FEBRUARY 9, 2026 –
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve heard about the personnel crisis sweeping through the USAO (U.S. Attorney’s Office). This is big stuff: a flood of resignations, coupled with amateur-hour attempts to hire replacements—with amateur-hour results. The version of the crisis here in Minnesota began with the resignation of Joe Thompson and five other senior attorneys. These departures were precipitated by a senior level directive at the DOJ to investigate Reneé Good’s widow—not Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Good. Thompson was reportedly outraged by the command and additionally deeply disgruntled by the DOJ’s refusal to allow the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to participate in the post-shooting investigation.
Thompson’s resignation dealt a serious blow to the investigation into the highly publicized massive fraud involving state funds earmarked for social services. Second in command of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the district of Minnesota, Thompson, a career prosecutor and self-acknowledged workaholic, was in charge of the fraud investigation. His command of the evidence in the cases was considered to be nothing short of encyclopedic. Ironically, it was that very fraud that had triggered “Operation Metro Surge,” which had led to the shooting death of Reneé Good, then the order for Thompson to investigate Becca Good, and . . . full circle, to Thompson’s resignation, thus . . . drum roll, drum roll . . . undermining investigation and prosecution of the fraud.
Over the past year, across the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been decimated by a 14% reduction in lawyers, mostly at the most experienced levels. Why? Because bound by rules of ethical behavior and professional standards, the resigning attorneys refused to accede to Trump’s retributive and patently political use of the DOJ.
But the problem doesn’t end there. Filling those vacant slots has become problematic, since the job application questionnaire used in the past—designed to elicit education and experience qualifications—has been replaced by what amounts to a crass test of loyalty to Donald J. Trump. No voter should need a reminder that this is reminiscent to the Nazi pledge of fealty to Adolf Hitler, not the state and a governing constitution. From a practical standpoint, this approach to hiring attracts the dregs, not the bright lights of the profession. Staffing the USAO with political sycophants degrades the professionalism of the office, long known for its exceptional quality. In the past, the USAO was considered the equal of the country’s finest law firms. As is the case with everything else Trump trashes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is fast becoming a shadow of its former quality. This consequence, concentrated in the arena of criminal justice, will be profound and inestimable until the full extent of the damage can be assessed—manifested most acutely, no doubt, by a decline in indictments and convictions of the “worst of the worst.”
Meanwhile, as demanded by numerous bar groups, law professors, prominent practitioners and retired judges, Trump’s overtly political and retributive attack dog, Attorney General Bondi, should be investigated for professional misconduct, evidenced most blatantly by her slavish advancement of Trump’s campaign of retribution against his political enemies.
In quasi-normal times, none of Trump’s retribution agenda routed through the USAO would be tolerated by the other two branches of government or the citizenry. But these aren’t normal or even quasi-normal times. Until Trump and the Party of Complicity are removed from power, we who care about our country mustn’t be lulled into believing these are anything but abnormally dangerous times.
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© 2026 by Eric Nilsson
