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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Woman Shot, Killed By ICE Officer In Minneapolis; White House Says Executives Eager To Invest In Venezuela Oil; Rep. Jeanne Shaheen, (D-NH), Is Interviewed About Woman Killed By ICE Officer, Russian- Flagged Oil; Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) & Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Is Interviewed About U.S. Citizen Shot, Killed By Ice Officer In Minneapolis. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired January 07, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Thanks to my panel. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. Don't go anywhere. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
[17:00:43]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper and we're going to start with breaking news in our national lead. At this hour, crowds are gathering in South Minneapolis after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car as Trump officials and Minnesota officials clash on what exactly unfolded this morning. But before we lay out what the Trump administration is claiming, we want to actually show you and walk you through the actual video. I want to warn viewers that this video is hard to watch. You're also going to hear some shouting and profanity from witnesses. Here is what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. Shame. Shame. Oh my (BLEEP) God. What the (BLEEP).
What the (BLEPP). You just (BLEEP). What the (BLEEP) did you do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: There you could see the driver after being shot, losing control of her car, crashing into cars parked on the left side of the street. And then you hear the witness yelling shame, shame at the ICE officers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame. Shame.
TAPPER: We also see video of car -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame.
TAPPER: -- on the driver's side where a different bystander --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame.
TAPPER: -- is checking on the victim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame.
TAPPER: Again, we're going to show you a different video. This is going to be a graphic and you're going to see blood.
So that's what happened. Here is what the Trump administration is saying. The Department of Homeland Security in charge of ICE is claiming that rioters blocked ICE officers. And quote, "one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them," unquote. And here is the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It was an act of domestic terrorism. What happened was our ICE officers were out in enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him.
And my understanding is that she was hit and is deceased. We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers and our law enforcement are under every single day. These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism. We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them as such.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Obviously do not know what the pending investigations will reveal about this shooting, but to anyone with eyes, it's clear the Secretary Noem's description is abjectly false. President Trump echoed Noem. He posted on Truth Social, quote, "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," unquote. And President Trump included a version of this video. Trump's appears to be slowed down from the original.
He added, quote, "It is hard to believe he," meaning the officer, "is alive but is now recovering in the hospital," unquote. The agent. Of course, we should note after this incident, the one who shot her, the one that the president said was run over, we see him walking away from the vehicle. Many of these Trump administration assertions are hotly disputed by witnesses on the scene, Minnesota public officials, and frankly, the facts. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Noem's assertion, quote, "bullshit." And he added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS: Message for ICE to ice, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Here's outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
[17:05:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) MINNESOTA: From here on, I have a very simple message. We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you've done enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's get right to CNN's Whitney Wild on the scene. And Whitney, what more are you learning about the victim and the ICE officer?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: There's very little information at this point, Jake. All we know is that she was 37 years old. She, she was a U.S. citizen, she was white. That is it. We do not yet know what her name was, why she -- why she was here in this moment.
Is she from Minneapolis? Does she have a family? These are all questions we're continuing to ask. As far as the condition of the ICE agent, we're continuing to ask the Department of Homeland Security, what the condition of that ICE agent is. But you said it yourself and you see in the video, he reholsters his firearm and then walks away.
So we are still waiting for the official word on that. On the ground, there is -- there's heartbreak and there is rage.
Earlier today we saw so much anger here, Jake. I mean, people were screaming at the law enforcement here who were securing the scene, screaming at the federal agents who were on scene, throwing snowballs at their vehicles as they drove away, throwing snowballs at the Minneapolis Police Department as they drove away.
Let me show you what it looks like now as you -- if you can kind of walk over here with me, Jake, I'll show you that there is this vigil here. This is where this woman, whose name we still don't know, spent her last moments on earth. It is a striking scene. Next to a flower, there is a piece of broken taillight. The -- her -- this is so fresh that her blood is still splattered on the snow here on Portland Avenue at East 34th Street. I'll leave you with this, Jake. This is a city that has worked really hard to rebuild after the George Floyd riots. This is a police department that has worked really hard to reorganize themselves, to retrain their officers to make sure it is a police department that the city can get behind. A lot of work and a lot of progress has happened here. George Floyd was killed four blocks from where I'm standing.
