BREAKING: ACCOUNTABILITY for criminal ICE agents

You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, we've got some shocking news here. that frankly, I didn't think we would. ever see and it relates to ICE. Can you. explain what the feds just did? >> Brian, I have to say, this is one of the. few pleasant surprises coming out of DOJ. in as long as I can remember. At long last, they turned over the. evidence in the killings of Renee Good. and Alex Preddy, which, you know, were. committed days apart in Minneapolis back. in January, about 6 months ago now,

killed by immigration enforcement. agents. And ever since the time of those. two killings, the feds grabbed up the. evidence, ran with it back to. Washington, D.C. and they've been hiding. it. They've been concealing it. They've. been secreting it from the state law. enforcement authorities, the. investigators and the prosecutors, who. needed that evidence to conduct a full, fair, apolitical state investigation. because these killings were committed in.

Minneapolis and the state prosecutor's. District Attorney Mary Moriarty had a. responsibility to investigate these. killings fully, fairly, and. apolitically, but she couldn't do it. without the evidence. Well, now, I feel. like I buried the lead because the lead. is that at long last, the feds have. given the evidence in the fatal. officer-involved shootings of Renee Good. and Alex Preddy to the state law. enforcement authorities, District. Attorney Mary Moriarty and the criminal.

investigators. And that sort of comes as. a surprise because, you know, Brian, our. viewers might remember that District. Attorney Moriarty so desperately wanted. and needed that evidence to do her job, investigate killings that occurred in. her jurisdiction, that she sued the. Department of Justice trying to get them. to turn over the evidence, share the. evidence with the state authorities, which is the normal course usually when. there are two jurisdictions, federal and.

state, who have an interest in a. particular investigation. Trust me, I. was there as a career prosecutor. As a. fed, I cooperated with state law. enforcement authorities all the time, and we cooperated well and effectively. and professionally with one another, but. not Todd Blanch or Pam Bondi before him. But, they had to sue the Department of. Justice, and he and then DOJ said, "Nope. Nope. Nope. Not giving it over.". Well, at long last, in something of a.

surprise move, Todd Blanch just gave up. the ghost, had a change of heart, and. decided, "Okay, I will give you the. evidence so you can investigate the. fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex. Prady.". >> A quick note, my new book, The Day. After, is now officially on sale. If you. appreciate my videos and would like to. support my work, please consider. grabbing a copy this week since this. week is my best shot at hitting the New. York Times best seller list. I also have. my book tour happening this week in. Washington D.C., New York, and L.A. You.

can find the link to order the book and. to go to the book tour in the post. description or at. briantylercohen.com/book. Ken, why do we think they finally. relented and handed over this evidence. after months of delay? >> Okay, Brian, color me cynical, but I. think I have a pretty good reason why. Todd Blanch all of a sudden had a change. of heart. Do you think it could have anything to. do with the fact that his confirmation. hearing to be the permanent attorney. general for the United States is in just.

a few days? And and I can't imagine he. would want the senators to question him. about the fact that he is still. obstructing justice in not one but two. state homicide investigations by. refusing to turn over the evidence even. though DOJ has been sued by the state to. try to get the evidence so the state can. just do its job. You know, Todd Blanche. didn't do this because he had an.

epiphany and all of a sudden it's like, "Hey, I think I've got to do the right. thing." Come on. It has to be all about. his upcoming rapidly approaching. confirmation hearing because let's face. it, he desperately wants to be confirmed. as permanent Attorney General. Why? So. he can continue to protect Donald Trump. from the Epstein files and everything. else. So he can continue to do Donald. Trump's dirty bidding rather than. represent the interests of the American. people, which is what an Attorney.

General is sworn, is duty-bound to do. Todd Blanche wants to be confirmed so he. can continue to be Donald Trump's flunky. and lapdog and sync of sycophant. You. know, I kind of feel Brian like Todd. Blanche is now going to try to pedal. this like, "Well, you know, we had to. take some time to go through the. evidence and now that we've done our due. diligence, we're ready to give it to the. state." Oh, nonsense. He's going to, you. know, basically be a modern-day Alfred.

