Transcription
Well, Donald Trump is once again weaponizing his Justice Department against his political enemies. This time he's targeting officials in Minnesota. MSNOW has confirmed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye are under FEDERAL INVESTIGATION BY THE TRUMP JUSTICE DEPARTMENT.
THE WASHINGTON POST ADDS THIS, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS ISSUED SUBPOENAS FOR MINNESOTA GOVERNOR TIM WALLS AND MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FRY as part of an investigation alleging that the two Democratic leaders are impeding federal law enforcement's abilities to do their jobs in the state. Two people familiar with the matter confirmed Friday.
Governor Tim Walz responded in a statement saying, quote, "Two days ago it was Alyssa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."
Mayor Jacob Fry's office released this statement, "THIS IS AN OBVIOUS ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE ME FOR STANDING UP FOR MINNEAPOLIS, OUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND OUR RESIDENTS AGAINST THE CHAOS AND THE DANGER THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS BROUGHT TO OUR STREETS. I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED. MY FOCUS WILL REMAIN WHERE IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, KEEPING OUR CITY SAFE. AMERICA DEPENDS ON LEADERS THAT USE INTEGRITY AND THE RULE OF LAW AS THE GUIDE POSTS FOR GOVERNANCE. NEITHER OUR CITY NOR OUR country will succumb to this fear. We stand rock solid, end quote."
Now, this all comes after Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minneapolis, an act that THAT IT CAN POTENTIALLY INFLAME THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND EVEN MORE. ICE AGENTS ARE USING INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE TACTICS WHEN DEALING WITH MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY THERE, regardless of their immigration status. The Minnesota Star Tribune's editorial board described it as a military occupation. State Representative Michael Howard said it feels like our community is under siege. Elliott Payne, president of the Minneapolis City Council, called it a war zone. The county attorney in Minneapolis, Mary Moriarty, told MSNOW that ICE is causing chaos and that people are frightened.
Here's more of what she had to say. "I think what people are asking here is, who is here to protect us? We are under attack by our own federal government, which is unprecedented. We're peaceful, and we're trying to exercise our First Amendment rights. And even when we're doing that, you've seen video where we've had peaceful protesters doing what they're allowed to do. We've had ICE officers come up to them and make threats like, aren't you aware? Didn't you learn from what happened with Renee Good's killing? That's what they're saying to peaceful protesters. People are frightened to go out into the community. And I'll tell you, every parent I know has had to figure out how to have a conversation with their child about that child's fear that ICE is going to come and take the child away or their parent away or their friends away. There's no assurance as to what's going to happen to anybody who doesn't have white skin, who is out in the public. Who is here to protect us," she asks.
The Democratic Congresswoman Kelly Morrison, who represents suburbs around Minneapolis, shared a report with the Minneapolis Star Tribune about how ice enforcement has resulted in children getting hurt. "Quote, it's important to hear the many stories that have emerged," Morrison said, describing an incident where a Minnesota family allegedly had three of their six children hospitalized after ice agents threw flashbang grenades and tear gas. "Their six month old infant stopped breathing and lost consciousness," Morrison said. Morrison, by the way, is a physician.
The Star Tribune also reports on ice agents who dined at a family-owned Mexican restaurant before detaining three of the workers who served them. Quote, "staff at the restaurant were frightened," said the eyewitness. Agents followed the workers after they closed up for the night. A handful of bystanders blew whistles and shouted at agents as they detained people. "Would your mama be proud of you right now?" One of the bystanders asked.
We're also learning more about the chaotic moments after Renee Good was shot and killed by the ICE agent Jonathan Ross. According to newly released documents by the Minneapolis Fire Department and the Minneapolis Police Department, Renee Good died after suffering four wounds from gunshots. The Star Tribune reports, quote, "Good had two apparent gunshot wounds to the right side ONE TO HER LEFT FOUR-ARM AND ONE TO THE LEFT SIDE OF HER HEAD. ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, RENEE GOOD WAS STILL ALIVE WHEN PARAMADUX ARRIVED ON THE SCENE AT 942 A .M., FIVE MINUTES after the shooting, which makes the video that we've seen of a physician immediately offering to help but being denied by ICE on the scene that much more disturbing."
The Star Tribune reports that starting at 9 .38 a .m., 911 calls from residents are laced with shouts in the intensity of the moment. "They just shot a lady point-blank range in her car," a caller says. "She's expletive dead. They, expletive, shot her. There's 15 ICE agents and they shot her like because she wouldn't open her car door. Send an ambulance, please."
