‘Minneapolis woman was brainwashed and victim of left-wing ideology’: Questioned on ICE shooting, Vance loses cool—video | Today News

Vice President J.D. Vance criticized a federal immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman, accusing “a left-wing network,” Democrats, the media and even the victim, as demonstrations over her death spread to cities nationwide,as reported by AP.

The vice president, speaking both in an unusual appearance at the White House briefing room and on social media, became the highest-ranking official so far to publicly place blame in the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, even as the investigation remains ongoing.

Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer after attempting to drive away on a snow-covered residential street while officers were conducting an operation tied to the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Vance said at the White House that he wasn't worried about prejudging the investigation into Good's killing, saying of the videos he'd seen of the Wednesday incident, “What you see is what you get in this case.”

As reported by AP, Vance said he was certain that Good accelerated her car into the officer and hit him. It isn't clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that video of the shooting shows arguments that the officer was acting in self-defense were “garbage.”

Ap reported that the vice president also said part of him felt “very, very sad” for Good. He called her “brainwashed” and “a victim of left-wing ideology.”

“I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognising that it's a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement -- a lunatic fringe -- against our law enforcement officers,” Vance said, as reported by AP.

Trump officials made it clear that they were rejecting claims by Democrats and officials in Minnesota that the president's move to deploy immigration officers in American cities had been inflammatory and needed to end.

“The Trump administration will redouble our efforts to get the worst of the worst criminal, illegal alien killers, rapists and pedophiles off of American streets,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday before Vance spoke, AP reported.

She called Good's killing “a result of a large, sinister left-wing movement.”

Vance was selected as Trump's running mate last year partly for his ability to verbally spar, especially with the media. He opened his remarks by condemning headlines he saw about the shooting, at times raising his voice and decrying the “corporate media.”

“This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people,” Vance said.

He accused journalists of falsely portraying Good as “innocent” and said: “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you.”

“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he added. “And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

When asked what responsibility he and Trump bore to defuse tension in the country over the incident, Vance said their responsibility was to “protect the people who are enforcing law and protect the country writ large.”

“The best way to turn down the temperature is to tell people to take their concerns about immigration policy to the ballot box," he said.

Vance also announced that the administration was deputising a new assistant attorney general to prosecute the abuse of government assistance programmes in response to growing attention to fraud in childcare programmes in Minnesota.

He said the prosecutor will focus primarily on Minnesota, and will be nominated in coming days. Vance added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune told him he'd seek a prompt confirmation.