And every person I've spoken with here brought it up because it is not in the rearview mirror here. It is an ever present thing for the people who still live in Minneapolis. And one person I spoke with said he's really scared that all of this pressure from ICE is going to tear away all of that work that they have done. And it is a particularly difficult line for the Minneapolis Police Department tow here. They have to push down any, you know, I should -- I should not say push down, I should say deescalate to ensure that this does not erupt in the same way that George Floyd erupted after.
Right now we are hearing people starting to yell again. We do -- you know, people are very angry here. We're seeing some of these pop ups. You know, people yelling at each other on scene here. But for the most part, Jake, now that the public has a chance to come here and actually see it and pay respects to the woman who lost her life right here, it is calm.
We've seen many people, you know, embracing in prayer and paying their last respects to a woman they don't even know, Jake.
TAPPER: And as you know, Minneapolis is no stranger to protests and sometimes those protests have turned violent. What are officials bracing for this evening?
WILD: Well, I think they're very concerned. Governor Walz suggested that he would not hesitate to deploy the National Guard. The -- you know, it is an interesting moment here, Jake, because like I said, I mean, the Minneapolis Police Department is now reacting to a lot of anger that could erupt on their watch about something that they didn't have a hand in, that they didn't ask for, that they weren't involved in. And so I think they are watching it. We don't, you know, yet have any suggestion that we are going to see the type of reaction to this incident that we saw with George Floyd.
But certainly it's something that the police department is bracing for.
TAPPER: All right, Whitney Wild in southern Minneapolis, thank you so much.
Let's bring in a former NYPD lieutenant, Darrin Porcher, as well as CNN Correspondent Priscilla Alvarez, who covers immigration for us.
Darrin, I want to go through this video from Minneapolis. What do you see in that video that the officer, the ICE officer will lean on, will claim --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
TAPPER: -- was going on to justify --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Shame.
TAPPER: -- the shooting. And what do you think about the shooting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame. Oh my (BLEEP) God.
DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, Jake, I was a lieutenant in the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau, so on many occasions I've investigated shootings of this magnitude. One of the things that the investigators will look at is they're going to look through the lens of the 1989 Supreme Court decision titled Graham vs Connor. Graham vs Connor is the law that dictates how and when police can use force. So when we speak to Graham versus Connor, it's somewhat of a three legged stool. The first leg is, is the person resisting or they're trying to get away.
[17:10:05]
The second leg of the stool would be, is there an immediate danger? And the third, of course, would be the level of force. So when we speak to how this -- was this person trying to get away, yes, there is a propensity for the person was trying to get away. But at the same token, police officers are trained to move away from the vehicle, not stand in front of the vehicle. So you want to place yourself in a tactically sound position to prevent yourself from getting hurt.
The officer that actually fired the shot was actually hit by a vehicle a couple of months ago, so it should have garnered the level of tactical experience of moving away from the vehicle. But at the same token, there's nothing criminal here, because when we speak to the criminal aspect, I don't see a violation of Graham vs Connor. However, from the tactical perspective, I do see a level of flaw in how the officer was positioned because he placed himself in harm's way.
TAPPER: Just to be clear, when you say you don't see anything criminal here, which of the individuals are you talking about? Because obviously, this woman was trying to leave, even though the ICE officers didn't want her to. The question is the interpretation of what she was doing with her car. Was she trying to hit him or was she trying to get out of there and he would just happen to be there? And so who -- when you say you don't see anything criminal, are you talking about the shooting or are you talking about her actions?
PORCHER: I'm glad you're clearing that up. From the perspective of the shooter himself, I don't see anything criminal. However, from the perspective of the driver, she actually struck the officer, so she would be held criminally liable. But of course, we're not going to prosecute a case against the driver in this particular case. So I was referring to the officer that fired the deadly shot.
