FBI agent in Minneapolis involved in Renee Good probe resigns
The acting FBI supervisor of the Public Corruption Squad in the Minneapolis field office, Tracee Mergen, resigned last week in part over the investigation of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month, according to multiple sources.
Mergen left the FBI "in part due to the pressure on her to reclassify/discontinue the (Good) investigation," a source with knowledge of her departure told CBS News.
Another FBI source said Mergen "would not bow to pressure" from leadership.
Her squad, which also handles civil rights cases, was involved in both the Good investigation and the ongoing probes into public benefits fraud in Minnesota. Mergen's departure was first reported by The New York Times.
CBS News has tried to reach Mergen for comment.
The fatal shooting of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE officer was initially treated as a civil rights investigation, but Justice Department leadership later ordered the FBI and prosecutors to treat it as an assault on a federal officer and instructed them to investigate Good's wife, CBS News previously reported.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told CBS News the FBI does not comment on personnel matters. He said in a statement regarding the bureau's probe of the Good shooting, "The facts on the ground do not support a civil rights investigation. FBI continues to investigate the incident as well as the violent criminal actors and those perpetrating illegal activity."
According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, the FBI's public corruption squad is also under pressure from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office to investigate campaign finance contributions in connection with Feeding Our Future, the Minnesota nonprofit at the center of what prosecutors have said is the nation's largest COVID-era fraud scheme.
FBI officials told Blanche's office it has reviewed campaign contributions but has not uncovered any evidence linking the benefits fraud to illicit campaign contributions, the source added.