The Star Tribune reports, quote, "the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News this week that Ross suffered internal bleeding from being hit by Good's car, but there's no documentation in the incident report that he required any medical attention after killing Good."
Here is new visual analysis with additional video compiled by the New York Times. This moment is when Agent Ross fires. We see the other agent pull back from the SUV. Both of them stumble, apparently slipping on the ice. This is also the moment many have said looks like Agent Ross getting run over. And it does when watched at full speed. But looking more closely, we can see in multiple angles that there's a visible gap between the vehicle and his legs, indicating his feet are positioned outside the SUV's path. The agent's left hand is still against the vehicle and gripping his phone. We see as he fires, it's recording the clouds and the trees overhead. It's not because the agent is knocked to the ground. The other angle shows he's still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun, and we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the SUV as he fires a second shot and a third.
In a potential sign of accountability, MS Now obtained a letter from a law firm representing Rene Good's family. TO MULTIPLE FEDERAL AGENCIES AND TO THE ICE AGENT, JONATHAN ROSS, WHO SHOT AND KILLED RENE GOOD, DEMANDING EVIDENCE RELATING TO RENE GOOD'S DEATH BE PRESERVED. THE LETTER, WHICH ALSO OUTLINES POTENTIAL LEGAL CLAIMS, HER SURVIVING FAMILY MIGHT BRING SAYS, QUOTE, "YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THEY ANTICIPATE BRINGING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, JONATHAN ROSS, U .S. CUSTOMS AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, U .S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, and the Department of Homeland Security, the United States of America and or others arising from the incident, including for the excessive use of force against and the battery of Renee Goode. Negligence, intelligence,"
THE LETTER INCLUDES A LONG LIST OF THE DOCUMENTS AND ELECTRONIC INFORMATION THAT must be preserved, including Renee Good's autopsy and her car and Jonathan Ross' prior uses of force. They are also demanding information about, quote, "ICE, DHS and DOJ policies and practices related to the use of force, approaching of vehicles and or recording of activity."
MS Now's David Noriega reports that according to his review of court records and media reports, federal immigration agents, some working for ICE, others for Border Patrol have fired their guns at people in their cars at least 14 times since July. So leading off our discussion tonight is MS Now national reporter David Noriega. David, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Let's start with this conversation because we've seen anecdotal reports of it and every time we see a video of an officer or shooting into someone's car, it's usually followed by a response from Customs or DHS that they were somehow doing something or being provocative. In some of these cases, that's been debunked.
"Yeah, that's exactly right, All." Look, what my reporting found is the top line is sort of on two levels. First it's what happens in the field, these shootings themselves, these at least 14 incidents in which either Border Patrol or ICE agents have fired their weapons either into vehicles or at vehicles. And nearly all of those cases that I've been able to document, these were people who were trying to drive away in one way or another. The difference primarily between those incidents and the Renee Good incident is the fact that Agent Ross was standing in front of the vehicle when she started moving. Now, I also want to point out, Ali, that, you know, one of the categories of people that I spoke to for this story are policing experts, including a couple of former chiefs of major urban departments in the United States who were unanimous in telling me that best practices in American law enforcement says not only that you do not shoot at moving vehicles, but that you do not put yourself in front of vehicles that could potentially be moving at any given moment. One former police chief actually told me, Ali, that he if he were, you know, if Ross were one of his officers and he were tasked with assessing accountability in this particular incident, even if Ross authentically believed that Rene Goode was driving his vehicle at him, the explanation would still not be justified because he put himself in. The term of art is a situation of officer created jeopardy.
Now, Ali, in, you know, many of these cases, people were injured but not killed. There is one other fatal shooting of a person in a vehicle. The case of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez happened in Chicago last year. 38-year-old father of two. You know, as in all of these cases, DHS claimed that he tried to run over agents with his vehicle, a claim that was later directly contravened by video evidence. In many I THINK IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF THE INJURIES THAT RENEE GOOD SUFFERED, AT LEAST THREE POSSIBLY AN ADDITIONAL GUNSHOT WOUND FROM WHAT WE KNOW ARE THREE bullets agent Ross fired at her. I have been documenting now many instances in which that came extremely close to happening. I talked to a guy in D .C., U .S. citizen, black guy from Brooklyn, has lived in D .C. for several years, also a father who was shot at by an ICE agent during, you know, what he described as a stop that felt more like a carjacking than a law enforcement stop. One of the bullets went through the collar of his jacket. And I just I want to read you a quote of something that he told me on the phone. He said, "Those three bullets that they let off at her at Rene Goode are the same bullets that they let off at me. I just so happened to be the survivor. And there are many more cases very similar to that."