What to Know
After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minnesota shot and killed a 37-year-old mom of three, President Donald Trump released a statement suggesting that she was at fault. Like other conservatives, Trump tried to portray the woman, Renee Good, as a “disorderly,” violent person who caused the ICE agent to act in self-defense. Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, Good had just dropped her 6-year-old son off at his elementary school. Loved ones described her as “gentle, kind, and openhearted.”
Additionally, the New York Times analyzed footage from the horrific incident and found that Good seemed to be trying to drive away from the ICE agent when he shot her. Even so, Trump took to Truth Social to declare that Good “was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting” and “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the ICE agent.
Trump asserted that the ICE agent seemingly shot Good in “self-defense.”
In his statement, he said he had just watched a clip of the incident, calling it “a horrible thing to watch.” Then, he immediately launched into blaming Good and “the Radical Left,” and defending ICE agents. “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 wrote. “Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”
He admitted that the incident was still being investigated, but shared his own theory on what happened anyway. He even went so far as to claim that he knew the cause. He continued, “The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”
Reporters later asked Trump about the shooting, but he didn’t change his stance.
While in the Oval Office with Trump, New York Times reporters asked him about the incident. At first, he told the publication, “I want to see nobody get shot. I want to see nobody screaming and trying to run over policemen either.” He described the incident as “vicious,” presumably referring to Good rather than the ICE agent.
Trump continued to blame Good for what happened. He said, “She behaved horribly. And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.” The reporters pointed out that video evidence didn’t necessarily indicate that that was the case. However, Trump insisted on having the reporters watch a video of the incident in an attempt to prove that his interpretation was the correct one. When the journalists pointed out that Good did not appear to hit the ICE agent with her car, Trump said, “Well, I — the way I look at it … It’s a terrible scene. I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”
On social media, critics were disgusted by the way Trump responded to the situation. “He obviously watched a different ICE involved murder video than the rest of the world saw,” one person on Reddit wrote. Others argued that, somehow, Trump has reached yet another new low. “He is evil,” someone else concluded. “Worse everyday.”
