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Sommer Honeycutt Says DOJ Was Wrong about Why They Opened the MN-15 Investigation
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As a reminder, my most recent obsession with the MN-15 case started when defendants filed a motion for discovery back on August 13. In a post laying out how the predication of the case depended on assault cases that had been entirely fabricated, I laid out what defendants asked for, along with some context. Those requests were:- “The Court should require the government to produce all reports related to surveillance of Minnesota unions, non-profit organizations, protesters and activists.” This would disclose whether the mentions of spying on unions like SEIU and CWA went further than what defendants have obtained in discovery.
- “The Court should require the government to produce the withheld Project Whipple Shield ROIs.” The government has withheld five Reports of Investigation from the Project Whipple Shield investigation (the sub-investigation of a larger investigation), claiming that those relate to an ongoing investigation.
- “The Court should require the government to produce reports generated pursuant to CUC Operation Keyhole.” The sub-investigation of Project Whipple Shield is part of a larger MN investigation, Operation Puppet Master, which is part of a broader investigation, Operation Keyhole. Sant is demanding the overarching documents.
- “The Court should require the government to produce all of the Clearview AI reports it generated of protesters and activists during Operation Metro Surge.” Sant showed that HSI developed a Clearview dossier on him (with some inaccuracies); he’s demanding all of them.
- “The Court should require the government to produce internal communications related to Operation Puppet Master and Project Whipple Shield.” Sant argues this investigation was predicated on criminalization of First Amendment protected activities; he wants records that may show that.
- “The Court should require the government to produce downloads of all UCA ‘undercover phones’ and ‘undercover laptops.’” DOJ has not turned over the phones and laptops from informants. Sant wants them.
- “The Court should require the government to produce DOJ and DHS communications related to the charging decisions, defendant self-surrender, and doxxing in the AFO cases.” Sant — who is represented by Kevin Riach, who also represented one of the people Pam Bondi doxxed, Paul Johnson — wants records on that doxxing that DOJ withheld by dismissing cases (including Johnson’s). [my emphasis]
Last week, one of the Special AUSAs (many of them JAG officers) that keep cycling through Minnesota’s US Attorney’s Office, Sommer Honeycutt, filed a response.
Before I explain how bad it is, let me note that that same day, a real AUSA, Tory Sailer, filed a notice of appearance, then moved to continue a hearing on the motion that Honeycutt already said she could attend.
The defendants were not amused, partly because defendants and their supporters had already scheduled to be present, partly because MN’s USAO has been diddling with this purportedly important prosecution.
8. The Government has chosen to file a sweeping indictment against fifteen individuals, alleging at least 260 overt acts over a period of six months and involving thousands of hours of investigative time. The Government should be able to assign adequate prosecutorial resources to reflect the alleged size, scope and severity of the charged offense.
You get the feeling that someone reviewed Honeycutt’s response and realized, oh shit, we need to start putting some lawyers with experience on this.
Of the 37-page motion, at least 12 pages addressed a selective prosecution claim that defendants have not yet made. Other broad swaths of the response address a First Amendment challenge that defendants have, likewise, not yet made.
More remarkable still, Honeycutt only addresses four of the discovery requests — basically the sub-requests to the bolded request above. And she does a piss poor job of that.
The Defendants’ broad stroked request for “1) All communications between DOJ prosecutors in this District and DOJ in Washington regarding the decisions to begin this investigation or to pursue this prosecution”, is objected to by the Government for the above reasons. Further the government objects to the Defendants’ requests for “2) All communications between anyone within DOJ and other members of the executive branch related to this investigation and prosecution; 3) All communications between and among federal law enforcement agencies regarding any decisions that suggest they were motivated by political purposes or targeted their investigative activities at protected First Amendment speech or activity.” Lastly, the government objects to the Defendants’ request for “4) All agent rough notes or work product that disclose any improper motivation to commence this investigation or to target investigative activities based on protected First Amendment speech or activity.” Therefore, the Government respectfully asks this Court to deny the Defendant’s discovery requests.
And while some of the original requests were unlikely to be granted, Honeycutt has basically forfeited DOJ’s attempt to address not just those requests, but also more substantive ones, like missing Reports of Investigation, Clearview Reports, and the main informant’s missing phone and laptop.
Likewise, Honeycutt doesn’t address the request I’ve been harping on: the arrest records for 16 people Pam Bondi doxed back on January 28, the same day the investigation was purportedly approved.
