Patterico's Pontifications

1/28/2026

The Investigation Is A Sham

Filed under: General — Dana @ 8:30 am



[guest post by Dana]

Here is former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer breaking it all down. Watch the short video in its entirety:

Latest on the investigation of ICE slaying of Alex Pretti: DOJ and FBI are not conducting a civil rights investigation; DHS is investigating itself. State authorities have been denied access to evidence. A Trump-appointed judge has ordered feds not to destroy evidence.

Additionally, from the administration:

Top officials in the Trump administration were quick to say in the aftermath of the fatal shootings that the immigration officers’ actions were justified, and said that a deeper federal criminal civil rights probe wasn’t warranted at this time, raising questions about an independent investigation. Good, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, had been committing “domestic terrorism.” Pretti, top Trump aide Stephen Miller said, was a “would-be assassin,” though eyewitness video contradicts those narratives.

And local authorities have been cut out from the probe, raising questions about how evidence is being handled.

“Nothing about what is going on here is normal,” Clare Diegel, an attorney with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said during a federal court hearing Monday, after the county asked a judge to extend an order forcing Homeland Security officials to preserve evidence in the shooting of Pretti.

Unfortunately, if Kash Patel (FBI) and Pam Bondi (DOJ) were investigating, it would still be a sham investigation.

I’ll just leave this here:

In the past, when Americans have been killed by members of law enforcement in high-profile incidents, the Justice Department has launched probes often within days, banking on their public reputations and promises of independence to ease public tensions to assure some form of accountability. . .

The FBI, which typically leads investigations, puts an emphasis on maintaining working relationships with local law enforcement and, in most jurisdictions, would work collaboratively with local officials to gather evidence and probe the case.

In the Minneapolis shootings, though, the Justice Department has taken a back seat. The probes are being led by Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of Professional Responsibility, assisted by the FBI, which has cut out local authorities.

Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — which would typically be involved in reviewing whether a law enforcement officer should face criminal charges in a shooting — has been gutted. And Attorney General Pam Bondi has de-emphasized investigations into policing tactics, directing attorneys to pursue cases against protesters and instances of “domestic terrorism.”

—Dana

24 Responses to “The Investigation Is A Sham”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (468935) — 1/28/2026 @ 8:31 am

  2. I’m all for good faith investigations and rendering consequences.

    Just wished that the same people advocating for this, did the same when the opposing party engaged in bad faith investigations.

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 8:48 am

  3. Putin would be proud. Trump’s “investigation” is akin to Vlad’s GRU investigating the murder of Navalny.

    Unrevealed are the identities of Agent X, the guy who started the chain of events that led to Good’s murder.
    Unrevealed are the agents who murdered Pretti.

    Paul Montagu (48c279) — 1/28/2026 @ 8:58 am

  4. whembly, which bad faith investigations are you referring to?

    Nate (be5ee2) — 1/28/2026 @ 9:02 am

  5. Based on DHS’s track record, I wouldn’t hold my breath:

    Department of Homeland Security officers have fired shots during enforcement arrests or at people protesting their operations 16 times since July, and as in the recent shootings in Minneapolis, in each case the Trump administration has publicly declared their actions justified before waiting for investigations to be completed.

    Most of the incidents involve officers firing at drivers during enforcement stops in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago where DHS has surged federal immigration officers. At least 10 people have been struck by bullets — including four U.S. citizens. Three people have been killed.

    ………..Lawyers say officials have been quick to pursue felony charges against those fired at — though in four of 10 cases, prosecutors have either dropped charges or a judge has dismissed them after evidence emerged contradicting the government’s narrative of events.
    …………
    DHS did not respond to questions from The Washington Post on whether the agency has taken disciplinary action against any of its officers involved in shooting incidents. In an email, an official for the agency said that federal immigration officers are trained to use the “minimum force necessary” and that any time an officer fires a weapon it must be reported and reviewed by the “appropriate law enforcement agency.”
    …………
    Federal law does allow for officers to face state criminal charges under some circumstances, but legal experts said pursuing cases can be challenging. Traditionally, the federal government has been relied on to step in when local prosecutors are reluctant to hold local officers accountable. ………
    …………
    Vice President JD Vance asserted days after Good’s shooting that Ross has “absolute immunity” because he was conducting federal enforcement duties. ……..
    …………
    Federal officers have significant immunity from state prosecution if they use force while carrying out an arrest and have reason to believe their lives are in danger, legal experts said. They also have the power to seek a transfer of state cases brought against them into federal courts under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The provision is meant to ensure that federal law takes precedence and officers are not improperly punished or hindered by state courts.
    ………..
    Such cases, however, are rare.
    ……….
    In numerous incidents, DHS’s narrative of what led up to a shooting has later been proved to be inaccurate.
    ……….

    Contrary to VP Vance’s claim (as well as by Stephen Miller), ICE/BP agents do not have “absolute immunity” for their actions, though they seem to behave as if they do.