TAPPER: And, Priscilla, as we work through this video, you're tracking what we're hearing from officials, and you've talked to Trump administration individuals. The president was quick to call this -- well, the administration, rather, was quick to call this an act of domestic terrorism. Trump said that she ran over him. And we know this was a U.S. citizen, a white woman, 37 years old, and was not a target of this ICE enforcement operation. So what are you hearing from the Trump administration?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've been speaking to multiple sources over the course of the day, and they're all scratching their heads as to how this could have happened. This was a targeted operation that they were carrying out in the Minneapolis area. And this is all going to really turn on that vehicle. As you have been pointing out, the Department of Homeland Security is saying that vehicle was used to ram law enforcement officers or run over them, as the president has said. The police chief, however, said that the federal law enforcement approached on foot and shot her as she drove off.
And that is the key here that my sources keep coming back to. She was driving off. We don't know what happened preceding the video that we have seen, but what we are seeing is that she drove off and flight in ICE policy doesn't constitute deadly force. Is there something here? We don't know.
That's what an investigation would bring up. But I will tell you there is some context here that I think is important and that is that previously when the Department of Homeland Security under this administration has said something, there have been competing narratives and federal judges have found that the Department of Homeland Security is not always forthcoming. Let me give you an example of that. Last year in Chicago, a federal judge found that what the department said occurred in an incident where federal agents clashed with protesters was actually a lie and that it actually played out in a different matter. That is to say that a federal agent wasn't struck in the head before tear gas was deployed.
So there is some context here in terms of these competing narratives and why there is so much confusion over what happened here and who knows what.
TAPPER: Yes, one presumes that normally in a situation like this, what happens is the president or whomever says horrible tragedy, we're going to have an investigation and it's not appropriate to say anything one way or the other. That's obviously not what we've heard from our leaders, especially in the White House. Thanks to both of you.
We also have another major breaking news story. This one's in our world lead, the Trump administration today seizing two oil tankers. This is just four days after the U.S. went into Venezuela and seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, the first lady. The goal, we're told, is to try and cut off most Venezuelan exports of crude oil. One of the vessels seized was seized in the Caribbean.
Considered -- that this vehicle was considered to be stateless but conducting illicit activities, according to U.S. Southern Command. The other vessel, however, is a Russian flagged tanker and that was seized in the Atlantic. Attorney General Pam Bondi said it was identified for its role in a sanctions evasion network responsible for supporting foreign terrorist organizations. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt today said that President Trump is not afraid to keep seizing sanctioned oil tankers despite concerns that this could ramp up, of course, tensions with both Russia and China.
[17:15:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He's going to enforce our policy that's best for the United States of America. And with respect to these ships seizures, that means enforcing the embargo against all dark fleet vessels that are illegally transporting oil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The White House claims there is a significant private sector interest around Venezuela's oil industry, though other reports do suggest that some in the oil sector are quite skeptical. All of this is happening as the U.S. is working on a potential deal with the Venezuela's interim government, a government that is now being led by Maduro's vice president, part of his regime that the U.S. says took power illegally and continually represses the Venezuelan people. There are reports that leadership in Venezuela is cracking down on Venezuelan citizens who publicly supported Maduro's ouster. Today the White House says they're tracking those reports and oppose any sort of crackdown.
I want to bring in the Secretary of Energy right now, Chris Wright. He joins us from Miami where he just spoke with oil industry executives earlier today. He also founded the fracking company Liberty Energy and has an extensive background in energy, including nuclear, solar, oil and gas.
Secretary Wright, thanks for joining us. So the White House says oil executives are eager about the opportunities to invest in Venezuela. Many have not commented publicly. CNN is reporting that many industry insiders are feeling hesitant about doing business in Venezuela, quote, "The appetite for jumping into Venezuela right now is pretty low. We have no idea what the government there will look like. One well-placed industry source told CNN Monday the president's desire is different than the industry's and the White House would have known that if they had communicated with the industry prior to the operation on Saturday," unquote.
Even back in November, we should note, the CEO of Exxon told Bloomberg that they'd have to see what the economics look like on Venezuela. But you just met with actual oil executives. What are they telling you? What are you hearing?
