DOJ Sidelines Civil‑Rights Trial Team in Alex Pretti Federal Shooting Probe
Career prosecutors in the Justice Department Civil Rights Division who specialize in excessive-force and police-shooting cases have been largely excluded from the investigation into the Jan. 24 killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti by two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, multiple sources told CBS News. Instead, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has assigned Brandon Wrobleski, an employment-litigation lawyer with no prior federal criminal-case experience, to work with two prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office, while Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Keenan is also involved. The move breaks with past practice in federal agent–involved shootings and comes after viral video undercut early DHS claims that Pretti brandished a gun and after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem publicly and inaccurately labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist who reached for a firearm. Former Civil Rights Division line prosecutor Sam Trepel and other veterans say bypassing the division’s criminal section raises doubts about whether the Trump administration is serious about a rigorous, independent civil-rights probe, especially given Keenan’s recent role in seeking dismissals or lighter sentences in other high-profile force cases, including one tied to Breonna Taylor’s death. DOJ insists it is taking the case seriously and that “experienced career prosecutors” are handling it, but internal disquiet and online civil-rights advocacy are already framing the staffing choices as a potential attempt to blunt accountability for federal agents in Minneapolis and beyond.
📌 Key Facts
- DOJ Civil Rights Division’s usual excessive-force trial prosecutors are reportedly not playing any role in the Alex Pretti investigation.
- Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon tapped Brandon Wrobleski from the division’s employment litigation section, which normally handles civil workplace-discrimination cases and not federal criminal prosecutions.
- Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Keenan, a longtime federal prosecutor who has recently helped dismiss or soften several high-profile excessive-force cases, is also involved in overseeing the Pretti matter.
- Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen ICU nurse, was shot and killed by CBP agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 during an immigration operation; viral video contradicted DHS’s initial claim that he brandished a gun.
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem publicly and falsely accused Pretti of domestic terrorism and reaching for his firearm before the DOJ and FBI opened a Civil Rights Division investigation on Jan. 30 under Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement.
📊 Relevant Data
The U.S. Justice Department unit responsible for prosecuting police misconduct, including excessive force, has lost two-thirds of its prosecutors since 2025 and is under orders to scale back investigations of excessive force unless there are egregious circumstances like death in custody or sexual assault.
The number of people charged with violating the civil rights law most commonly used in federal excessive-force cases dropped about 36% in 2025 to 54 total cases, the lowest number since 2020.
More than 75% of attorneys in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division have left since January 2025.
Ex-DOJ civil rights attorneys continue their work 'just not in the division' — GovExec
From 2020 to 2024, over 81,000 new Americans moved to Minnesota through international immigration, making it the primary driver of population change, with immigrants constituting about 8.4% of the state's residents.
Immigration became the leading component of population growth in Minnesota this decade — Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
Black people were killed by police at nearly 3 times the rate of White people per population in 2025, with police killings per 1 million people showing disparities across racial groups from 2013–2026.
Mapping Police Violence — Mapping Police Violence
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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