Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem clashed with CNN anchor Jake Tapper over her comments shortly after a deadly shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minnesota.
Speaking to the press after a Minneapolis ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, Noem said in a news conference that Good was partaking in “domestic terrorism” and was attempting to “weaponize her vehicle” to attack ICE officers.
Tapper asked Noem about her statements, which he noted were made before an investigation was launched into the incident.
“Well, everything that I‘ve said has been proven to be factual and the truth,” Noem said. “This administration wants to operate in transparency. I have the responsibility as the secretary of Homeland Security to know this information as soon as possible. I had just been in Minneapolis the day before, had already had conversations with officers on the ground and supervisors, and knew the facts and decided that the department and the people of this country deserve to know the truth about the situation of what had unfolded in Minneapolis.”
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“With all due respect, Secretary, the first thing you said was, ‘what happened was our ICE officers were out in an enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle,'” Tapper said, summarizing her remarks. “That‘s not what happened. We all saw what happened.”
“It absolutely is what happened,” Noem said.
She continued arguing that evidence showed Good had been attempting to block the road and impede federal law enforcement investigations before finally using her car to attack ICE agents.
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Tapper continued to question Noem’s use of the term “domestic terrorist” and how Noem could be certain of her assertions.
“And the question is, I don‘t doubt…my position is I wasn‘t there,” Tapper said. “I didn‘t see it. Some people say that it clearly showed that she was trying to hit him and did. Some people say no, she was clearly trying to move her car and flee and get away. I don‘t know. What I‘m saying is, how do you know? How can you assert for a fact within hours before any investigation this is what happened?”
“The facts of the situation are that the vehicle was weaponized, and it attacked the law enforcement officer. He defended himself, and he defended those individuals around him. That is the definition. When there is something that is weaponized to use against the public and law enforcement, that is an act of domestic terrorism happened in our shores. It happened here in our country. You don‘t get to change the facts just because you don‘t like them,” Noem said, adding that an investigation is ongoing for potential motivation.
Noem later accused Tapper of pushing an “untruthful” depiction of the event, leading Tapper to repeatedly push back against her during the interview.
“We’ve all seen the video. I don‘t need to relitigate it. We‘ve all seen the video. She is blocking the street. They approach her,” Tapper said.
“You haven‘t seen the video of the entire morning in the previous encounters with this individual,” Noem said.
“We have aired it. Yes, we have. On Thursday, we were airing and noting the fact that she was there for several minutes, for minutes and minutes and minutes. She was protesting without question,” Tapper responded.
“At those previous locations that morning, that, absolutely, that these vehicles had been previously down the block on video that you haven‘t seen. There’s more information,” Noem said.
Noem announced earlier on Sunday that the federal government is sending hundreds of additional federal officers to Minnesota in response to the shooting.