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: Oh, yes, look. They've seen Venezuela slide downhill for 25 years since Chavez came to power and continued with Maduro. Collapsing oil production, rising criminality, just a destructive force in the Western Hemisphere. I would say they share my thrill for President Trump's bold and creative leadership to try something different. We haven't been able to fix the growing Venezuelan problem for over two decades. Now, a laser strike brings out the head of essentially a criminal organized gang that lost the last two elections. And now we've got leverage over and are constructively working with the interim authorities within Venezuela to try to move it into a better direction. It's less a threat to America, less a threat to the Western hemisphere, less of a drug runner and kidnapper and all the -- all the things elaborated on in the 25 page open indictment. So I would say they are thrilled. A, this is bold leadership.
They all of us die seeing 8 million people flee Venezuela because the country has been collapsing.
TAPPER: Yes.
WRIGHT: Now we've got decisive leadership and I would say the interest to go into Venezuela, investigate it, invest in Venezuela is absolutely tremendous. Of course you're not going to put $10 billion in there without some security. But the interest to baby steps and eventually lean in big is tremendous.
TAPPER: Right, but you acknowledged in your -- in your speech today it's going to be a challenge to increase production investment in Venezuelan oil. And in analysis from Rystad Energy estimates it's going to take $183 billion in 15 years to scale back up production back to $3 million a day. Three million -- I'm sorry, 3 million barrels a day where it was before the U.S. sanction regime started. How do you plan to convince these companies that this is going to be profitable for them with such daunting figures, 15 years and almost $200 billion?
WRIGHT: They won't need convincing. I'm getting barraged with imbalance. We're interested. How can involve? You know, Chevron's already there.
Chevron's been there for over 100 years. Easy opportunity to grow Chevron's production and operations there. They're there today. So no, we won't be twisting or convincing anyone's arms. But of course to make the very big long term investments.
We've got to get the government in a better place where they've got secure rule of law, national security, a government that represents the people of Venezuela. And that's a process. We're not going to get there overnight, but we now have the leverage and the engagement to actually get there.
And there are short term things, Jake, that can go in. A small amount of spare parts, a small amount of American technology, a little bit of help. Venezuelan production could be grown 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent in the next six to 12 months. If we had nice cooperation with Venezuela, the interest for the parties to go do it is strong and ready to go.
TAPPER: So if I were an oil executive, I would say to you the Maduro regime minus Maduro is still running Venezuela. Six people were indicted in that document you talked about. Four of them are still in the country running things. One of them running a criminal gang, one of them in the government, one of them Maduro's son, another one a former government official. So you talk about this, but like, not only is Venezuela going to have to rebuild itself in 15 years, which puts us at the year 2041, asking these oil companies to make these investments while it's still a very unstable place, still being run by the Maduro regime, just minus Maduro.
[17:20:29]
WRIGHT: Well, think of the leverage the United States has. All of their revenue from oil, which is the dominant way they fund the government is controlled by the United States. We're going to sell that crude, we're going to put it in accounts, and we're going to distribute that funds to the interim authorities in Venezuela and align that with incentives to improve their behavior and the criminality, reduce the risk to America and the risk to their own citizens, and work with us to construct more confidence than that. But of course, with time, you're going to have a different government that's going to be representative of the Venezuelan people. But you can't do that on day one or on day 10.
We want to keep the country from collapsing and we want to immediately stop its enormous damage to the United States. Exporting gangs, drugs, money, bringing our adversaries into the Western Hemisphere, giving them bases of operations. There's a lot of improvement we can do right away. And I wouldn't read anything into a study that says some giant number spread over 15 years. That's not -- that's not how the world works, and that's not how the energy industry works.
It's incremental, but production could be growing relatively soon.
TAPPER: I understand that there are --
WRIGHT: With the right cooperation with Venezuelan government.
TAPPER: I understand that there isn't going to be an election on day one or day 10. But I think a lot of people around the world, especially in Venezuela, are wondering, when would an election be? It seems odd to a lot of observers that Maria Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, leader of the opposition, her cut in, won the Venezuelan election in 2024 with 70 percent of the vote. That she has kind of been dismissed by President Trump and Maduro's vice president is running things. When do you think elections will happen?
