Minnesota Fraud Probes

A preliminary CBP Office of Professional Responsibility review sent to Congress says two CBP officers—a Border Patrol agent and a CBP officer—fired during the encounter that killed Alex Pretti, noting an agent shouted “He’s got a gun!” and both fired seconds later, that a 9mm was later recovered from Pretti’s waistband, and that the report does not allege he brandished the weapon. CBS and other outlets report both officers have been placed on administrative leave and that Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has been relieved of his Minneapolis command amid scrutiny and calls for independent review.

The White House is reportedly considering Colin McDonald, an aide in the deputy attorney general’s office, to lead a new Justice Department fraud division. Separately, DOJ has asked the Pentagon to provide military judge advocates as short‑term special assistant U.S. attorneys and forensic auditors to help handle COVID‑era welfare fraud probes in Minnesota after a wave of AUSA departures, a request backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Pentagon is recruiting military judge advocates for short‑term details to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, after the Justice Department asked for additional attorneys to be sent to Minneapolis as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys beginning in March, according to an internal request obtained by CBS News. DOJ is also in talks with the Pentagon to deploy forensic auditors to Minnesota to work on COVID‑era welfare‑fraud cases and serve as expert witnesses, while separately detailing civilian prosecutors from nearby districts in Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and the Dakotas to backfill an office that has lost about 10 AUSAs, including veterans of the 'Feeding Our Future' child‑nutrition fraud investigation. The surge comes as DOJ expands probes into what the Trump administration brands 'Somali‑fraud' in Minnesota social‑services programs and as Minneapolis hosts the largest DHS deployment in its history under Operation Metro Surge, combining immigration raids with welfare‑fraud enforcement. Multiple senior Minnesota prosecutors recently resigned, in part over DOJ leadership’s refusal to treat ICE agent Jonathan Ross’s fatal shooting of Renee Good as a civil‑rights case and reported pressure to investigate her widow instead, and FBI and Civil Rights Division attorneys have been ordered to stay away from the shooting. The unusual use of military lawyers and auditors inside a civilian U.S. attorney’s office, especially against the backdrop of an aggressive, politicized fraud narrative centered on Somali‑Americans and the sidelining of civil‑rights oversight, is already raising alarms among legal observers who see echoes of past efforts to blur the line between military and domestic justice.

Senior Minnesota federal prosecutors, including First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, were fired by the Department of Justice after a dispute over how to handle the federal probe into the shooting of an ICE officer; Thompson reportedly favored treating the incident as an assault/obstruction on a federal officer and opposed investigating the officer’s widow and possible co‑conspirators. Their removal also takes a lead off a major Minnesota welfare‑fraud investigation tied to alleged Somali‑run nonprofit schemes, prompting DOJ to send additional prosecutors and federal agents while Treasury and IRS units probe money‑movement and tax irregularities — a surge that Minnesota officials have criticized as politically driven and harmful to public trust.