President Donald Trump has doubled down on his response to the fatal shooting of a protester by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday, but admitted that he did not like to see such tragedies unfolding in U.S. cities.
After Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother of three, was shot dead behind the wheel of her car on a residential street following a confrontation with federal immigration officers, the president took to social media to blame the victim.
Trump wrote that he had reviewed footage of the incident and concluded: “The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.”
He went on to express sympathy for the agent involved, commenting: “It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”
That claim was subsequently contradicted by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who told CNN that he understood the victim was the only person hurt in the encounter.
Pressed about his reaction in the Oval Office by New York Times reporters who had assembled to interview him, the president maintained that Good was at fault and had “run over” the officer who shot her.
“I want to see nobody get shot,” Trump told the journalists. “I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either… That was a vicious situation that took place.”
“She behaved horribly,” he went on to say of the deceased. “And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over… With all of it being said, no, I don’t like that happening,”
Trump then ordered his aide Natalie Harp to bring a laptop over to the Resolute Desk so that the group could rewatch the clip together and observed, once it had finished: “It’s a terrible scene, I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”
Also responding controversially to the shooting was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who insisted Wednesday that Good had been “stalking” a group of ICE officers in her Honda Pilot just prior to the killing and likewise alleged she had attempted to run them over in “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Her comments provoked an angry response from Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who called her version of events “bulls***” and a “garbage narrative,” while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries branded Noem “a stone-cold liar with zero credibility.”
Illinois Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly has since said she plans to impeach the secretary, calling her “an incompetent leader and a disgrace to our democracy.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Noem’s deputy, meanwhile, described Good as a “violent rioter” who had “weaponized her vehicle” against the officers, one of whom had opened fire “fearing for his life” to save his colleagues.
She also said that the ICE “officers” who were injured “are expected to make full recoveries,” confusing the situation further by suggesting multiple agents might have been harmed in the episode, which is not supported by the available video evidence.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” offered a more nuanced response when he told CBS News that an investigation should be allowed to “play out” and that it would be “unprofessional” of him to comment without having established the facts.
He later clarified on X (Twitter) that he had not seen the footage at the time the interview was conducted and added, “The brave men and women of ICE are heroes. Like all Americans, our officers have a right to self defense. Full stop.”
Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that Good’s death was “a tragedy of her own making,” called her a “deranged leftist,” also disputing the video evidence and assuring ICE officers “the entire administration stands behind them.”
“The gaslighting is off the charts and I’m having none of it,” Vance said of the uproar her killing had caused. “This guy was doing his job. She tried to stop him from doing his job. When he approached her car, she tried to hit him.“
Offering a counter-perspective, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the incident “state-sponsored terrorism” and accused ICE of serving as Trump’s “personal police force” and driving “extremism and cruelty while discarding basic safeguards and accountability.”
Other political reactions have revealed a sharp divide, with Missouri lawmakers demanding an investigation and Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller calling on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to strip Gov. Walz of power, with further protests anticipated.
On late-night TV, comedian Jimmy Kimmel called the president a “maniac” over his original Truth Social post and brandished a T-shirt carrying Frey’s demand that federal forces: “Get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes, appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, said that many Americans watching footage of Good’s shooting would interpret it as “cold-blooded murder,” a word also used by the deceased’s grieving former father-in-law.
