By James Fanelli, John McCormick and Joe Barrett
At least six prosecutors have resigned from the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota over the Trump administration's handling of the federal investigation into the killing of a woman by an ICE agent, according to people familiar with the matter.
Among the concerns of the departing prosecutors was pressure to investigate the wife of the deceased woman, one of the people said. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good during an operation in Minneapolis last week.
The departures include Joe Thompson, a former acting U.S. attorney for the office who had been leading a sprawling welfare fraud investigation that has resulted in the convictions of roughly 60 defendants, mostly of Somali descent.
Thompson was appointed on an interim basis as Minnesota's top federal prosecutor by President Trump in the spring of 2025 and served in that post until October when Daniel Rosen took over.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Thompson a "principled public servant" and said his decision to step down was a "huge loss." An assistant U.S. attorney who was Thompson's deputy in the fraud investigation was also among the prosecutors who resigned, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
Thompson didn't respond to requests for comment. His departure was reported earlier by the New York Times.
The departures could decimate an office already struggling to deal with the surge in immigration enforcement, said B. Todd Jones, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota. "From a federal law enforcement perspective and in my opinion as a former U.S. Attorney, it's a disaster," he said.
Federal and state officials have clashed since the death of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, who was shot several times by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on a residential street.
Federal officials have said that Ross acted in self-defense, while state and local officials have said Good was just trying to drive away.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Tuesday that there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation into Ross's conduct.
State investigators withdrew from the case after federal officials said they wouldn't share video or interviews gathered in the course of their probe.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump criticized a group of U.S. attorneys at a White House event last week, calling them weak and complaining that they weren't moving fast enough to prosecute his favored targets, according to people familiar with the exchange.
A Quinnipiac University National Poll released Tuesday showed that 53% of voters think the shooting of Good wasn't justified, while 35% think it was, and 12% didn't offer an opinion. More than 8 in 10 said they have seen a video of the shooting.
Democrats overwhelmingly view the shooting as unjustified (92% to 4%), as do the majority of independents (59% to 28%). More than three-quarters of Republicans (77%) said they view it as justified.
The shooting, caught on video from several angles, inflamed tensions between federal officials and state and city leaders. On Monday, Minnesota filed a lawsuit against federal immigration forces, seeking to end what the state called an unlawful surge of federal agents.
Write to James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com, John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com and Joe Barrett at Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 13, 2026 18:13 ET (23:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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