Some White House insiders are stunned by the Trump administration’s rapid response to the deadly Minneapolis shooting and are concerned that it could undermine confidence in the investigation, according to a new Politico report.
Just hours after Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the 37-year-old mom of “domestic terrorism,” prompting concern from within the administration and among current and former ICE officials, the report says.
Insiders fear, according to the report, that her message risks “undermining public confidence in the ongoing investigation” and “expanding the credibility gap between the public and the immigration agency.”
“Do I think it’s domestic terrorism? Yeah, I do,” one official said. “But it might not have been wise to say that at the outset, how [Noem] said it.”
The Independent has contacted DHS for comment.
Shortly after the shooting, Noem hosted a press conference where she said Good “weaponized her vehicle” against the ICE agents at the scene and committed an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Democrats and several local officials were quick to condemn the shooting and push back on the Trump administration’s characterization of the event. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the “domestic terrorism” claims “bulls***,” in a post on X shared Thursday.
Several videos have since been released of the incident, including footage shared by the DHS on Saturday that appears to show the minutes that led up to the fatal shooting. The agency asserted Good was “STALKING and IMPEDING a law enforcement operation” in a social media post accompanying the video.
Other administration officials told Politco the wildly different interpretations of the footage offered up by Democrats and Republicans will only enhance political tensions.
“I don’t know how we recover from this,” an unnamed administration official told Politico.
The administration official also pointed to Thursday’s incident in Portland, Oregon, in which Border Patrol agents shot two people. Politico reports the official was more sympathetic to the Portland shooting because it happened during a targeted operation, but they conceded that the two incidents will likely be associated with each other.
“This is highly problematic and not a good look and not something our government should be remotely engaged in,” the official added, referring to the Minneapolis shooting.
“Whatever outcome this investigation produces, I don’t see how anyone’s gonna believe it when the secretary already is firmly — and doubled down on — a conclusion without knowing all the facts,” John Sandweg, a former ICE director under President Barack Obama, told Politico.
Politico’s source close to the White House also praised border czar Tom Homan, who told CBS Evenings earlier this week that he would not comment on the shooting because of the ongoing investigation.
“Homan had a very mature response, and a thoughtful, professional way of dealing with it,” the source told the outlet.
When asked about these concerns, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin pointed Politico to videos of the incident shared online by Trump administration officials and said: “If you weaponize a vehicle, a deadly weapon to kill or cause bodily harm to a federal law enforcement officer, that is an act of domestic terrorism and will be prosecuted as such.”
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