Justice Dept. Playbook in Minnesota: Investigate Foes, Protect Allies

The New York Times reported on Jan. 29, 2026, that the Trump Justice Department in Minnesota has pressed prosecutors and the F.B.I. to focus on critics of the administration’s immigration enforcement while resisting traditional civil rights investigations into officers who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Department leaders, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and her chief deputy, Todd Blanche, have largely adopted a hard-line approach aligned with President Trump, the report says, even as two fatal shootings captured on video have provoked public outrage. Bondi and Blanche have so far resisted authorizing civil rights inquiries into the agent who shot Renee Good and have not made a final determination about a probe into Alex Pretti, the Times reported, noting they are awaiting internal homeland security and F.B.I.

reviews. The article says the department redirected attention to demonstrators’ tactics and pressed prosecutors and agents to investigate politicians, protesters and relatives of victims, moves that provoked a confrontation inside the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis. Prosecutors reportedly confronted the Trump-appointed U.S.

attorney, Daniel Rosen, over orders from Washington; some suggested resigning and six senior prosecutors had quit weeks earlier, exacerbating a staffing crisis. The F.B.I.

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