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 was unleashed by the White House and amplified by its social media and cable television acolytes, in an attempt to douse the flames.
The victim-blaming began almost immediately after news broke of Renee Nicole 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 evidence of this.
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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 the disprovable 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.”
[ FBI accused of blocking local investigation into killing of Renee Nicole GoodOpens in new window ]
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”.
How do the allegations made by administration figures stack up against available evidence?
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 evidence: There is no evidence that Good – who described herself as a poet and mother – was a “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.
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 evidence: Video of the incident shows that Good had reversed her car and allowed at least one Ice vehicle to pass before other agents confronted her. A separate video shows 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 evidence: 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 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 evidence: 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. – The Guardian
[ Minnesota killing: How the fatal ICE shooting has deepened divisions in the USOpens in new window ]
