How the DOJ is politicizing Minneapolis ICE investigation

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

The Justice Department pushed federal prosecutors in Minnesota to investigate the widow of Renee Macklin Good rather than the immigration agent who killed her. Georgetown Law professor Mary McCord explains the pressure campaign and the subsequent resignation of six prosecutors.

And, historian Julian Zelizer said videos “once provided a powerful counterweight to official narratives.” But in the age of misinformation, the role of video has been eroded. He unpacks the role of video footage in Macklin Good’s killing in Minneapolis and the aftermath.

Then, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Grist’s Jake Bittle details this dramatic move against global climate action.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mayrotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like,
0:09.3	why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? And of course, is business broken? Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:20.4	WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:23.4	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:32.2	To say we're not even going to investigate, in other words, coming to a conclusion before there was even an investigation.
0:34.2	Prosecutors resign en masse rather than bend to what they say was political interference from the Justice Department over the ICE killing in Minnesota.
0:48.2	It's Wednesday, January 14th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:57.9	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:01.6	The day on the show, whoever said, the truth shall prevail, didn't have in mind the present era of misinformation
1:09.6	when those in power have more tools than ever
1:13.1	to control the narrative. It's about even when the image is there, trying to use the bully pulpit
1:20.8	and the platforms associated with it to spin a story that's very different than what I think
1:27.1	many Americans saw with their eyes,
1:29.4	and we're seeing how that can stick pretty quickly in the modern age.
1:32.6	Also, we'll hear how the administration's latest snub to the United Nations
1:36.8	essentially takes the U.S. out of the room entirely when it comes to international plans
1:41.8	to fight climate change.
1:44.3	Before we get to that, though,
1:46.4	the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota is about to look a lot different
1:49.9	after six federal prosecutors resigned.
1:54.0	They say the federal government is trying to shut down the investigation
1:57.1	into the immigration officer who killed Renee Maclin Good.
	...

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