WRIGHT: They will happen. Venezuela has a great history of democracy. It was a prosperous, stable, great American ally, great member of the Western Hemisphere. Our goal is to get back to those days, but that takes some time. You've got to deal with the people who have the guns today and who control the powers today, but we have leverage over them.
That's the difference. We control the flow of funds into Venezuela. We can take the existing authorities that are running Venezuela and move them in a highly positive direction because we have tremendous leverage. But you're right, ultimately you want to lead to a representative government, to elections in Venezuela. That'll be if we continue on this path, that'll be coming. TAPPER: President Trump announced last night on Truth Social that Venezuela is turning over 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States to be sold at market price. And he said he is going to control that money. Top administration officials told lawmakers in a House briefing today that the U.S. is not using the Treasury Department to hold the money. Where is that money going to be held?
WRIGHT: Well, we're still working out the logistics of that, and there's some legal things that are involved in that. But whichever account this ends out in, I'll know in 24 hours is going to be controlled by the United States government. And so, yes, those funds. And look, this is a very open dialogue with the leaders of Venezuela. That crude that comes out of Venezuela will be marketed by the United States collected those funds and put into an account.
And we will disperse those funds to the authorities in Venezuela on a relatively rapid time frame with the right cooperation. This actually could be a huge benefit for the people of Venezuela in the short run in addition to is in the long run. We want to bring them out of the rogue nation disruptor threat to America and into responsible citizenship. But that's a pathway. That's a pathway.
TAPPER: Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, thank you so much. Appreciate your time, sir.
WRIGHT: You bet, Jake. Thank you.
TAPPER: We're also following the situation in Minneapolis, of course, where that ICE agent fatally shot a woman. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is headed to Minneapolis right now. We're also going to talk to a U.S. senator from Minnesota later this hour. A lot is going on. A lot of breaking news.
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Stay with us.
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TAPPER: We're back to monitoring these two major breaking stories right now. The U.S. Military seizing two oil tankers today as it tries to cut off most Venezuelan exports of oil following the seizure of Maduro and his wife and the deadly shooting earlier today of a woman --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame.
TAPPER: -- in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by an ICE agent.
Let's discuss both of these with Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator, let's just start with what you saw on that video from Minnesota. ICE does go to New Hampshire, as you know, not just the snow and ice kind, but the --
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Right.
TAPPER: -- immigration ICE kind. The DHS is saying that violent rioters weaponized a vehicle and tried to run over officers. You saw the video. What do you think?
SHAHEEN: I think there needs to be a full investigation of what happened in Minneapolis. The fact is, if you put 2,000 ICE agents into a city, it's bound to create tensions. I should be focused on violent offenders. That's who we should be sending out of the United States, who we should be detaining, not innocent people who are protesting what's going on. So I hope we're going to see a full investigation and we're going to see a reduction in the tensions.
You know, when ICE goes into a community and they aren't willing to work with local law enforcement, it just creates the potential for chaos. And that's what we saw on that video.
TAPPER: Turning back to Venezuela today, you said that the U.S. seizing that Russian flagged oil tanker is a good move. Why do you think so? Do you have any concerns that this is going to escalate tensions with Russia in a negative way?
SHAHEEN: Well, I think we need to get a lot tougher with Russia. And I think the shadow fleet that has been funding Russia's war in Ukraine needs to be taken down, and I think that's important. Now, the downside of that is that if we're going to continue to control oil coming out of Venezuela, it's going to take a continuation of American ships off the coast. It's going to increase the potential for escalation there. And that puts at risk our service members.
We have 15,000 people in that Caribbean area right now, more than we've had probably in my lifetime. And so we have to be very careful about the risk of escalation. And of course, what my constituents are also concerned about is the cost.
You know, this is -- they're facing challenges in terms of their own costs of living. We've got thousands of people in New Hampshire, millions across the country who are losing their health insurance because those premiums stopped at the end of December and prices have risen dramatically.
And so they're wishing that we would be focused on issues that are facing the American people at home, not be focused on what's going on in Venezuela.