    Also, to describe DHS’s shooting narratives as “inaccurate” is way too polite.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/28/2026 @ 9:19 am

  6. @4

    whembly, which bad faith investigations are you referring to?

    Nate (be5ee2) — 1/28/2026 @ 9:02 am

    There’s loads… but, in recent memory?

    How ’bout misapplying 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) in the j6 case, because the Biden DOJ wanted some felony statue to ‘upcharge’. Which was smacked down by SCOTUS.

    Or, how ’bout the Democrat’s j6 committee? Which is a poster child of bad faith investigations.

    I have interests in our government doing things “by the book” and without any partisan zealotry to adhere to the law in absolute good faith.

    So, in the past, if you were inclined to give the Democrat’s Committee or J6 prosecution some “room” to cook, while ignoring obvious bad faith efforts. Your admonishment of any alleged Trump administration’s bad faith behaviors will be met with derision.

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 10:38 am

  7. whembly, neither of those are sham investigations.

    The J6 prosecutions amassed a mountain of evidence, which led to defense lawyers conceding that they would be convicted or conviction after conviction after conviction in front of juries. Yes, the SC created new law that overturned some of those convictions, and Trump pardoned others, but what about the investigation was a sham? By your logic was the Hunter Biden trial a sham because his father pardoned him at the end? I would say it was a motivated prosecution perhaps, but the investigation into him was not a sham, and he committed the crime he was convicted of.

    My problem with your comments is you often excuse current misconduct by imagining misconduct from some time in the past that didn’t occur. Or sometimes imagine misconduct that might have occurred in a hypothetical Harris administration.

    Why not just have principals in which you say “This doesn’t conform to my principals.”

    Nate (31ba48) — 1/28/2026 @ 11:13 am

  8. “Our agents killed someone in cold blood on camera, we got caught lying about it, so now we are going to investigate the person they killed in the hopes of finding some dirt on them that justifies killing them” isn’t a good look.

    aphrael (a6281e) — 1/28/2026 @ 11:38 am

  9. There has been a “preliminary investigation” (not a criminal investigation) by the Department of Homeland Security sent to Congress (this probably means some committee)

    https://www.wsj.com/us-news/two-federal-immigration-officials-fired-shots-at-alex-pretti-dhs-report-says-fc1b3a91

    ,,,The Customs and Border Protection report—which came from the review of bodycam footage and documentation—said that an officer was confronted by two women blowing whistles at around 9 a.m. Saturday. The officer asked the women to move out of the roadway, but the women didn’t comply, the report said. The officer pushed them both away, and one of the women ran to a man who was later identified as Pretti, according to the report.

    The officer tried to move Pretti and the woman out of the roadway and deployed pepper spray toward them, the report said. CBP personnel tried to take Pretti into custody, but the report said he resisted those efforts and a struggle ensued.

    During the struggle, a Border Patrol agent yelled, “He’s got a gun!” several times, the report said. Seconds later, a Border Patrol agent discharged his gun at Pretti and a CBP officer also shot at Pretti, according to the report compiled by CBP.

    The agents who shot Pretti had a Glock 19 and Glock 47 pistols, both issued by CBP, the agency said. After the shooting, an agent “advised he had possession of Pretti’s firearm,” which he later put in his vehicle, according to the report.

    A Wall Street Journal analysis shows a federal officer pulling a handgun away from Pretti before he was shot.

    The CBP report differs from what Homeland Security initially said after the fatal shooting Saturday. At the time, Homeland Security said “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. … The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.” The agency initially said one agent fired defensive shots.

    According to the Tuesday report, CBP employees provided medical aid to Pretti before paramedics arrived. Pretti was pronounced dead around 9:32 a.m….

    Corrections & Amplifications
    The Homeland Security report said that after the shooting a Border Patrol agent “advised he had possession of Pretti’s firearm.” An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the order of events in the report and said that the agent took possession of Pretti’s firearm after the struggle.

    (Corrected on Jan. 28)

    Appeared in the January 28, 2026, print edition as ‘Two Officials Fired Shots At Alex Pretti’

    Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/28/2026 @ 12:39 pm

  10. Department of Justice Closes Investigation into the Death of Ashli Babbitt

    lloyd (b5e240) — 1/28/2026 @ 12:50 pm

  11. @10 Let’s take investigations out of the DOJ’s preview, including when it’s a DOJ you routinely excuse. Deal?

    lloyd (b5e240) — 1/28/2026 @ 12:52 pm

  12. It is more usual for police (o people who consider themselves police) to shout merely the word “gun” rather than a complete sentence.

    As I said in the Weekend thread, they shot him to death because they heard there was a gun but didn’t see it, (so they thought it could be anywhere and he could pull it out at any second)

    The person who took it off Pretti didn’t say he had taken it away.

    Note this was not ICE but CBP.

    Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/28/2026 @ 12:57 pm

  13. Border Patrol: We initiated the confrontation because we needed to unnecessarily expand our perimeter, but frankly the protesters were just p*ssing us off. We escalated the encounter by using excessive force to make the retards react so we would have an excuse to hit them more and arrest them. Then as many as four or five agents failed to securely detain Mr. Pretti who did not appear to be punching or kicking from a prone position but we got several good licks in by kicking him and striking him with a pepper spray cannister. Apparently, no one thought to cuff him. Finally, agents then used the fact that Pretti had a gun to shoot him dead…despite the fact that the gun had already been recovered and so neither officer who shot actually saw a gun. It was a completely honest error that happens in tactical environments with liberal do-gooders and did we say how annoying these protesters were?

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/28/2026 @ 12:58 pm

  14. Lloyd, What point do you think that link proves?

    Time123 (efcddf) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:01 pm

  15. Not sure of the truth of this:

    https://www.newser.com/story/382737/report-alex-pretti-broke-a-rib-in-prior-run-in-with-ice.html

    Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:09 pm

  16. From @10

    “The investigation further determined that Ms. Babbitt was among a mob of people that entered the Capitol building and gained access to a hallway outside “Speaker’s Lobby,” which leads to the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. At the time, the USCP was evacuating Members from the Chamber, which the mob was trying to enter from multiple doorways. USCP officers used furniture to barricade a set of glass doors separating the hallway and Speaker’s Lobby to try and stop the mob from entering the Speaker’s Lobby and the Chamber, and three officers positioned themselves between the doors and the mob. Members of the mob attempted to break through the doors by striking them and breaking the glass with their hands, flagpoles, helmets, and other objects. Eventually, the three USCP officers positioned outside the doors were forced to evacuate. As members of the mob continued to strike the glass doors, Ms. Babbitt attempted to climb through one of the doors where glass was broken out. An officer inside the Speaker’s Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, causing her to fall back from the doorway and onto the floor. A USCP emergency response team, which had begun making its way into the hallway to try and subdue the mob, administered aid to Ms. Babbitt, who was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.”

    Then finishing

    “The investigation revealed no evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully committed a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:13 pm

  17. Throwing CBP under the bus:

    Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, has suggested that federal agents “may not have been following” protocol before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, after days in which he and other Trump administration officials portrayed the shooting as justified.

    Mr. Miller said in a statement that the White House had provided “clear guidance” to the Department of Homeland Security that federal agents deployed to Minnesota as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown be used to protect “arrest teams” from people he described as “disruptors.”

    “We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Mr. Miller said in the statement, referring to agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a law enforcement agency under the department. The statement was provided to The New York Times on Wednesday by a White House spokesperson and was reported earlier by CNN.
    ………..
    Shortly after the shooting, Mr. Miller, the highly influential deputy White House chief of staff, characterized the 37-year-old Minneapolis resident in a social media post as a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin” who had “tried to murder federal agents,” without providing evidence. He accused Democratic leaders who had condemned the killing of inciting insurrection.
    ………..
    In his statement on Wednesday, Mr. Miller said the Homeland Security Department’s initial assessment of the killing of Mr. Pretti was “based on reports from CBP on the ground.”
    …………

    The two CPB agents involved in Alex Pretti’s killing have been placed on administrative leave with pay.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:28 pm

  18. @7 Nate (31ba48) — 1/28/2026 @ 11:13 am
    At no point am I excusing bad behavior.

    I literally stated: I have interests in our government doing things “by the book” and without any partisan zealotry to adhere to the law in absolute good faith.

    The investigations you listed are shams because of the partisan nature, and zero efforts were made to mitigate that.

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:33 pm

  19. @16

    The two CPB agents involved in Alex Pretti’s killing have been placed on administrative leave with pay.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:28 pm

    That should’ve been done immediately, pending investigation to be honest.

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:34 pm

  20. Man who appears to be Alex Pretti filmed interacting with federal agents
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CRWR13BAIEs

    Is this AI?

    Pretti does not shine in this video purportedly of his interaction with LEO the week before he was shot.

    What do you think? Is it real?

    BuDuh (611c54) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:55 pm

  21. @19

    Man who appears to be Alex Pretti filmed interacting with federal agents
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CRWR13BAIEs

    Is this AI?

    Pretti does not shine in this video purportedly of his interaction with LEO the week before he was shot.

    What do you think? Is it real?

    BuDuh (611c54) — 1/28/2026 @ 1:55 pm

    I have my doubts, as AI can definitely spoof this. I ran this video through chatgpt and grok…both basically said ‘inconclusive’.

    However, that really doesn’t factor in whether it was a “defensible” shot or something criminal.

    Stipulating that it is true, it shines a bit more light as to the Alex’s mindset and rationale.

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 2:01 pm

  22. However, that really doesn’t factor in whether it was a “defensible” shot or something criminal.

    I am relieved that I never made that claim.

    BuDuh (611c54) — 1/28/2026 @ 2:05 pm

  23. @21 BuDuh (611c54) — 1/28/2026 @ 2:05 pm
    👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

    whembly (f70fc4) — 1/28/2026 @ 2:47 pm

  24. 😃

    BuDuh (611c54) — 1/28/2026 @ 2:52 pm


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