Trump DOJ ditches case against special ed aide after ‘deeply disturbing’ public shaming

The Department of Justice has dropped a case against a special education aide whom it publicly shamed, per a court filing.

According to a court filing published by Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein on Tuesday, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge to dismiss its case against Christina Rank, a special education aide from Minnesota.

Gerstein noted in a post on X that former Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly named Rank in a January X post. Rank’s name showed up first in a list of 16 people who were arrested amid protests in Minneapolis in response to killings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to Bondi’s January post, Rank and the others in the list were arrested under federal laws for “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and employees.”

Shortly after Bondi’s post, a federal judge expressed fury toward Bondi for publishing the names and mugshots of the 16 protesters in a social media post. Judge Dulce J. Foster said in a Minneapolis federal court that she was “deeply disturbed” by the move, adding that sharing images of people who are presumed innocent “is not something that the court condones.”

However, the DOJ’s latest court filing requests that charges be dropped against Rank, a 25-year-old who made headlines after being violently detained and then named by Bondi. According to the DOJ, it didn’t have enough evidence to charge her, and it asked the court to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be refiled.

“Upon a further review of the evidence and affidavit in support of the complaint, the government does not believe that probable cause for assault exists,” the DOJ court filing reads. “Based on a lack of probable cause and in the interest of justice, the government requests this case be dismissed.”