TAPPER: I'm not sure if you heard the interview before the commercial break, but I was talking to the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, and I asked him when he thinks elections will actually happen. He said they will happen, but it takes time. We haven't heard any date. And a lot of people are concerned that the administration seems more focused on the oil than on human rights or democracy in Venezuela. What's your take?
SHAHEEN: Absolutely. I would like to hear the President talk about the importance of returning to democratic elections. What we have done in taking Maduro out is to replace him, an authoritarian dictator, with another authoritarian dictator who's part of his regime. So I think we should be more focused on how we can see an improvement, help the Venezuelans improve their lives going forward.
You know, the other explanation that we've heard from the administration for the action in Venezuela had to do with an effort to stop the Chinese, the Iranians, and the Russians from having a foothold in Venezuela that extends through Latin America. And yet, they're doing that, and then the president talks about going into Greenland. He alienates our allies, our closest allies. And so it undermines the effort because that just hands a gift to Russia, to Putin, and to Xi because it divides America from our closest allies.
TAPPER: All right. Senator Jeanne Shaheen from the great state of New Hampshire, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time today.
SHAHEEN: Thank you.
TAPPER: Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota says that the description of the Minneapolis shooting that was given by Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security do not match what people can see with their own eyes when they look at the video. That senator is going to join me to talk about what's playing out in her home state, next.
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[17:36:45]
TAPPER: Back to the breaking news in our National Lead. Right now in South Minneapolis, protesters are taking to the streets after an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official shot and killed a 37- year-old woman in her car.
Joining us now is Democratic Senator of Minnesota Tina Smith. Senator, DHS says that this woman attempted to run over law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them. Secretary of DHS Kristi Noem says this was an act of domestic terrorism. You've seen the video. What's your response?
SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Well, I think that's total nonsense. And I think it's also reckless and completely irresponsible for Secretary Noem and President Trump to basically have drawn all the conclusions they need to draw about this incident without any investigation at all. This was a 37-year-old woman. Her name was Renee Nicole Good. She was shot in her car.
She was in a neighborhood that is not that far from my home in Minneapolis, a peaceful neighborhood. And it's just inconceivable to me that they would be so reckless and so irresponsible in the midst of this terrible tragedy.
TAPPER: So that's the first time we've heard her name said, Renee Nicole Good. Do you know anything more about her? We're told that she was -- all we know is that she was not a target of the ICE enforcement operation earlier in the day. You just gave us her name, 37 and white and a U.S. citizen. What else can you tell our -- tell us about her?
SMITH: She was United -- yes, that's right. She was a United States citizen. Her mother has put out a statement that has been printed in "The Minnesota Star Tribune" providing the information that we have about who she was. And it is, I think, important to say her name because she is a United States citizen who was shot and killed by federal ICE agents, as by all accounts and by the ground -- on-the- ground witnesses and by the video that I've seen, appeared to be trying to get out of the situation and in no way could be a domestic terrorist.
TAPPER: The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, said this at today's news conference. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS: To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Now somebody is dead. That's on you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What do you think?
SMITH: The first thing I did after I spoke to Mayor Frey this morning was to call our contacts at the Department of Homeland Security and urge them to get ICE out of the scene of this shooting because they were fomenting and escalating the situation rather than contributing to public safety in any way. I think Mayor Frey is exactly right. These 2,000 or so reported agents have flooded into Minneapolis, and they have created chaos.
They have created fear. They are in no way coordinating with local or state law enforcement, which contributes to the chaos in additional ways. I mean just as one example, it's been reported that when ambulances were trying to get onto the scene to help this woman who's been shot that they were -- they couldn't even get to where they needed to get to because ICE was in the way. No coordination at all.
[17:40:07]
And that has direct impacts of the -- on the safety of people who live in my community. They are not helping public safety. They are hurting public safety.
TAPPER: So just to give a little bit more information from "The Minneapolis Star Tribune" article that you referred to, Renee Michelle -- Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old, killed. Her mother, Donna Ganger or Ganger, told the paper that her daughter lived in the Twin Cities with her partner.
