Hi there, everyone. It's 4 o'clock in New York. The fact that the criminal section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the very unit tasked with investigating killings by police, refused to investigate the deadly shooting by a federal agent of a woman in Minneapolis last week is so shocking that it has led to the largest mass resignation inside the Department of Justice in months.

Our colleagues, Carolenic and Ken Delanyanian, were first to report this, quote,

top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division

have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the assistant

attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dillon, decided not to investigate the ICE officer's

fatal shooting of Renee Good last week. When asked for comment, a DOJ official, quote, did not dispute the departures,

but said the officials have requested early retirement prior to the Minnesota shooting.

For years, the criminal section of the Civil Rights Unit has prosecuted major cases of police brutality,

cases like the killing of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. According to the

section's own website, the ultimate goal of their work in every case is to, quote, ensure that

allegations are thoroughly and fairly investigated, that acts constituting federal criminal

civil rights violations are sufficiently remedied, and that the rights of the victims are

vindicated. But now what the department is choosing to investigate is whether or not Renee Nicole Good

had any ties to activist groups? According to the New York Times, quote, the decision by the FBI

and Justice Department to scrutinize Ms. Good's activities and her potential

connections to local activists is in line with the White House strategy of deflecting blame for

the shooting away from federal law enforcement and toward opponents they have described as

domestic terrorists, often without providing evidence. The handling of the investigation is also reportedly leading to

turmoil inside the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. From the New York Times reporting,

quote, six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned Tuesday over the Justice Department's

pushed to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department's

reluctance to investigate the shooter. That is according to people with knowledge of their decisions.

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