President Donald Trump appeared alongside White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at her daily briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 20, taking reporters’ questions for nearly an hour on a wide range of issues.
The appearance coincided with the one-year anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration. His staff handed reporters a printed list touting “365 wins” from his first year back in office, though much of Trump’s focus centered on the issues dominating headlines now — including the economy, his stated interest in taking over Greenland and intensifying unrest in Minneapolis.
Asked about the Jan. 7 shooting death of Renee Nicole Good — a case that has fueled new protests and prompted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to call for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to be removed from the city — Trump moved quickly to defend the agency.
“They’re gonna make mistakes sometimes,” he said. “ICE is gonna be too rough with somebody or — you know, they’re dealing with rough people. They’re gonna make a mistake sometimes. It can happen.”
Trump said he felt “horribly” after learning about Good’s death, then added a personal note about her family’s politics.
“We feel terrible. I felt horribly when I was told that the young woman had the tragedy,” he said. “But when I learned her father is a — I hope he still is, but I don’t know — was a tremendous Trump fan. He was all for Trump. Loved Trump.”
“And, you know, it’s terrible. It’s so sad. It just happens,” he added.
Trump also revived a claim he has made before: that “professional agitators” were present in the aftermath of the shooting.
“When she was shot, there was another woman that was screaming, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame.’ So loud. Like a professional opera singer,” he said. “She was so loud. And so professional. She wasn’t a woman that was hurt like, ‘Oh my heart is injured.’ She was a professional.”
He continued: “These are professional agitators and professional people that want to see our country do badly.”
In a Jan. 15 post on Truth Social, Trump reiterated a previous threat to invoke the Insurrection Act if tensions continue escalating between civilians and ICE agents in Minneapolis.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote.
Trump has also been notably cautious — and at times inconsistent — in describing Good and the incident itself. In a Jan. 13 interview with CBS Evening News’ Tony Dokoupil, he shifted between sympathy and criticism, suggesting she was likely a “solid” person while still condemning what he called her “very bad” actions.
“I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person,” Trump said. “But, you know, her actions were pretty tough.”
Referencing cell phone footage of the shooting that was later made public, Trump also hedged on what the video showed.
“When you look at that tape, it— it can be viewed two ways, I guess,” he said. “But when you look at the way… that car was pulled away, there are a couple versions of that tape that are very, very bad.”
