Minnesota
County prosecutor charges ICE agent with assault
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An ICE agent is charged with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in car while driving on a Minneapolis highway, prosecutors in Minnesota said Thursday.
An arrest warrant in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, says Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault. The warrant says Morgan was working as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the Minneapolis area on Feb. 5 when he pointed a gun at the occupants of a vehicle on Minnesota State Highway 62.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she believes it is the first criminal case brought against a federal immigration officer involved in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement that surged federal authorities into cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and New Orleans.
Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The Associated Press called a number associated with Morgan and sent a message to his possible email address but did not receive any immediate response.
Moriarty said during a news conference that Morgan was driving a rented, unmarked SUV on the shoulder of the highway when a car on the road moved into the shoulder to try to slow Morgan down, not knowing he was a federal officer. After the car returned into the legal lane, Morgan pulled up alongside and pointed his service weapon at the people in the car.
Morgan, 35, and his partner, who was not charged, were on their way to the federal building to end their shift when they were caught in traffic. Charging documents note Morgan did not say the incident occurred during an enforcement action.
According to the charging documents, Morgan told a Minnesota State Patrol officer that he pulled up alongside the victim’s vehicle, drew his firearm and yelled “Police Stop.” The warrant says the victims couldn’t hear him because their windows were up.
Morgan is charged with two counts of assault because he threatened both people in the vehicle, and there is a warrant out for his arrest, Moriarty said.
The charges could intensify a clash between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials over the crackdown. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has warned that the Justice Department could investigate and prosecute state or local officials who arrest federal agents for performing their official duties.
Moriarty said she is not concerned about blowback from the Trump administration and that her office’s goal is to “hold people accountable if they violate the laws of the state,” she said.
She said Morgan’s actions were beyond the scope of a federal officers’ authority.
“There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal agents who violate the law in the state of Minnesota,” she said.
In Minnesota, felony second-degree assault is punishable by up to seven years in prison, or up to 10 years imprisonment if the assault inflicted “substantial bodily harm.”
In a letter to California officials last year, then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche wrote that “the Justice Department views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile.”
“Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche wrote. “The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statues (or directs or conspires with others to violate them).”
California
Attorney who tried to help overturn 2020 election loses law license
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California attorney who aided President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has lost his license to practice in the state.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered John Eastman disbarred and his name stricken from the state roll of attorneys. It caps a yearslong effort by the state bar to strip Eastman of his law license after he developed a legal strategy to have then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
A judge for the State Bar Court of California in 2024 recommended that he lose his California law license. Eastman argued he was being punished for simply giving legal advice.
George Cardona, chief trial counsel for the State Bar of California, said Wednesday’s decision follows clear evidence that Eastman “advanced false claims about the 2020 presidential election to mislead courts, public officials, and the American public.”
“The Court’s order underscores that Mr. Eastman’s misconduct was incompatible with the standards of integrity required of every California attorney,” he said.
Eastman’s attorney, Randall Miller, said the decision “raises pivotal constitutional concerns” and that they plan to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling, he said in a statement, “departs from long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, especially in the attorney discipline context.”
The States United Democracy Center, which filed an early ethics complaint against Eastman, cheered the decision.
Eastman was a close adviser to Trump in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He wrote a memo laying out a plan for Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes for Biden while presiding over the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 in order to keep Trump in the White House.
Prosecutors looking to strip Eastman of his law license had depicted him as fabricating a baseless theory and making false claims of fraud in hopes of overturning the results of the election.
An attorney for Eastman had countered that his client wasn’t trying to steal the election but was considering ways to delay electoral vote counting so states could investigate allegations of voting improprieties. Trump’s claims of fraud were roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.
Eastman has also faced criminal charges in Georgia in the case accusing Trump and 18 allies of conspiring to overturn the Republican’s loss in the state. The case was dismissed in November.
Earlier that month, Trump had pardoned Eastman and many others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The pardon only applies to federal crimes.
Eastman had served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and as dean of Chapman University law school in Southern California from 2007 to 2010. He was a professor at the school when he retired in 2021 after more than 160 faculty members signed a letter calling for the university to take action against him.
The California State Bar is a regulatory agency and the only court system in the U.S. that is dedicated to attorney discipline.
County prosecutor charges ICE agent with assault
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An ICE agent is charged with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in car while driving on a Minneapolis highway, prosecutors in Minnesota said Thursday.
An arrest warrant in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, says Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault. The warrant says Morgan was working as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the Minneapolis area on Feb. 5 when he pointed a gun at the occupants of a vehicle on Minnesota State Highway 62.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she believes it is the first criminal case brought against a federal immigration officer involved in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement that surged federal authorities into cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and New Orleans.
Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The Associated Press called a number associated with Morgan and sent a message to his possible email address but did not receive any immediate response.
Moriarty said during a news conference that Morgan was driving a rented, unmarked SUV on the shoulder of the highway when a car on the road moved into the shoulder to try to slow Morgan down, not knowing he was a federal officer. After the car returned into the legal lane, Morgan pulled up alongside and pointed his service weapon at the people in the car.
Morgan, 35, and his partner, who was not charged, were on their way to the federal building to end their shift when they were caught in traffic. Charging documents note Morgan did not say the incident occurred during an enforcement action.
According to the charging documents, Morgan told a Minnesota State Patrol officer that he pulled up alongside the victim’s vehicle, drew his firearm and yelled “Police Stop.” The warrant says the victims couldn’t hear him because their windows were up.
Morgan is charged with two counts of assault because he threatened both people in the vehicle, and there is a warrant out for his arrest, Moriarty said.
The charges could intensify a clash between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials over the crackdown. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has warned that the Justice Department could investigate and prosecute state or local officials who arrest federal agents for performing their official duties.
Moriarty said she is not concerned about blowback from the Trump administration and that her office’s goal is to “hold people accountable if they violate the laws of the state,” she said.
She said Morgan’s actions were beyond the scope of a federal officers’ authority.
“There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal agents who violate the law in the state of Minnesota,” she said.
In Minnesota, felony second-degree assault is punishable by up to seven years in prison, or up to 10 years imprisonment if the assault inflicted “substantial bodily harm.”
In a letter to California officials last year, then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche wrote that “the Justice Department views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile.”
“Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche wrote. “The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statues (or directs or conspires with others to violate them).”
California
Attorney who tried to help overturn 2020 election loses law license
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California attorney who aided President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has lost his license to practice in the state.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered John Eastman disbarred and his name stricken from the state roll of attorneys. It caps a yearslong effort by the state bar to strip Eastman of his law license after he developed a legal strategy to have then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
A judge for the State Bar Court of California in 2024 recommended that he lose his California law license. Eastman argued he was being punished for simply giving legal advice.
George Cardona, chief trial counsel for the State Bar of California, said Wednesday’s decision follows clear evidence that Eastman “advanced false claims about the 2020 presidential election to mislead courts, public officials, and the American public.”
“The Court’s order underscores that Mr. Eastman’s misconduct was incompatible with the standards of integrity required of every California attorney,” he said.
Eastman’s attorney, Randall Miller, said the decision “raises pivotal constitutional concerns” and that they plan to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling, he said in a statement, “departs from long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent protecting First Amendment rights, especially in the attorney discipline context.”
The States United Democracy Center, which filed an early ethics complaint against Eastman, cheered the decision.
Eastman was a close adviser to Trump in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He wrote a memo laying out a plan for Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes for Biden while presiding over the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 in order to keep Trump in the White House.
Prosecutors looking to strip Eastman of his law license had depicted him as fabricating a baseless theory and making false claims of fraud in hopes of overturning the results of the election.
An attorney for Eastman had countered that his client wasn’t trying to steal the election but was considering ways to delay electoral vote counting so states could investigate allegations of voting improprieties. Trump’s claims of fraud were roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.
Eastman has also faced criminal charges in Georgia in the case accusing Trump and 18 allies of conspiring to overturn the Republican’s loss in the state. The case was dismissed in November.
Earlier that month, Trump had pardoned Eastman and many others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The pardon only applies to federal crimes.
Eastman had served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and as dean of Chapman University law school in Southern California from 2007 to 2010. He was a professor at the school when he retired in 2021 after more than 160 faculty members signed a letter calling for the university to take action against him.
The California State Bar is a regulatory agency and the only court system in the U.S. that is dedicated to attorney discipline.
