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The lead federal prosecutor who helped uncover massive fraud in Minnesota has resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to media reports.
Joe Thompson served as the acting U.S. Attorney of Minnesota after being appointed by President Donald Trump in May 2025. He led the office until Daniel Rosen took over as U.S. attorney in October.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the United States and this office,” Thompson, 47, wrote in an email obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
He did not disclose the reason for his departure or what he plans to do next. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department.
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First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson describes a sprawling fraud investigation involving state-run programs in Minnesota at a news conference Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Minneapolis. Thompson has reportedly resigned from the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota. (AP Newsroom)
A New York Times report said that Thompson and other prosecutors resigned over the Justice Department’s approach to the investigation of the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota by a federal immigration agent last week.
Thompson reportedly rejected the DOJ’s refusal to include state officials in the investigation and a push to investigate Good’s widow.
Thompson was the lead prosecutor that helped uncover the massive $250 million Feeding Our Future food fraud case tied to the state’s Somali community.
The fraud has resulted in dozens of indictments and convictions, as well as shining a spotlight on fraud concerns in Minnesota. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz chose not to run for a third term amid the widening scandal.
“Our state is far and away the leader in fraud now and everyone sees it,” Thompson told the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board last year.
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The Department of Justice said the agency has been restored after the Biden administration. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition, Thompson was involved in several other high-profile cases, including filing federal charges against Vance Boelter for his alleged shooting rampage that killed Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and seriously wounded Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, according to the newspaper.
Aside from Thompson, at least four senior lawyers at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division resigned in recent days, Reuters reported.
The departures were prompted in part by a decision to sideline their unit from investigating the shooting death of Good, according to two sources familiar with the departures.
Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the division and was appointed by Trump, informed the unit last week they would not be involved in the probe, one of the sources said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal matter.
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The Trump administration said Good was trying to ram a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, while critics contend she was trying to get away from authorities.
