INSANE: FBI makes STUNNING announcement

I'm joined now by the Attorney General. of Minnesota, Keith Ellison. Thanks so. much for joining me. Hey, good to see. you, Brian. Good to see you. Good seeing. you, too. So, there is uh a new. announcement from the FBI that they. formally notified the BCA, so state. investigators in Minnesota, that they're. not going to provide the BCA with any. access to information or evidence um. that was collected in relation to the. death uh the shooting of Alex Ready. So, what are next steps for the BCA now. given the fact that clearly the FBI's. goal in all of this is just to to shut.

the BCA out so that they can, you know, call this thing a wrap and make sure. that there are no consequences for this. ICE agent. Well, there are clearly next steps to be. had. Before I mention those next steps, let me just mention this is. unprecedented. We are quite quite. prepared and have been working with. federal law enforcement for literally. decades. There's absolutely nothing new. It is routine for us to work together on. the file together at the same time. And.

so, for them to take the this position. is novel, it's new, and it raises. serious questions around what you plan. on doing. And so, I'll talk about the. next steps cuz you certainly there are. several, but I don't want people to. slide past the moment. You know, anyone. watching this show might think, well, is. it normal for the FBI just to exclude. state investigators? No, it isn't. It's.

unusual, it's weird, and it feels like. they're trying to cover something up. That's what it feels like to me. Now, to. your question, um. look, we can we can take them to court. That's that's lawfully that's a that's. something we can do. And I I I don't. want to be announcing what we're going. to do cuz then people say, well, when. and this, you know, the once you take. say exactly what you're going to do, then you kind of telegraph what you're. going to do, and I'm not prepared to do.

that today, but I can tell you that. we've been meeting, working on it. We're. not going to stand for it. And then and we are and I'm and I'm want. you to know and anybody listening to. your show, there's no way that the. Minnesota Attorney General's office and. the Hennepin County Attorney's office is. going to let this go. We're going to get. to the truth. and get justice. Flat out, that's what. there is to it. Now, um. you know, they can try to delay things, but they can't ultimately stop things.

The only question is why would they even. want to? And uh so I'll I'll leave it right. there. Yeah, I mean in terms of why they would. want to, I think that that's abundantly. clear. Every member of this. administration has been trying to. pre-clear every ICE agent for everything. they've done because they want these. people to feel like they can act with. impunity. And so, which I guess raises. this this next question. What if there's. evidence, for example, that was. destroyed or tainted by the federal.

government before state investigators. got the opportunity to to get their. hands on it? Well, that would, of course, be bad, but. it's not fatal to the case, right? There's a lot of existing evidence. I. mean, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, when you're a. prosecutor, you want all of the. evidence, all meaning all, so that you can make a. decision about charging. If you decide. to charge, and again, at this point, it. would be irresponsible for us to make.

that announcement, but if that were to. happen, theoretically, we want to make sure that there's. probable cause to either charge a matter. out via complaint or charge it out via. grand jury. And so, that might exist now with. evidence that's already out there. >> Right. Now, here's what I want to say, though. So, somebody watching the show. might say, "Well, why don't you just. charge it now?" Because. charging a case and actually getting a. conviction is two different things. And. if you charge a case out based on the.

probable cause that you have now, you. may could find out later on. that there are things that you wish you. would have known. Now, that doesn't mean. you wouldn't charge. It just means you. have all the you have the whole file and. you could see it all the way through to. what you believe the just outcome is. So, I want everybody to know cuz. everybody wants to know, when are these. people getting charged? And I know. that you want to know,

but we cannot we cannot operate on the. urgency of the moment. We've got to be. looking at the conviction, if that's. where we end up. And so, not having the file leaves the door open. for defense counsel to be like, "Well, they didn't have this. They didn't have. that." And kind of just poke the poke. holes in the case where we what we want. to do is have a case that you that. doesn't have no holes to poke. In terms of the the DHS shutdown right. now, DHS has not been funded. That's the.

