Nightly Roundup: ICE Shooting Case Moves, DOJ Reheats the Russia-Probe Grill

Prayer service for federal judges, Plaza of US Courthouse, Minneapolis.jpg by Sharon Mollerus; CC BY 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prayer_service_for_federal_judges%2C_Plaza_of_US_Courthouse%2C_Minneapolis.jpg

First, the actual accountability receipt: AP reported that ICE officer Christian Castro turned himself in to federal authorities after being charged with making false statements to investigators about the January shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis. Castro has not been convicted. Federal prosecutors had previously dropped assault cases against Sosa-Celis and another man after video evidence indicated the officers’ sworn account may have been false. That is not a happy ending; it is the floor. But in an immigration operation that has generated a whole lot of smoke, somebody finally getting charged for allegedly lying about a shooting is at least one small sign the fire alarm still works. AP reporting on Castro’s federal custody and charges

There is a second, messier receipt. ProPublica reported that a federal prosecutor said Justice Department leaders blocked his proposed civil-rights charge against Castro and instead authorized a false-statements case; a DOJ official said the civil-rights investigation remains under review and that no final charging decision has been reached. So, as with a proper Italian sub order, the details matter: the federal false-statements case is real, while the dispute over whether more serious charges were rejected for good is still contested. ProPublica reporting on the charging dispute

Meanwhile, over in the federal grievance warehouse: AP reported that the Justice Department is seeking testimony before a Florida grand jury in its investigation into the government’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 election. The number and identities of witnesses receiving the new subpoenas were not publicly clear, and AP reported that it remains unknown whether anyone will be charged. That is a lot of prosecutorial machinery to crank up while the public gets handed a paper cup marked “trust us.” AP reporting on the new grand-jury subpoenas

For the boring but crucial context that keeps the barroom CB chatter from becoming policy: the Justice Department inspector general documented serious errors and omissions in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, but said it found no documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decision to open it. You can criticize the investigation’s failures without pretending the evidence says whatever today’s political special demands. Revolutionary concept, apparently. DOJ inspector general’s Crossfire Hurricane executive summary

That is the nightly split-screen: one federal officer facing a criminal allegation tied to an immigration crackdown, and a separate Justice Department investigation escalating around a years-old political obsession. Nobody needs to choose between demanding consequences for alleged abuse by an ICE officer and demanding evidence before prosecutors turn old enemies into a permanent happy-hour special. Both are called the rule of law. They used to serve it with the roast beef.

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Featured image: Prayer service for federal judges, Plaza of US Courthouse, Minneapolis.jpg by Sharon Mollerus, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.