E. Neuman of Mad magazine fame and say, "What? Me? Obstruct?". Yeah, he obstructed for 6 months and. he's turning it over for the most. cynical and craven of purposes right. now, in my opinion. >> Look, if this is just a way for Todd. Blanche to curry favor with Republicans. ahead of his confirmation hearing, then. how does he explain away his refusal to. give any answers on another massive. issue, which is the Epstein files? Why 3. million documents haven't been released?

Why Ghislaine Maxwell was moved from a. prison in Florida to a low-security. prison in. in Texas, which of course, Todd Blanche himself had everything to. do with? >> You know, Brian, I'm going to take an. educated guess. There is a a. difference in providing a state, Minnesota, the evidence it needs to. investigate potential murders, fatal. shootings of American citizens, of all. things, Renee Goodan and Alex Pretty.

Um, by federal agents, uh, immigration. enforcement agents. You know, it's one. thing to give over that evidence and. risk those agents being held accountable. for murder and perhaps convicted and. imprisoned, even though we'll talk about. how the Feds will fight the ability of. the state to actually prosecute them if. it comes to that. It's one thing to give. up a couple of ICE agents. It's another. thing entirely to give up Donald Trump. And if you give over the full Epstein.

files, unredacted, as the law the. Epstein Files Transparency Act requires, and as Todd Blanche has been violating. every day since December 19th, well, then what you're doing is you're. potentially giving Donald Trump up, because we know there are allegations in. the Epstein files that have only been. partially released about a young girl. directly accusing and implicating Donald. Trump in both sexual assault and.

battery, physical assault, but Todd. Blanche has seen fit not to give up all. of the information, the evidence, the. handwritten notes, and other materials. regarding that. So, that's why he is. going to battle the, um, the Epstein. Files Transparency Act and the. obligations under federal law he has to. disclose things. He's going to battle. that to the death, I predict. And as our. viewers may know, our friend Katie Phang. is making pretty significant headway in. a lawsuit she brought to just make Todd.

Blanche and the DOJ comply with the damn. federal law. So, our viewers will have. to stay tuned on that front, as well. All right, so going back to this ICE. evidence being handed over from the feds. to state officials. Um, is there any way. that the federal government could have. interfered with the evidence that took. them so long to produce and ultimately. turn over? Like, can we can we really. trust the information handed over by. this DOJ that it wasn't meddled with or. interfered with? >> Brian, it pains me to answer that.

question in the way I feel compelled to. answer it. No, we cannot trust the. Department of Justice to be straight up. with the evidence, you know, give it all. over fully without any tampering with. the evidence, you know, having gone on. by Donald Trump's dirty DOJ officials. I. have no confidence in the Department of. Justice and its dirty DOJ lawyers who. are Trump lawyers, not the career public. servants still 90,000 strong who are.

doing the work of the American people, but that's not who's involved in, you. know, these ICE cases and hiding the. evidence um that the state authorities. had to sue DOJ just to get its hands on. So, no, I have no confidence that DOJ. Todd Blanche will actually give. everything over and what they do give. over, you know, I'm going to have to. investigate to see if I am the Hennepin. County District Attorney or her team to. make sure it is uh has not been altered, has not been tampered with. It is a full.

and complete accounting of the evidence. that the feds had in those two. officer-involved fatal shootings. But, do I trust DOJ? No, nor do the federal. judges who basically won't even give. them the presumption of regularity in. court anymore. In other words, they're. not willing to take DOJ lawyers' words. for anything or believe them or credit. them because of the way, you know, DOJ. and Todd Blanche has dispatched these. flunkies and these lapdogs incompetent.

and unethical lawyers to go in and do. Donald Trump's bidding rather than to. well and faithfully represent the. interests of the American people. I want. to add one thing because buried way down. in some reporting, I think it was a. Politico article, there was one other. thing at play that I think for the sake. of completeness I should mention with. respect to what might have motivated. Todd Blanche to turn over the evidence. Now, I think the timing is pretty. transparently and cynically all about.