one agency that hasn't been funded. Democrats are holding out um to to um. fund that agency until certain. conditions are being met. From your. vantage on the state side, what would be. most helpful in terms of in terms of. conditions that need to be met, um. you know, obviously having dealt with. with the these these fatal shootings of. Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Number one, a rule in place that where there is a.

state interest, the state will be. involved in a joint prosecution and an. independent investigation. >> Yeah. Where there's a state interest, the. state has to be involved. And guess. what? The states get to watch the feds, the feds get to watch the state, keeping. everybody honest and above board and on. the table. And so, that would be one. Number two, eliminate. uh. the Kavanaugh exception to racial. profiling. This has done tremendous.

damage to America. It's I believe Kavanaugh's uh. the little little quip there was. unconstitutional. He tried to fix it in. a later decision, but even then, he's. talking about internal as opposed to on. the border. It was bad ruling from the. beginning. It was the shadow docket. statement that he made, and I believe. green-lit a lot of harm that has. happened to people across our country. That's two. Number three, there must be normal police protocols on.

people who say they're police. So, ICE. runs around with police on it written. all over. Well, that means no mask. That. means. body cams. That means identification, nameplates, numbers. That means uh that. you have not 47 days of training, but. real training on including. de-escalation, racial profiling, and all. the rest. Uh it And so, those are just three. I. could keep on going, but let's just.

start there. Um and there are of course are more, but. I think that ICE is absolutely ICE and. border. are totally out of control. They are totally out of control. They are not dealing with the worst of. the worst. They are. they're abusing people who have who. actually have legal status within the. United States, but may not have. permanent status. So, I was in an interesting. back-and-forth with some US senators who.

didn't want to uh have the United States. continue to deal with its treaty. obligations for asylum seekers, which I found shocking. But if you were having an asylum. petition and a work permit, you have. every right to be in the United States. Are you on thinner ice than somebody. with another kind of status? Of course, you are. But you are not. an undocumented person. But you know, ICE can pick you up and say, "That's.

over. Out." Yeah. You know? And And. these are the things we've got to come. to agreement on. They cannot. mess with people who have a status. We're going to have to have everybody. gets their due process rights. And so, that's going to have to be locked in as. well. And, you know, the use of guns. These people, they know how to shoot. them, but they don't know how to not. shoot them. And we need folks who. understand de-escalation, proper. handling of firearms. Can you talk for a moment about. qualified immunity? Can you give a a.

brief explanation of what it is and and. how that needs to be reformed in light. of what we've seen? So, there's a lot of kind of immunities, right? There's two that I think are relevant. right here. When you sue and are seeking. compensation, there is a form of qualified immunity. that says, and it's by the way, no no. legislature passed this. Congress did. not do this. This is based on a case I. think it's called Fitzgerald versus.

Harlow. And this And in this case, the. judge just said a a public servant, a. federal employee. can it won't be liable unless there's a. case. signaling to them that what they just. did. is not law that you would be held liable. for it. So, if it's sort of something. that they've that there's no case on, the courts have said that they get a. pass.

because they weren't duly notified. Now, this is complete garbage. Why? Because. you have laws, you have statutes, you. have all kind of reasons for people to. be on notice that certain things they. cannot do. But this this qualified. immunity. is stands as something of a bar for. civil liability. uh if there's not a case on point. Now, that doesn't mean that people aren't. going to be held accountable. People are. held accountable every single day. You. cannot shoot people when you don't have. any reasonable basis to to do so. You.

There are a lot of reasons that you can. get through, but there is a lot of bad. conduct that gets shielded by qualified. immunity. Now, there's another kind of. qualified immunity. And this is under the supremacy clause, and this has to do with with a state. criminally prosecutes a federal agent. There is a qualified immunity premised. on the supremacy clause and it says. this, "Look, if you are a federal agent doing.

your job and doing what is necessary and. proper in the performance of your job, you have an immunity from state criminal. prosecution.". So, if you're driving If your job is to. drive a truck and you're a federal. worker and you run and you get into an. accident, it's. you know, it wasn't necessarily your. fault, it wasn't intentional, you could. say it was necessary and proper for me. to drive the truck and I did what was. necessary and proper, meaning I tried to. obey the laws of the road.

