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City Cast Twin Cities

⚖️ Top fraud lawyer switches teams

February 12, 2026

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Today’s Must-Know

A man standing at a podium with three men and one woman standing behind him
Joe Thompson (center), former acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, speaks at a press conference about Medicaid fraud in Minnesota in December 2025. (Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Leading fraud lawyer switches teams

Months ago, former U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson was uncovering social services fraud in Minnesota. Now, he’s representing journalist Don Lemon against federal criminal charges brought by the same office he used to work for. After leading the Feeding Our Future investigation and 17 years with the Department of Justice, Thompson quit last month over the DOJ’s handling of Renee Good’s death. [New York Times / MPR]

  • The case: Lemon, local journalist Georgia Fort, and seven other people face charges under the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. The DOJ argues that the defendants deprived churchgoers of their religious freedom during a protest at St. Paul’s City Church. Protesters objected to a pastor there, David Easterwood, who is also a field office director for ICE. Fort and Lemon were reporting on the protest. [Fox 9]
  • Emptying office: Thompson’s resignation was joined by three other veteran prosecutors. Since then, a total of 14 attorneys have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sources tell the Star Tribune this unprecedented exodus of lawyers could lead to less complex cases being prosecuted. [Star Tribune]

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What the Cities Are Talking About

Targeting refugees: A teen refugee in St. Cloud alleges federal agents separated her from her family and then forced her to share a hotel room with two female federal agents overnight. An agent told the teen that if her family picked her up, they would all be sent to Texas, so ICE took her to the hotel. The teen was returned to the Whipple Federal Building the next day, where her lawyer picked her up. [MPR]

“Repeating history”: Native American activists have set up a prayer camp with tipis outside the Whipple Federal Building. The camp is at Coldwater Spring, or Mni Owe Sni. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. government imprisoned 1,600 Dakota people and killed hundreds at Fort Snelling, which encompasses both sites. [Minnesota Reformer]

Two chicken sandwich sliders on a plate
Fare at Stray Dog Restaurant and Bar. (Courtesy of Trivia Mafia)

Tacos for rent relief: Stray Dog in Northeast Minneapolis is hosting a fundraiser Sunday, Feb. 15, for the Collective Care Fund, which provides rent relief for refugee and immigrant families. Drinks and tacos will be served. [Stray Dog]

Help at Whipple: Nina Moini at MPR interviewed the founder of Haven Watch, a grassroots group that helps people released from detention at the Whipple building. Natalie Ehret told Moini that the group has seen more and more immigrants being released who need financial, mental health, and legal support. [MPR]

Targeting everyone: Sahan Journal reports ICE agents are expanding the pool of who they’re detaining to include immigrants with valid work permits and pending visa or asylum applications. In many cases, immigrants have been released after a successful habeas petition, but a court decision out of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals could make those cases much harder to win. [Sahan Journal]

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