And she said that that's so stupid that she was killed. She was probably testified. She said her daughter is, "not part of anything like that at all," referring to the protesters challenging ICE agents. Renee was one of the kindest people I've ever known. She was extremely compassionate. She's taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving, and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.
The paper also notes that Renee Nicole Good had been married to a gentleman named Timmy Ray Macklin, Jr., who died in 2023, and they have a son who is four or five years old. Again, that's one of your constituents. Now she's gone, and now that child is orphaned.
SMITH: And imagine that the secretary of Homeland Security and the President of the United States are impugning this woman's reputation, calling her a domestic terrorist and a professional agitator, when they know nothing of who this person is.
And they, frankly, know nothing about the community that I call home. And that's why I think they should get the heck out of town. They are not contributing in any way. In fact, they're hurting people in my community. And I can tell you, Jake, that, as I said, I know this part of Minneapolis extremely well. And it is full of people who are passionate about their community.
And they are terrified, they are angry, they are grieving. And it is unacceptable that the federal government would be seen to them as an enemy of the people rather than an enterprise that is there to help them.
TAPPER: Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, thanks for joining us on this horrible day. Appreciate it.
SMITH: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Today's shooting of an ICE agent killing a woman happened in the congressional district of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She's going to join us next.
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[17:46:28]
TAPPER: We're back with our breaking news. A 37-year-old woman who was a U.S. citizen was shot and killed today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The city is, of course, at the heart of Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, which is represented by Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who joins us now to talk about what happened today. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. I'm sure you're hearing from so many of your constituents.
In a statement you put out, when you described your anger over the tragic shooting, you described the victim, Renee Good, as a legal observer of the ICE operation. What more can you tell us about her?
REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): Yes, that's the information that we have gotten. There might be new information coming out. But it is completely a tragic day for us here in Minneapolis and in Minnesota. To see this kind of terrorization of our community really is harmful. And I pray for the loved ones of Renee today as they are dealing with the loss of life in their family. TAPPER: Senator Tina Smith, from your home state, was just on the show. She said she wants ICE to get the heck out of Minneapolis. Your mayor, Jacob Frey, said something similar, but the language was a little saltier. What do you think about ICE's presence in your city?
OMAR: Yes, I mean, ICE has been carrying out state-sanctioned violence in our communities. We have seen them terrorize so many citizens in the 5th District and across Minnesota. And that has tragically led to this murder that we all watched on T.V.
And so it is not helpful for us to have ICE agents unlawfully just carrying out these ridiculous raids that are not resulting in any sort of arrests that have no explanation of why they are there. They are disturbing peaceful communities that are just trying to live out their lives. And I join our mayor and our senator in asking them to get the heck out of our city.
TAPPER: President Trump went on Truth Social and he posted about the video, and he posted a different video than the one I think a lot of us have seen. He said it's a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was obviously a professional agitator and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then will -- who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer who seems to have shot her in self-defense. What's your response to that?
OMAR: Well, that's an incredibly delusional statement. We've all seen the video. We've seen it on multiple angles. You can see no ICE agent falls to the ground. No one is run over. So to rewrite something that is still so visibly available on all -- everywhere that people can see just shows how disturbingly delusional our President has become.
But the people have their own eyes. They can make their own judgment. And certainly when this investigation is over, we are going to know really what has taken place, and I hope that that leads to accountability.
TAPPER: And I know that this neighborhood, only four blocks away from this shooting, is where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. South Minneapolis, we -- one of our reporters on the ground said that a lot of people there are really angry and also really worried about this tension turning into something more violent on the streets.
[17:50:16]
OMAR: Yes, I mean, people are angry about the lawlessness that they see with ICE agents. They are angry that there is no accountability. They are angry that U.S. citizens are being arrested, being shot at, and killed in this case. It's incredibly disheartening that this community that has experienced so much pain is yet once again being subjected to a pain by those that are supposed to protect and serve.
This is not the way that our country's laws should be carried out, and it's incredibly dangerous for us to continue to have ICE presence when our community is really heartbroken over what has taken place. I don't want there to be further deaths. I don't want to see any more violence. I don't want our neighbors to feel like the laws in this country are not protecting them.