So, that's your defense. You have a. defense there. Now, what if you. see somebody who you don't like because. of their race and you decide to use that. state vehicle, that federal vehicle to. run them down. That's not necessary and. proper to do your job. Or let's say that. somebody um. theoretically speaking. uh is uh at a protest, you knock them to. the ground, pull their legally and. lawfully possessed firearm off their. body, so now you know they're not armed, and you shoot them 10 times. Maybe.

that's not necessary and proper for the. performance of your duty. So, my point. is, and I'm speaking theoretically now, but what I'm saying is, just because these immunities are in. place does not mean that these folks are. going to escape responsibility and legal. liability. One of them is in the civil. context, one of them is in the criminal, but they both just give a public. employee some protection in terms of the. when they do their job the way it's.

supposed to be done. But when they. deviate from that, they have to stay. they have to face the music. Uh have you dealt with any other state. AGs um in terms of figuring out what the. best way to collaborate is so that. you're not just reinventing the wheel. every single time? I mean, ICE is going. to, you know, not just Minnesota, ICE. has gone to my state of California, they've gone to Chicago, they've gone to. Portland, gone to Washington, D.C. And. so it doesn't we don't need to reinvent. the wheel every single time if there's.

abuses at the hands of ICE. And so what. kind of collaboration is taking place. among attorneys general? Well, let me tell you, we meet on the. phone at least two three times a a week. Our staffs are talking constantly based. on their subject matter areas, and I. mean multiple times a week. We have quarterly meetings that we we go. to that where we get together and talk. about things. We don't really tell. people when we're at those quarterly. meetings for security reasons. Yeah. But.

we do meet. face-to-face in a regular basis, and we. all know each other and get on the phone. on the regular basis. So, the thing is, we're we're talking three or four times. a week on Zoom, and we're meeting face-to-face at least. quarterly. So, we have a high degree of. coordination, and it's not just on. federal accountability. It can be on. antitrust. I mean, a lot of people are concerned. about this, you know, the CBS, Netflix, Warner Brothers, Paramount, all. that. People are concerned about that.

And so we talk about these things. amongst ourselves. We also talk about. everything from wage stuff to. you know, like how some of the online. platforms that, you know, like Uber, Lyft, all the rest, Shift, all the rest of. them. We talked about how those. interface with the law as it exists. We. talked about nearly everything under the. sun. Consumer protection, women's. rights, labor rights, civil rights. We.

talk about all this stuff all the time. And then we talk to people like you, Brian. Like we get a lot of income. incoming advice from folks who care, you. know, and. we interact with the groups like Norm. Eisen's group, you know, Joanna Lydgate's group, Marc. Elias's group, NAACP, Urban League, Lawyers' Committee, American. the American Civil Liberties Union.

And so we we try to stay in touch. And. then we all go to community meetings. constantly. You know, your average AG, your average elected AG, well they they. is a lawyer, but much of the work we do. is engage the public and administer the. office and give direction to staff. lawyers who actually write the briefs. and go to court and make the arguments. Well, I I appreciate the work you're. doing and especially in conjunction with. some of these groups like, you know, ELG.

and and and Democracy Defenders Fund and. and ACLU and all those other groups. So, thank you thank you for doing that work. and for staying on top of this stuff, especially as it relates to the abuses. at the hands of ICE. And. appreciate you taking the time today. Well, may I just say, man, free. independent media podcasters like. yourself, you guys are helping the. people know what's going on. They trust. you. They listen to your show. I listen. to your show. And if you want to know. what's up, you got to listen to this. show. I appreciate that. Thanks so much.