his upcoming confirmation hearing, but. it's interesting cuz there was also some. reporting about how there was another. shooting. Our our viewers might remember. it. It was a shooting by an ICE agent. named Christian Castro and he was. chasing some alleged, you know, immigrant. But what he ended up doing is. basically scaring some other person and. that person who wasn't involved in the. chase ran into his house and this ICE. agent, Christian Castro, fired a shot. through the door and hit this poor guy,

Julio Cesar Sosa Celis, is his name. Hit. him in the thigh, shot him in the thigh. through his door, the door of his house, even though he had nothing to do with. nothing. And you know what happened, Brian? First of all, this ICE agent. allegedly made false statements, you. know, trying to misdirect authorities. and and suggest he did nothing wrong. when it seems pretty clearly he did. plenty wrong. Um and he was also being. investigated for that assault by. shooting somebody who he should not have. shot. And so the the Minneapolis.

um law enforcement investigators had the. evidence. It was in state custody and. guess what? The feds said, "We demand. that evidence from the state. investigators and prosecutors because we. want to look into this alleged shooting. by ICE agent Christian um. Castro." And you know what the state. authority said? "Well, what's good for. the goose is good for the gander. How. about a little reciprocity? We'll give.

you the evidence that you are. requesting, but you need to give us the. evidence in the Good and Pretty. shootings and killings. So, you know, bravo to the state law enforcement. authorities who were willing to go hard. and say, "Listen, you're not going to. show us yours, we're not going to show. you ours that you want." And that was. reported as perhaps we don't know for. sure exactly what motivated Todd Blanche. to change course, but that also may have.

played into why it was that this, you. know, evidence swap ultimately took. place. >> Glenn, do you think that we will see ICE. prosecutions at the state level? And if. so, will the federal government allow. it? The Trump administration allow it? Can the federal government do anything. to block it? >> Yeah, Brian, that's still kind of the. $64,000 question. I think the answer is, based on the evidence that I've seen as. a career prosecutor, based on just the. public reporting, it looks like there is criminal. liability for both of these killings of.

Renee Good and Alex Pretty. So, let's. assume, let's kind of do a thought. experiment that two grand juries indict. the the shooters. I think there were. multiple shooters of Alex Pretty, one. shooter of Renee Good. They indict them. in obviously separate cases. Here's what. will happen. The defendants, um, through. their attorneys will file motions to. remove the case from state court into. federal court because they will claim, "Well, we've got some, you know, qualified immunity here against being.

prosecuted if we were law enforcement. agents acting within the scope of our. official duties as, you know, immigration enforcement agents." And. they may very well be successful in. getting the case transferred into. federal court, though it will still be a. state case. The state prosecutors will. travel with the case to federal court, and then they'll have to fight the. battle of whether the officers in these. two fatal shootings, um, were acting within the scope of. their duties and it was necessary and.

proper. Those are some magical terms in. the law when it comes to. officer-involved shootings, whether it. was necessary and proper such that they. should enjoy immunity, supremacy clause. immunity is what it's called, and the. cases should be dismissed. But just. because the cases get transferred to. federal court does not mean that a judge. will rule, "Oh, yeah, these these fatal. shootings were just fine. Well within. the scope of their official duties and. entirely necessary and proper." Not from.

where this old prosecutor sits. The way. I assess the evidence that I've seen, haven't seen all of it, I've only seen. what was publicly reported often from. multiple cell camera angles. But so. yeah, I feel like, you know, justice has. just begun to fight when it comes to the. ultimate resolution of any cases that. are brought by the state against the ICE. officers in the fatal shootings of both. Renee Good and and Alex Pretty, but you. know, this is a huge step forward in the.

direction of accountability and perhaps. justice. >> All right, well of course, we will leave. it there. A lot more to come on this. topic in particular. So if you're. watching and you want to follow along, please make sure to subscribe to both of. our channels. It's a great way to. support our work, great way to support. independent media, and great way to stay. on top of the news. I'm going to put. those links right here on the screen and. also in the post description of this. video. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> And I'm Glenn Kirschner. >> You're watching the Legal Breakdown. >> [music].