CNN host Erin Burnett and former Department of Justice attorney Patrick Kent on January 16, 2026 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
One former Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney who quit just months into President Donald Trump's second term is now confirming that many of his colleagues are about to leave the DOJ in disgust.
In a Friday segment on CNN's "OutFront," former DOJ lawyer Patrick Kent said the Trump administration's handling of the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross is prompting a mass exodus from the DOJ. CNN host Erin Burnett noted that several high-profile prosecutors have already resigned following Good's death, and asked Kent about the mood inside DOJ.
"It's an absolute intense pressure," Kent said. "Because people came to the department, they were dedicated, dedicated to the Constitution, dedicated to doing the greater good. And now what they've been told is the law doesn't matter."
"And the fact that [the DOJ has] been weaponized, the fact that you see these mass resignations, it's not hard to know what's going on," he continued. "People are not leaving because they want to. People are not leaving because they can't do the job that they were there for. They're leaving because they are being prevented from doing the job that they need to do."
Earlier this week, career prosecutor Joseph H. Thompson, who had been acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota through 2025, stepped down from his role along with five other federal prosecutors. Thompson reportedly objected to the Trump administration instructing his office to investigate Good's partner, rather than Ross, in the wake of the deadly shooting. Kent hinted at potentially even more resignations from the DOJ in response to how the administration is handling Good's death.
"And of course, it makes absolute sense that in the context of Renee Good, that when there is no investigation, when the video is incredibly, incredibly sickening to watch that, in fact, you have these mass departures from the department," Kent said.
Watch the segment below:
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