The Court should require the government to produce DOJ and DHS communications related to the charging decisions, defendant self-surrender, and doxxing in the AFO cases.
And that’s interesting, because whereas the opening memos (Operation Puppet Master; Operation Whipple Shield) on this investigation both attributed this investigation to events — including purported “assaults against federal officers” but also “impeding federal officers” and “damage to property” that happened since November 2025 (November 28, in the case of the Operation Puppet Master memo), Honeycutt’s description of how and when the investigation started is all over the map, starting with the way she boasts that undercover agents started infiltrating the group before getting approval for the investigation.
The Defense claims that “on January 28, 2026, just four days after agents murdered Alex Pretti, HSI official[sic] opened its mass spying campaign, which it called ‘Operation Puppet Master.” ECF No. 212 at 3. The Defense argues that after the death of Alex Pretti, Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh “directed federal prosecutors to aggressively charge protesters in Minnesota.” Id. at 17. He continued that “on January 28, 2026, DHS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office put Singh’s direction into action. In one day, DHS both initiated “Operation Puppet Master.” Id. The defense claims Associate Deputy Attorney General Singh’s statements were made in “late January.” Id. HSI undercover agents attended meetings on January 11, 2026, and gained access to DAMN Signal chats by January 14, 2026. The indictment includes 83 overt acts prior to January 28, 2026. See generally ECF No 1.
However, HSI’s investigation into “individuals engaged in acts of violence, destruction of federal property, intimidation of federal officers and employees, and attempts to impede federal operations” began in December 2025. See Ex 1. Furthermore, HSI’s investigation into Twin Cities Direct Action (“TCDA”) began well before January 28, 2026. Undercover agents had already infiltrated TCDA by January 11, 2026. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 9, Overt Act (OA) 1-3. At the January 11, 2026, meeting, an unindicted coconspirator created a Signal group chat called “TCDA,” in order to plan for a direct action at the Whipple Building on January 23, 2026. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 3. Undercover agents were invited and gained access to Signal chat messages involving TCDA members by at least January 14, 2026. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 6. DAMN (then called TCDA) members organized and planned for a blockade at the Whipple building in the “TCDA” Signal group chat. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 6-7, 11, 16, 21. Defendant Isaac Sant posted a white flyer in the “TCDA” Signal group chat advertising the blockade at the Whipple building. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 16. The flyer was shared on the Black Cat Worker’s Collective Facebook page. Id. [emphasis original]
You’re not helping, Sommer, but you appear not to understand that.
This section doesn’t address the apparent cherry-picking for the reporting (December surveillance; January surveillance attributed to Project Whipple; much longer report on January surveillance attributed to Operation Puppet Master; badly cherry picked screen capped Signal texts from January from the main informant). And Honeycutt’s timeline is inconsistent with the timeline disclosed in these surveillance reports, because the surveillance started earlier than Honeycutt disclosed.
Worse still, her description of why the investigation started doesn’t match the November timeline of the opening memos — certainly not the November 28 timeline. The only dates that took place before the opening of the investigation (whether January 28 or February 11) described in this section are either in summer 2025 or a November 18 protest that — according to the source she cites — supports a claim of violent federal crackdown but does not back her own claim that protestors threw rocks (though the local Fox account describes “at least one” protestor throwing something). Plus, two events that describe how DOJ hunkered down after ICE shot a mother dead on her way home from dropping her child off at school.
As early as July 31, 2025, Federal Protective Services (FPS) began to get complaints of Whipple employees being aggressively followed. See Ex. 3. FPS Officers received reports from 200-300 people—including directors of the VA, maintenance staff, contractors, lawyers and judges—about harassment, being followed, and other aggressive, intimidating, and interfering behavior. See Ex. 3. For example, officers received complaints about debris being thrown or placed in the road that could puncture vehicle tires outside of the employee/ICE gate. Screws and 2-piece caltrops have been routinely found on a regular basis. See Ex. 3. FPS also received complaints from civilian employees who reported finding tracking devices or air tags on their personal vehicles. See Ex. 31
On June 3, 2025, protesters—incorrectly believing there was an ongoing immigration raid—surrounded a joint law enforcement operation on Lake Street, where federal investigators were executing search warrants in a meth and trafficking case.2 Similarly, on November 18, 2025, federal agents executing a search warrant were surrounded by protesters who began to throw rocks damaging vehicles.3 Agents had to leave the search early for their own safety.
