At a Glance
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at Irish reporter Niall Stanage during a Jan. 15 briefing
- Stanage asked how ICE could claim it was “doing everything correctly” after 32 deaths in custody and the fatal shooting of Renee Good
- Leavitt responded by calling the journalist a “left-wing hack” and accusing him of bias
- Why it matters: The exchange highlights rising tensions over ICE operations and press relations under the Trump administration
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt berated an Irish reporter during a live briefing, labeling him a “left-wing hack” after he questioned ICE’s conduct following the death of a Minnesota mother.
The Jan. 15 confrontation began when Niall Stanage, Washington bureau chief for The Hill and correspondent for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, cited recent ICE statistics: 32 people died in the agency’s custody last year and 170 U.S. citizens were detained. He then referenced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s assertion that ICE had been “doing everything correctly” after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
“How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?” Stanage asked.
Leavitt turned the question back on him. “Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” she asked. When Stanage clarified whether she wanted his opinion, Leavitt pressed: “I want to hear you explain why you believe she was killed.”
Stanage replied, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably.”
Leavitt immediately fired back: “OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion … Because you’re a left-wing hack.”
Leavitt Escalates Attack on Press
The 28-year-old press secretary continued her tirade, asserting Stanage was “posing in this room as a journalist” and dismissing his question as evidence of political activism rather than reporting.
“You’re pretending like you’re a journalist, but you’re a left-wing activist,” Leavitt said. “You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases.”
She then pivoted to crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, claiming Stanage had ignored victims such as Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray. “I bet you haven’t read up on those stories,” she added.
The White House did not respond to additional questions from News Of Los Angeles.
The Shooting That Sparked the Question
Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on the morning of Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. According to her ex-husband, Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old at school and was driving home with her wife, Becca Good, when they encountered ICE officers conducting an immigration enforcement operation.
The couple, who had moved from Kansas City to Minneapolis last year, joined neighbors protesting the raid. Good’s Honda Pilot allegedly blocked agents in the street. When she began to move the vehicle and an officer grabbed the door handle, Agent Ross opened fire, killing her.
Trump Threatens Insurrection Act
President Donald Trump, 79, escalated the situation further by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act. In a Jan. 15 Truth Social post, he warned that if Minnesota officials “don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.,” he would deploy the U.S. military to the state.
The threat followed another shooting incident on Jan. 14, when an ICE agent wounded a man in the leg during a separate Minneapolis operation.
Local Leaders Push Back
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, 61, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have both condemned ICE’s presence. After the second shooting, Walz urged residents to avoid confrontations that could motivate Trump’s threatened military intervention.
“I am making a direct appeal to the President. Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Walz posted on X.
Frey echoed the sentiment at a press conference: “We’re in a position where we have residents asking a very limited number of police officers we have to fight ICE agents on the street… We cannot be at a place in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another.”
Key Takeaways
- Leavitt’s heated exchange with Stanage underscores the administration’s combative stance toward media scrutiny of ICE
- The Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good has become a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration enforcement tactics
- Trump’s Insurrection Act threat and local officials’ resistance signal deepening conflict between federal agents and Minnesota authorities
- With 32 deaths in ICE custody last year and rising civilian tensions, pressure mounts for accountability and policy reform
