CNN legal analyst Elie Honig (Photo: Screen capture)
CNN's Elie Honig is astonished after seeing six resignations on Tuesday from top Justice Department prosecutors, including a former acting U.S. Attorney in Minnesota.
Speaking to "CNN News Central" on Wednesday morning, Honig couldn't understand why top Justice Department deputy Todd Blanche said there would not be any investigation for civil rights violations for the shooting death of Minneapolis mom Renee Nicole Good.
"How on earth can the number two prosecutor at the United States Justice Department, on the basis of essentially zero investigation, six days after this fatal shooting happened, declare, as he has now done, case over?" Honig questioned.
The only possible criminal charge against the ICE officer who killed Good would be a civil rights violation. Blanche's statement also violated the Justice Department protocols.
"So when Todd Blanche says there's no civil rights investigation, that means there's no criminal investigation, and to draw that conclusion right now, first of all, I think at a minimum, this is a close call that needs a full investigation," Honig said. "But it also is contrary to everything you are taught as a prosecutor: You investigate first, you decide second, and here they're just flipping it on its head. The decision has been rendered."
Sources told the New York Times on Tuesday that the six prosecutors who resigned were told that they would investigate the victim of the shooting and not the shooter.
The former acting U.S. attorney "objected" to the approach of going after Good's partner. He also wanted nothing to do with "the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful," the Times reported, citing people familiar with Thompson's decision.
Honig said he's never seen anything like it before in his time at the Justice Department or in the years since then.