Top Trump-appointed attorney and five other federal prosecutors resign amid turmoil over Minnesota ICE shooting investigation

At least six federal prosecutors have resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, officials and media reports said. Among those who resigned Tuesday, Jan. 13, is Trump-appointed prosecutor Joe Thompson, as well as other senior prosecutors Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams, and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez, The New York Times reported. The reasons Thompson and the others decided to resign at this time are unclear.

The wave of resignations followed reports that the U.S. Department of Justice pushed to investigate the widow of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman who was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, The New York Post reported, as well as concern about the department’s hesitation to investigate the ICE agent who shot Good, later identified as Jonathan Ross.

Thompson reportedly objected to the lack of partnership with state officials in the investigation into the ICE shooting, the Times reported. State officials had announced on Jan. 8 that the FBI had effectively shut them out of the investigation, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asserted that the investigation isn’t the state’s jurisdiction.


“Joseph H. Thompson, who has served as a federal prosecutor for sixteen years, has been appointed by President Donald J. Trump,” The justice department said in June last year while announcing Thompson’s appointment as the acting United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called Thompson’s resignation a “huge loss” for the state. “Joe (Thompson) is a principled public servant who spent more than a decade achieving justice for Minnesotans. This is a huge loss for our state.” Walz posted on his X account. “It’s also the latest sign Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the justice department, replacing them with his sycophants,” the statement further reads.


Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey echoed governor Walz in a statement on X. “These prosecutors are heroes, and the people pushing to prosecute Renee’s widow are monsters,” Frey said.


“In their pursuit of cruelty, the administration also just set back the work of fighting fraud by pushing out the prosecutors who were working on those cases.”