And I do hope that the President wakes up from his delusion and understands that sending ICE into Minneapolis is really not protecting us. It is creating danger for all of us.
TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
OMAR: Thank you.
TAPPER: And here now joining us is former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke. Mike, you are not responsible for the things that President Trump said, even when you were communications director. But --
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: But --
TAPPER: -- what -- well, what do you make of the -- I honestly, I have -- we have had a ton of Democrats on the show today because Minneapolis and Minnesota are so Democratic, and not one of them has personally criticized the ICE officer. All of them have said, this is a tragedy, this is horrible, this -- you know, they say nice things about the woman, and they say they want an investigation. But that's not what we heard from Trump and it's not what we heard from Secretary Noem. They have gone after this woman who was killed.
DUBKE: Well, I will say, and again, not to disagree with you, I thought language matters here, as we've talked about before. I thought the mayor was a bit using the colorful language that he used, I would maybe say he's inflaming tensions a little bit.
TAPPER: I just met the Democrats that have been on this show.
DUBKE: Oh, the Democrats.
TAPPER: Not every Democrat in the world. But anyway --
DUBKE: And he's going to be on a show later tonight, right?
TAPPER: We couldn't book him.
DUBKE: You couldn't book him.
TAPPER: Anderson Bidas.
DUBKE: So, I do think, though, that the next 24 to 48 hours is -- why I say language matters, the next 24 to 48 hours, the tragedy that occurred on the streets of Minneapolis today is one thing, but then how our leaders react to that, and I'm trying to get to the heart of your question here.
TAPPER: Yes.
DUBKE: How our leaders react to that is what will set up the next 24 to 48 hours. And I hope -- I actually, listening to the governor, I am not a big fan of Governor Walz. Part of the reason I think ICE -- a lot of these ICE officers are there is because of the scandal that has been going down and that it's part of this give-and-take and this political give-and-take that's been going on.
That's why we've seen the surge in Minneapolis. But I thought he struck the right tone in his language by asking for calm, for saying that, you know, the rest of the people that are on the streets are your fellow citizens, are your fellow Minnesotans, and then the next 24 to 48 hours is where leaders step up, calm the tensions, and then we can go back and we can look at what happened, what mistakes were made, why they were made, but not in the heat of the first, you know, two hours after an incident.
TAPPER: So, as you note, Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, called for ICE to get the F out of town. The Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, said on social media that there are a lot of unknowns surrounding the shooting. He did say Trump's decision to send armed ICE agents to the state is, "causing serious harm and spreading terror throughout our communities." That's another comment that we heard from somebody.
DUBKE: Yes.
TAPPER: We've interviewed so many people, I don't even remember who it was, but it might have been Jeanne Shaheen, it might have been Tina Smith. But somebody's saying, what do you think is going to happen when you send thousands of armed ICE agents into a city? Something's going to happen.
DUBKE: Well, what do you think's going to happen when you have a sanctuary city and then you're basically saying we're not going to follow the laws of the federal government? I mean, again, I don't want to get into this tit-for-tat here, but if you've got -- if the President ran on a program of surging into communities, now, granted, it was to go and get the most violent of the violent, but to get illegal migrants out of the United States to shut down the border.
Part one, or part two, I guess, in my scenario was done. The border has been effectively shut down. And now we're seeing these operations in New Orleans and Minneapolis and other places, Chicago and other places in the country, and they are involving open resistance by the Democratic leadership of those cities and raising those tensions.
[17:55:08]
That woman was a victim. She should not have been shot. I do not in any way want somebody to quote me and say, oh, he's making amends for the ICE agents. That being said, the tension was there because of the protesters and the ICE agents who were just trying to do their job.
TAPPER: All right, Mike Dubke, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
This hour, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is headed to Minneapolis in the wake of the shooting. She is going to give comments, and when she does, we will bring those to you.
Plus, Republican Senator Thom Tillis is going to be here. He had strong words today on the Senate floor about the interview we did earlier this week with Stephen Miller. Stay with us.
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[18:00:02]
TAPPER: The Lead tonight, a nation on edge after an ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old woman. You're looking at live pictures from Minneapolis.
