White House unleashes torrent of untruths after woman shot dead by ICE

The killing of a US citizen by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis was a five-alarm fire for the Trump administration. But a torrent of untruths, half-truths, smears, and innuendo has been unleashed by the White House, and amplified by its social media and cable television acolytes, in an attempt to douse the flames.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, called homeland security secretary Kristi Noem a “stone cold liar” on Thursday for her efforts to falsely portray the victim Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and award-winning poet, as a “domestic terrorist”.

Good, Noem said, without presenting evidence, had been “stalking and impeding” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) officers before using her car as a weapon to try to run down the agent who killed her.

Jacob Frey, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, condemned as “bullshit” a concerted push by homeland security officials and others to immediately paint the officer’s action as self-defense, when video of the incident is unclear at best, and an investigation had yet to begin.

“People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice-president, to Kristi Noem … [they] have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” Tim Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor, told a press conference on Thursday.

The victim-blaming began almost immediately that news broke of Good’s killing on Wednesday. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the homeland security department, a regular administration spokesperson for ICE, declared in a post on X that “one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them – an act of domestic terrorism”.

Multiple ICE officers were hurt, she insisted, when videos of the shooting showed no such thing.

Donald Trump repeated the claims in an inflammatory post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday afternoon, and in a later interview with the New York Times, adding thedisprovable assertion that: “she didn’t try to run him over, she ran him over”.

JD Vance, the vice-president, joined the fray on Thursday in an angry rant directed at the media during a White House press briefing. It was obvious to everybody, he suggested, that Good was so brainwashed by left-wing ideology that she was determined to kill a law enforcement officer.

“This is classic terrorism,” he said. “Everybody who’s been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

It was not only politicians who joined the pile-on. Rightwing Fox News host Jesse Watters attacked Good’s personal life in a segment on Wednesday night, pointing out “pronouns in her bio” and that she “leaves behind a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage”.

The Guardian explored some of the main allegations made by administration figures:

The claim

“ … rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them – an act of domestic terrorism” – post on X by the Department of Homeland Security.

The reality

There is simply no evidence that Good was “a violent rioter” or “domestic terrorist”. No riot was taking place before her encounter with the ICE agents, and the department could not yet have been certain of her identity at 12.43pm, the time the message was posted. There is no evidence that Good – a poet and mother – was a terrorist.

The claim

“ … the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer” – post on Truth Social by Donald Trump.

The reality

Video of the incident shows that Good was not “disorderly”, and had reversed her car and allowed at least one ICE vehicle to pass before other agents confronted her. A separate video shows clearly that the officer who fired the fatal shots walked up to the front of Good’s car, which was turning away from him as it began to move forward, and he remained on his feet as the vehicle passed him.

The claim

“She behaved horribly. And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over” – Trump to New York Times reporters on Wednesday night.

“It is hard to believe he is alive, but [he] is now recovering in the hospital” – Trump’s Truth Social post.

The reality

The video of the incident Trump shared online, and then screened for reporters in the Oval Office, which he called proof that Good “ran over” the officer, was footage recorded from a distance which had been slowed down by a rightwing influencer. Slow-motion video inevitably distorts reality. Viewed at normal speed, the same video shows that the officer was so slightly brushed by the slowly moving car that he had no trouble retaining his balance and firing multiple shots at the driver. The same clip also appears to show that the vehicle only accelerated after the driver had been fatally shot. Trump ignored two recordings made by witnesses close to the vehicle, which offer more evidence that the officer was in no danger from the vehicle when he opened fire.

Video of the aftermath of the incident also shows the officer holstering his weapon immediately, and then walking calmly away from Good’s crashed car, with no apparent injuries and showing no sign of distress. Brian O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told CNN, and during a press conference on Wednesday, that when he arrived at the scene he was told “only the woman” was injured.

The claim

“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots … the ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries” – Tricia McLaughlin, deputy homeland security secretary, in a post on X.

The reality

The officer who killed Good was not in the pathway of her car when he began firing, analysis of the video shows. Two other officers were beside it, and no members of the public were seen to be in harm’s way. There is no evidence that any ICE officer was injured.

Political commentator Andrew Egger wrote in column for Bulwark that much of what McLaughlin had to say was “pure invention”.

“I sometimes struggle to grasp the behavior of administration mouthpieces like McLaughlin in moments like this. How do these people live with themselves? How is it possible that no part of them is ashamed to put on these miserable, utterly immoral performances in the national spotlight? Have they no conscience?” he wrote.

“But there’s no question that the performance has the desired effect. You’d think it might backfire, telling such obvious, outrageous, immediately debunkable lies. But McLaughlin and her ilk have learned how to manipulate the social media environment in which these stories filter down to the American people.”

Walz, in his Thursday press briefing, said the full truth of the incident, and about Macklin Good, would emerge in time.

“I will let those that want to push out false narratives to slander, to defame,” he said. “Renee Good, Minnesotans will tell her life story. Minnesotans will be there to defend her honor and and see this as a human being, not a moment in time, or the callous casualness that I’ve watched some people on TV gloss over what they saw.”

Robert Mackey contributed reporting