Olson: By handing over ICE shooting investigation, Rosen betrays Minnesota

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Since President Donald Trump took office a year ago and chose Pam Bondi as the U.S. attorney general, the Department of Justice has become shamelessly and dangerously politicized.

Until now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota had been spared, but that is no longer the case. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen has torched that reputation and unforgivably betrayed Minnesotans seeking a full and fair investigation into a federal agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7. When Rosen allowed the FBI to assume full control of the investigation and barred the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators from the process, he turned his back on the state.

The prompt resignations of six prominent prosecutors, most significantly First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, on Jan. 13 is a screeching alarm about the independence and integrity of the office, which Rosen was sworn into last October.

Thompson earned well-deserved respect over years, first as the state’s most prominent fraud prosecutor and last June, as acting U.S. attorney, in the aftermath of the assassinations of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

After Vance Boelter was arrested and charged in the killings, a letter he wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel accusing Gov. Tim Walz with being the mastermind soon emerged. Thompson did a tremendous public service in that moment by denouncing the claim and making it clear that Boelter’s letter was baseless and deranged.

“I view unchecked fraud in our state government program as a version of corruption,” he said last summer. “Or it’s a government that has been corrupted to not operate the way it’s supposed to, to enrich people instead of providing services, to enrich bad actors instead of helping the good citizens of Minnesota.”

In the months that followed, his investigations ignited a political grass fire that ultimately compelled Walz to abandon a bid for a third term.

Despite the political fallout, Thompson and his team were viewed as principled investigators and prosecutors who exposed a serious problem and a needed reckoning.

After Rosen took over in October, Thompson remained on staff as the first assistant to the U.S. attorney. But that moment has passed. Thompson and the others walked out the door Tuesday with their integrity and reputations intact; the same cannot be said of the office they leave behind.

All indications are Rosen will relinquish all independence and now operate fully under the direction of D.C., an unwelcome and unprecedented turn for the Minnesota office in which Trump’s whims and wishes prevail.

Last week, as the disturbing videos of the shooting became public, authorities called for calm, patience and peaceful protests, assuring Minnesotans that professionals from the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would conduct a joint investigation, the typical practice in such instances.

That partnership was short-lived. In a terse statement, the BCA announced on Jan. 8 that it had been shut out and the FBI would go it alone. This was a disturbing break from past practice.

In 2021, when Winston Smith was shot in a parking ramp in Uptown by a U.S. Marshals task force, the BCA conducted the investigation. No charges were filed against the officers involved. This closely monitored episode showed the independence and professionalism of BCA to make fair, evidence-based decisions.

It’s impossible now to see the FBI under Patel’s leadership arriving at an evidence-based conclusion that undermines the White House’s narrative blaming the death on Good and the activism of her spouse, Becca Good.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem all have made statements that effectively exonerate the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross.

The reckless words of Trump and his allies, including Rosen, have turned Minnesota streets into a powder keg. Good’s shooting may prove to be a decisive moment for the U.S., a time where we must choose whether we remain a nation bound by laws or an authoritarian force. History is full of pivotal, perilous times that demanded moral clarity and courage.

This moment of crisis all but demands that Rosen publicly explain why anyone should have faith in the integrity of his office and the FBI investigation into the killing of Good. His silence speaks volumes.

He didn’t respond to multiple interview requests, but in a memo to staff Monday, Rosen said he has “complete confidence” the FBI “will conduct its investigation thoroughly, fairly, and at the highest level of integrity.”

That’s no assurance. With Trump, Noem and Vance vilifying Good at every turn, Rosen should have stood up and welcomed the BCA into the investigation.

Instead, Rosen’s memo barred prosecutors from talking to other law enforcement or the media. He also blamed state and local — but not federal — officials for “inflammatory statements” about the shooting, and it’s true that some leaders could have been more circumspect.