply walked away from scrutiny of the shooting.

Troops ready for Minnesota

With President Trump to threaten To invoke Minnesota’s Insurrection Act, the Pentagon has Issued Deployment readiness orders for 1,500 soldiers in two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which are stationed in Alaska and Specially trained For cold weather operations.

Trump seemed like that Back off “I don’t think I need it right now,” he said Friday of the immediate Insurrection Act invocation.

Judge prevents the Department of Homeland Security from arresting peaceful protesters

In a to rule Friday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez of Minneapolis Forbidden Federal agents from arresting peaceful protesters and retaliating against them with non-lethal munitions and crowd control tools. While the judge is basically commander Department of Homeland Security to follow current law, is Indexed In great detail the case records some of the DHS violations recorded in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, DHS I confess In a social media post, speaking Spanish and having a Mexican accent are sufficient grounds for federal agents to demand proof of U.S. citizenship.

Quote of the day

“One ICE agent said if we let you see your clients, we’re going to have to let all the lawyers see their clients, and imagine the chaos. And I said to that person, yes, you have to let all the lawyers see their clients. You have to understand that. This is the Constitution. You chose to put them here. I didn’t bring this man here, you brought him.”An unnamed lawyer ABC News report Concerning DHS Denying Legal Counsel to ICE Detainees in Minnesota

60 Minutes finally airs the CECOT segment

The gist of the original 60 Minutes segment about Alien Enemies Act detainees being illegally shipped to CECOT was there when it finally aired yesterday evening, but the report has been lengthened and stuffed on both sides with Dilution additives After CBS News editor-in-chief Barry Weiss shelved the article for approximately a month after its announced air date.

One of the ironies in this mess is that Weiss insisted on adding an on-camera interview with a Trump official to the clip even though the administration initially refused to participate, so Weiss decided It is said She took it upon herself to arrange such an interview, but failed.

In related news, after President Trump completed a 13-minute taped interview on Tuesday with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, conveyed a threat Through his press secretary about what would happen if the interview was not conducted in its entirety without any edits: “If it is not published in its entirety, we will sue you.”

Some witnesses took that as a joking reference to CBS’s ridiculous $16 million settlement last year with Trump for playing an edited video of Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Whatever that remark meant, Trump was interviewed in its entirety, which CBS said was its plan all along.

Breaking news: Greenland is NATO

The absurdity of President Trump’s threats in Greenland should not obscure the fact that he is launching a direct US attack on NATO, an outcome that would impress Russian President Vladimir Putin. The current explosion of American expansionism comes after years of Trump’s threats to withdraw from NATO and his numerous public efforts, rhetorically and otherwise, to weaken, undermine, and disdain the transatlantic alliance that was a key pillar of the post-World War II geostrategic configuration and of which the United States was the main beneficiary.

Among the latest developments:

Trump frankly He threatened Imposing new tariffs on Greenland unless the US can buy the region, and the Europeans have been pondering whether to do so. negotiate or revenge.
In a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Sture – that was it Redirection To the European Ambassadors in Washington – President Trump connected His threats to Greenland (which is Danish) because of Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize (which is not awarded by the Norwegian government).
The threat posed by the United States to Denmark prompted the young Europeans to do so Military exercise In Greenland as a show of support.

What do the Europeans say…

“When I took up my post as Secretary General of the Council of Europe just over a year ago, I did not think I would ever have to write about the possibility of US military action against a member state. And yet, here we are.”Alain Berset
“There is extreme consternation that your president seems completely immune to data, facts, arguments and common knowledge. He keeps stating what is obvious and factually false. This seems unbelievable to many people in this country. We cannot understand what is happening. We wonder what will happen next.”Danish journalist and Arctic expert Martin Brehm

The United States is preparing to resume illegal boat attacks

Federal Aviation Administration Issued Seven alerts, Friday, warn civil aviation of the possibility of increased military activity in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Latin America.

Corruption: Pardon Edition

President Trump has granted a second pardon to a convicted fraudster who committed fraud after he released her from prison at the end of his first term. Adriana Camberos was convicted on a new, different fraud charge in 2024, but Trump pardoned her again last week, releasing her from prison, where she was serving 12 months for the new conviction plus additional months for violating probation on her previous conviction. The New York Times reports.

2026 ephemera

In a rare move against a sitting senator from the same party, President Trump publicly… Support Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) challenges Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). Letlow, who has not yet formally announced her candidacy, has served in the House since the 2021 special election called after her husband was elected to the seat but died of the coronavirus before he could be sworn in.

The promised land

In a Surprising performance On Saturday in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen dedicated his anthem “Promised Land” to Renee Judd as he implored ICE to “get out of Minneapolis”: