Transcription
DILLON RUNS THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. BACK IN APRIL, DILLON DESCRIBED HER NEW ROLE THIS WAY, QUOTE, THE JOB HERE IS to enforce the federal civil rights laws, not woke ideology.
Quite a quote. Normally among the cases, the Civil Rights Division would investigate or suspected abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement against civilians. Like, for example, last week's shooting of Renee Goode by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
But Harmeet Dillon is refusing to properly investigate what happened, a decision that has now led to not only six federal prosecutors resigning from their jobs and at least six leaders of the Justice Department's civil rights division in D.C. resigning as well. The Justice Department has tried to push back against the gravity of those D.C.-based departures by saying that they had requested early retirement prior to the shooting.
But what the D.O.J. did not push back on was that assistant attorney general for civil rights Harmeet Dillon decided not to investigate Renee Good's killing. There you go.
Joining me now is Stacy Young. She spent 18 years at the Justice Department, including in the Civil Rights Division. And after resigning almost exactly one year ago, she founded the Justice Connection to provide support for current and recent D.O.J. employees and to advocate for accountability at the Justice Department.
First, let me say, it's amazing that you decided to do that because you served as a public servant for 18 years. You could have had many things you did. So thank you for doing what you do and all the people you help out there.
Let me start by just asking I WANT TO MAKE SENSE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION AND WHAT HAPPENED TODAY WITH SIX PEOPLE DECIDING TO RESIGN ESSENTIALLY. A NUMBER OF THEM, OF COURSE, HAD ASKED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT.
But what do you make of the Civil Rights Division refusing to investigate? It is horrifying. One of the things that the Civil Rights Division does is it makes sure that police misconduct, that excessive use of force is addressed, is investigated, is prosecuted. And what we're seeing here is the division telling career prosecutors, "We are not going to enforce the statute that applies in this case," which is 18 U.S.C. 242, which prohibits unconstitutional actions by law enforcement agents under the color of law. It is abdicating its duty to make sure that police abuse is addressed properly. And the fact that you have seen now 12 DOJ prosecutors leave, that is stunning and it should be shocking to every American. And it's important hearing it from you, how shocking it should be.
Now, instead, and we started the show talking about this, they are prioritizing a criminal probe into Renee Goods widow. I mean, that woman just lost her heart last week essentially and now this is what she is potentially facing. Walk that is obviously crazy and not normal. But you've been there, we were there for 18 years. Tell us how not normal that is and what your reaction to that was. It is so not normal that you have long-term, very senior prosecutors resigning over it. Yeah. That shows you just how out of the ordinary this is.
When you go after the victim of a shooting instead of investigating the shooting itself, when we know what happened. We all saw the video. We saw how horrific that was. That kind of situation demands a response from the federal government, especially when it when a federal law enforcement agent is involved, was the one who shot the gun. Three times. The fact that DOJ is not pursuing this in any kind of meaningful way is shocking.
You know very well what it working with state, local law enforcement on these investigations. They're often done in partnership, of course. And they are, of course, the FBI is investigating, but they're refusing to share any information with the state of Minnesota. There has been, the attorney general in Minnesota announced his own investigation. Everyone, it's the job of people who are elected to be confident and project confidence in how this investigation can move forward. And that's what we all want to see.
But you know what it takes. Can this investigation move forward even with a very well-meaning attorney general in Minnesota if they don't have access to the information the FBI has gathered? It's going to be a lot harder for Minnesota state and local officials to pursue this investigation because the federal government is pushing them out of the way. One of the reasons the Department of Justice and the federal government generally has credibility in American communities is because they work with state and local law enforcements. They need to build partnerships, and we're seeing those partnerships erode.
Instead of working with law enforcement in Minnesota, you're seeing DOJ treat those law enforcement officials as the enemy. That is not how you address crime. That is not how you address community tensions that we're seeing escalate. That's how you inflame them. No question about it.
I can't thank you enough for being here and for what you do, too. It's really important.