Mutual distrust between federal and state authorities derailed plans for a joint FBI and state criminal investigation into Wednesday’s shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer, leading to the highly unusual move by the Justice Department to block state investigators from participating in the probe.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Thursday that after an initial agreement for the FBI to work with the state agency, as well as prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office in Minneapolis and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, to investigate the shooting, federal authorities reversed course and the FBI blocked the BCA from participating in the investigation.
Behind the move to sever ties were concerns in the Trump administration that state officials couldn’t be trusted with information that emerges from the probe, and that ICE agents’ safety would be put at risk, including with potential doxxing of agents involved, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.
The mistrust goes both ways, as state officials attacked the conduct of ICE agents and raised concerns that federal authorities can’t be trusted to fairly investigate given public statements from President Donald Trump and other administration officials accusing the woman killed of being a domestic terrorist.
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