Jersey barriers around Whipple went up on January 12, 2026. See Ex 3A.
1 One civilian contractor noted being followed three times from Whipple in March 26, 2026, April 10, 2026, and April 7, 2026. See Ex. 3A. A Whipple maintenance employee reported being followed on April 29, 2026, and being cut off by the car that resulted in a minor collision. See Ex. 3A On May 6, 2026, one high ranking Veterans Affairs employee noted in their report of being followed to FPS that the encounters he has experienced with the followers “demonstrate clear harassment and intimidation acts meant toward me.” See Ex. 4. He also said saw an uptick in protesting activity outside of the Whipple in approximately June of 2025 and stated he noticed the first violent protestor in September of 2025 and saw an additional increase in December of 2025. The week of January 6th, 2026, the VA were allowed to telework for their safety because of the agitator activities outside of the Whipple building. See Ex 4. On March 12, 2026, an immigration judge reported being on high alert and taking different routes home and is afraid of physical harm after being followed. See Ex. 5. A deportation officer reported being followed four times starting in March of 2026, to include twice being followed to his home or around his home, at one point his minor son was followed while driving the deportation officer’s personal car. See Ex. 6.. This same deportation officer was followed the Whipple building to the federal courthouse in Minneapolis twice. See Ex. 6. One instance Defendant Morgan was following the deportation Officer, waited for him to leave the courthouse and then stepped in front of hindering him from leaving. Morgan was clearly recording him and then knocked his sideview mirror causing it to fold. The incident was captured on the US Marshals surveillance. One administrative assistant for a non-ICE tenant, was followed February 20, 2026, April 8, 2026, April 10, 2026, April 14, 2026, April 15, 2026, April 17, 2026. See Ex. 3A. She relayed she had been followed so many time that she install her own dash camera and home cameras at her own expense. See Ex. 7. She described dangerous and aggressive driving habits while following her, switching lanes and cutting people off. She said they didn’t seem to be trying to hide the fact that they were following her.
2 https://alphanews.org/chaos-erupts-on-lake-street-in-minneapolis-as-feds-attempt-warrant-ondrugs-money-laundering/
3 https://mndaily.com/city/protesters-clash-with-federal-agents-during-immigration-raid-on-st-paulbusiness/11/19/2025/eicmndaily-com/ [my emphasis]
One of her sources — the one for the June 3 protest — includes a very early Nick Shirley cameo, in case you needed proof, beyond Jayden Scott and Jake Lang’s early involvement that this case arose out of far right fever swamps.
And the things that date to January (at least what is accessible in unsealed exhibits — Honeycutt did not include her own exhibits unsealed) — are not about protestors but about the government’s response to having shot a mother dead in her car.
In effect, Honeycutt is saying that the opening memos that took weeks to approve were wrong.
And in a filing that attempts to rebut a First Amendment claim, she relies on complaints of federal employees who are not ICE goons complaining about things that are, in part, protected by the First Amendment, many of which post-date the start of the investigation.
While Honeycutt makes a case that the indictment spanning five months includes two instances of obstruction, her claim that the activities following cars go beyond the First Amendment is weak, and she makes no claim that the events charged as assault really were.
This is — as is so common from Todd Blanche’s DOJ — slovenly work.
But it’s what you get, I guess, when you assign loaner JAGs to run a high-profile prosecution.
Update: Josh Kovensky reads the metadata, which reveals this shitshow filing was actually from the January 6 criminal installed at DOJ.
A Minnesota federal prosecutor hired under Trump II named Sommer Honeycutt was listed as having signed the filing. Metadata on the document lists Brian W. Lynch, a federal prosecutor who marched on the Capitol on January 6, as its author.
Lynch, a longtime gang prosecutor, co-directs Joint Task Force Vanguard, the DOJ’s effort to use organized crime and counterterrorism investigative methods to target the Trump administration’s political opponents.
The document lists Lynch as working in the Office of Deputy Attorney General; the DOJ earlier told TPM that Vanguard reports directly to the Deputy Attorney General, a role until recently held by Blanche.
On top of fucking over Honeycutt, this will make it far easier for defendants on reply to demand communications between MN and Main DOJ.
The post Sommer Honeycutt Says DOJ Was Wrong about Why They Opened the MN-15 Investigation appeared first on emptywheel.