ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Author at The Rapid City Post

An activist is detained by federal agents on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

More departures at the US attorney’s office in Minnesota, AP sources say

February 3, 2026

More prosecutors are leaving the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota during a time of continued turmoil over the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement in the state and recent shootings of civilians by federal agents. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter. The latest departures are on top of a half-dozen attorneys who resigned from the office last month amid frustration over the Justice Department’s response to the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. At least one supervisory agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis office is known to have resigned last month as well.

Anam Petit, a former Justice Department employee, poses for a portrait in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Moriah Ratner)

Inside a year of firings that have shaken the Trump Justice Department: ‘A great deal of fear’

January 15, 2026

As Attorney General Pam Bondi approaches her first anniversary on the job, the firings of career attorneys have defined her turbulent tenure. The terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience. They have also left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark defending the rule of law when President Donald Trump is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies. Interviews by The Associated Press of more than a half-dozen fired employees offer a snapshot of the toll throughout the department. The Justice Department has disputed the accounts of some of those who have been fired or quit.

FILE - This image shows part of a "Seeking Information" notice released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding pipe bombs planted outside offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, on the eve of the attack on the Capitol. (FBI via AP, File)

FBI makes arrest in investigation into pipe bombs placed in DC on eve of Jan. 6 riot, AP source says

December 4, 2025

The FBI has made an arrest in its nearly 5-year-old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. That’s according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday. The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories. The pipe bombs were placed on Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI said both devices could have been lethal.

FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 8, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Dismissal of Comey, James cases won’t be the final word. Here’s what the path ahead may look like

November 25, 2025

A federal judge’s dismissal of criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney Letitia James, two political foes of President Donald Trump, won’t be the final word on the matter. The Justice Department says it plans to immediately appeal a pair of rulings that held that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed. It also has the ability to try to refile the cases, though whether it can successfully secure fresh indictments through a different prosecutor is unclear, as is whether any new indictments could survive the crush of legal challenges that would invariably follow.

President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, as Attorney General Pam Bondi listens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Justice Department issues flurry of subpoenas in fresh inquiry into Trump-Russia probe: AP sources

November 7, 2025

The Justice Department has embarked on a fresh investigation into one of President Donald Trump’s chief grievances, issuing a flurry of subpoenas related to the U.S. government’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That’s according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The grand jury subpoenas issued out of the Southern District of Florida seek documents related to the preparation of the Obama administration’s intelligence community assessment, made public in January 2017, that detailed how Russia waged a covert influence campaign to help Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

FBI fires additional agents who participated in investigating Trump, AP sources say

November 4, 2025

The FBI has continued its personnel purge, forcing out additional agents and supervisors tied to the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election despite efforts by Washington’s top federal prosecutor to try to stop at least some of the terminations. That’s according to people familiar with the matter. The employees were told this week that they were being fired but those plans were paused after D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro raised concerns. The agents were then fired again Tuesday, though it’s not clear what prompted the about-face. The total number of fired agents was not immediately clear.

FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey pauses as he speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Lawyers for Comey seek grand jury transcript, bringing fresh challenge to a case pushed by Trump

October 30, 2025

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey want to review a transcript and audio recording of grand jury proceedings in his criminal case, citing what they say were “irregularities” in the process that should result in the dismissal of an indictment pushed by President Donald Trump. The request is one in a series of challenges that defense lawyers have waged against a criminal case charging Comey with lying to Congress five years ago.

FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill Washington, Dec. 17, 2018. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Comey’s lawyers say case against him is driven by Trump’s ‘personal animus’ and must be thrown out

October 20, 2025

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey are urging a judge to dismiss the case against him. In court papers Monday, they called it a vindictive prosecution motivated by “personal animus” and orchestrated by a White House determined to seek retribution against a perceived foe of President Donald Trump. The lawyers separately called for the indictment’s dismissal because of what they said was the illegitimate appointment of the U.S. attorney who filed the case days after being hastily named to the job by Trump. The double-barrel attack on the indictment, which accuses Comey of lying to Congress five years ago, represents the opening salvo in what is expected to be a protracted court fight ahead of a trial currently set for Jan. 5.

FILE - FBI Director James Comey pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 3, 2017, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

A conviction may be besides the point for the Justice Department as it pursues case against Comey

September 26, 2025

Now that it’s secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, the Justice Department faces the significantly tougher task of building a case it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet a conviction may be almost beside the point. As the administration pursues investigations into President Donald Trump’s political enemies, officials have signaled that making life uncomfortable for targets of the retribution — including through reputational harm, legal fees and lingering uncertainty — is a desired goal in its own right, separate and apart from the ability to secure a guilty verdict.

FILE - Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel speak during a news conference at the Department of Justice, May 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Justice Department to try to charge ex-FBI Director James Comey, AP sources say

September 24, 2025

The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment as soon as Thursday against former FBI Director James Comey on allegations that he lied to Congress as prosecutors approach a legal deadline for bringing charges. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter. Officials are hoping to file the case in the Eastern District of Virginia days after President Donald Trump appealed to his attorney general to charge Comey and other perceived political adversaries and following Trump’s replacement last week of the office’s top prosecutor with a White House aide who had served as one of his one personal lawyers.

FBI Director Kash Patel appears before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Democrats press FBI director on Epstein files and other takeaways from his testimony to Congress

September 17, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel has defended the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files as he returned to Capitol Hill for a second day to face intense questioning from Democrats over his promises of transparency surrounding the convicted wealthy financier’s case. The political blowback over the Trump administration’s decision in July not to publicly release more investigative files from Epstein’s case was at the center of Patel’s five-hour appearance Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee hearing. It followed an at-times raucous hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Bondi moves forward on Justice Department investigation into origins of Trump-Russia probe

August 4, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving forward with a Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Her action follows the recent release of documents by the Trump administration aimed at undermining the legitimacy of that inquiry. Bondi has directed a prosecutor to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury after referrals from the Trump administration’s top intelligence official. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. Fox News first reported the development.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters as President Donald Trump listens, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Trump mired in Epstein controversy as Wall Street Journal reports on 2003 letter

July 17, 2025

The controversy over President Donald Trump’s handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation entered a new dimension Thursday as his administration struggles to make good on its promises to release details on the sex trafficking case involving a one-time friend of the now-president. Trump threatened a lawsuit after The Wall Street Journal on Thursday described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter. Trump in recent days has berated supporters vying for more records from the Epstein probe, after years of courting political support from those who have stoked claims of a coverup in the case.

Justice Dept. fires more prosecutors, support staff involved in Trump prosecutions, AP sources say

July 12, 2025

The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into President Donald Trump. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter. The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear. But they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probe as well as Justice Department support staff and other personnel who aided them. The people who confirmed the firings spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.

ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER.