Topline
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he now sees “both sides” of the Jan. 7 ICE shooting that killed a woman in Minneapolis—amid ongoing unrest and protests across the country over what’s widely believed to be an unjustified use of force.
Key Facts
Trump told reporters he “felt terribly” about Good being killed, adding, “I understand both sides of it,” before complaining about protesters at the scene.
The comments mark a departure from Trump’s previous rhetoric blaming Good for the shooting and claiming she ran over the officer, Jonathan Ross, before he fatally shot her, despite video footage that doesn’t show her car making contact with Ross, and accounts from state and local officials disputing the Trump administration’s narrative.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Good a “domestic terrorist” in the wake of her killing, and Trump accused her of being a “professional agitator” who “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer” (there’s no evidence Good was a “professional agitator,” though her wife said they both had participated in a protest against ICE the day she was killed, according to The New York Times).
Trump also acknowledged Tuesday Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “going to make mistakes sometimes,” adding “they’re dealing with rough people. Are they going to make a mistake? Sometimes it can happen.”
Trump seemed to dilute his earlier, more heated rhetoric in comments to Reuters last week, telling the outlet, “I don’t get into right and wrong” when asked if the ICE officer did the right thing, adding “I know that it was a tough situation to be in . . . it’s so sad to see on both sides.”
Big Number
56%. That’s the share of respondents in a CNN poll published last week who said Good’s shooting was not an appropriate use of force, compared to 26% who said it was.
Tangent
Trump on Tuesday urged DHS and ICE to start publicizing information about people the agencies deport, insisting it would change negative viewpoints of his anti-immigration crackdown if people were aware of deportees’ criminal records. He pieced through a stack of mugshots of people who have been deported from Minnesota and read off information about their criminal backgrounds during Tuesday’s White House press conference. The mugshots were printed “Minnesota worst of the worst.”
Trump’s Comments Recall His Rhetoric On 2017 Charlottesville Protests
Trump was heavily criticized in 2017 for saying there were “very fine people on both sides” at the Unite the Right rally, which included neo-Nazis. The protests left dozens injured in violent clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
Key Background
Trump has repeatedly ranted about anti-ICE protests in the wake of Good’s killing, threatening last week to invoke the Insurrection Act so he could deploy troops to tamp down on the unrest, though he somewhat backed off the threat a day later. The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed Good for her own death, alleging she ran over the officer, despite analyses of video footage of the incident finding her car did not make contact with Ross and that her wheels were pointing away from him when he fired several rounds at close range through both her windshield and driver’s side window. The Justice Department does not appear to be investigating Ross, but it has opened several probes into protests and activities it suspects obstructed ICE operations. The agency on Tuesday subpoenaed at least five Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, as part of one of the investigations and launched a separate investigation into an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul on Sunday.
Further Reading
Trump Demands Deportees Be Publicly Identified To Reverse Negative ICE Views (Forbes)
Joe Rogan Calls ICE Shooting Of Renee Good ‘Horrible’ In Latest Break With Trump (Forbes)
Was Minneapolis ICE Agent Hit By Renee Good’s Car Or Not? Videos Raise Fresh Doubts (Forbes)
