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Secy. Noem Defends ICE Officer's Actions In Fetal Shooting; Noem: "This Was An Act Of Domestic Terrorism"; DHS Official: Officer Who Shot MN Woman Has 10 Years Of Experience; Deadly ICE Shooting Sparks Outrage, Protests. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 08, 2026 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash. I want to get right to the Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, who is taking questions about the deadly ICE shooting in Minnesota.

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Because of the protesters and the violent criminals that were attacking our law enforcement. If you remember, in that operation, what happened was our officers were out trying to get a car stuck out of the snow. When they were surrounded and assaulted and blocked in by protesters that were inciting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The officer was following his training.

NOEM: He did follow his training because of an individual that was --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- just firing two shots at point blank into a driver's window. Is that part of the training? Is that -- how is that self-defense?

NOEM: This is an experienced officer who followed his training, and we will continue to let the investigation unfold into the individual and continue to follow the procedures and policies that happen in these use of force cases. But let's remember the events that surrounded what happened yesterday on that tragic situation was that these individuals had followed our officers all day, had harassed them, had blocked them in.

They were impeding our law enforcement operations, which is against the law. And when they demanded and commanded her to get out of her vehicle several times she did not. So, we'll continue to allow this process to unfold and recognize that these law enforcement officers every single day put their lives on the line. They go out and do their jobs. They go out and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrorists, though, without --

NOEM: This was an act of domestic terrorism which is perpetuating --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- she was or what she was about, and yet, now you're saying --

NOEM: These policies and procedures that follow a use of force situation like this are continuing to be put in place. So, this is standard operating procedure after every use of force situation is that we follow these procedures and protocols. This situation is no different. Nope. This young lady, right beside you. I'll come to you next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. Should we expect a surge of agents in New York City? And if so, when?

NOEM: I would say that President Trump and his administration are focused on protecting people. So, we will never telegraph exactly the numbers and operations that we have and where we will be focused on. But I think that when you see violent criminals that are taking advantage of American citizens and putting their lives in jeopardy, our law enforcement officers at DHS will always show up. Yes, I'll come back. I'll come back. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The officer involved in the shooting yesterday, has he been suspended, or is he still in the field?

NOEM: The officer went to the hospital. He was hit by the vehicle and went to hospital and received treatment, was released and is spending time with his family now. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. In Minneapolis yesterday, you said the surge there would continue, while you didn't directly say whether we can expect an ICE surge for civil deportation enforcement. Can you explain what a surge is and --

NOEM: I won't -- I won't describe in detail our law enforcement operations that we have. It just puts our officers' lives in jeopardy, but they will be there enforcing the laws of this country and upholding the public safety needs that have to happen when it comes to enforcing federal law.

(CROSSTALK)

NOEM: You know, we've got thousands of officers there, and I'm not opposed to sending more if necessary, to keep people safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Secretary, can you talk a little bit about the experience of the officer and some of his background? How much training did he have? How much training in these types of situations did he have, even if he's from the region?

NOEM: Yeah. I'm not going to get specific to this officer, but he's an experienced officer that has served a number of years, and we recognize that he acted according to his training. And we have expected all the policies and procedures of review will be exactly that he had acted appropriately to protect his life and the life of his colleagues and fellow law enforcement officers that were there and people that were surrounding?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to get your reaction on some of the rhetoric here in New York City Zohran Mamdani was responded to the shooting yesterday, saying that this is only the latest horror in a year full of cruelty. He called it an attack on us all, and that New York stands with immigrants today and every day.

Also, council members last night at the protests called this fascism. The New York City's public advocate Jumaane Williams said that your administration is, quote, doing the devil's work. And he asked New York City to stand up and show up. Quote, it's going to be difficult and there are going to be casualties.

And the last comment that was made last night at the protest was from New York State Representative Alex Bores, also a Democrat. Quote, not only was the ICE agents hand on the gun, but Secretary Noem's hand was on the gun. President Trump's hand was on the gun. What is your response to your Democratic leaders, those particular comments and the protesters that are outside?

[12:05:00]

NOEM: I would say those comments are why we're standing where we are today. That kind of language and that kind of provocative talk inciting people to take action and perpetuate violence. This in some cases is unacceptable and especially of elected leaders. We have a responsibility to state the facts, to go out and enforce the law. Your mayor just said in that statement that he was going to stand with illegal people who have broken our law before. He's going to put New York City citizens first.

His job and why he was elected was to protect the people who live here that had the opportunity to vote for him and have the opportunity to live in this city. They pay their taxes, they go to work every day, and instead, the mayor, in that statement, chose to stand with illegals instead of those individuals who just want the chance to raise their families in New York City and have a part of the American dream. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The head of Minnesota state investigations agency said that they had been cut out of the investigation into the fatal shooting in Minneapolis. Can you explain that reversal?

NOEM: I'd like to know where they've been and why they're not out on the streets, investigating all of these people that are harassing and inciting violence on law enforcement officers right now. They're allowing the situation to be volatile. They're not doing their work. They haven't for years, and maybe they should get to work a little bit on the unprecedented fraud that we've seen in Minnesota and in Minneapolis, by people that stole from American citizens and diverted funds away from vulnerable people and programs and services that they needed and put it into their own pockets.

Minnesota is a train wreck. It is corrupt, and it was under the leadership of Governor Walz and this mayor that they allowed it to happen, and they let criminals and illegals and people abuse programs and steal the money, and now they're allowing violence to go forward on the streets as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: County sheriffs the federal parties at this point, they don't want.

NOEM: I won't put a blanket statement out like those other individuals will. What I would say is I welcome them to come and help us. Come help us, make sure that the streets are safe, that laws are enforced and that we can do the right thing to make sure that American citizens come first. Yes, sir. They have not been cut out. They don't have any jurisdiction in this investigation. Yes. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you give us some more --

NOEM: I'm going to speak to this individual right here. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Secretary. Jay Dow from WPIX-TV, how do you respond to Americans who have been listening to your comments that this was an act of domestic terrorism, that the officer was hit by the --

NOEM: Anytime you take something --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- it is in direct contradiction to what they are seeing and watching in the multiple angles that have been released in the last 24 hours.

NOEM: This vehicle was used to hit this officer. It was used as a weapon, and the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy. It was used to perpetuate a violent act that this officer took action to protect himself and to protect his fellow law enforcement officers. So, we'll let this continue to go forward and follow the same policies and procedures that every use of force situation does.

But we've had almost over hundred times that these vehicles have been used to ram law enforcement officers and to do damage and to harm them. When you take an action and use a weapon to harm someone and to incite violence against them and try to cause them injury or death, then it needs to be labeled exactly what it was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This of course, this gets -- commensurate with actions of that vehicle and the driver?

NOEM: I would say that when these individuals use their vehicles to try to ram our law enforcement and put their lives in jeopardy, that that law enforcement officer has to make a decision to protect his life and the individuals around him as well. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Secretary, what did you make of Tom Homan's comments yesterday that we should wait for an investigation before determining, as you have, that in this incident, it was self-defense and that he felt that his life was (inaudible)

NOEM: You know, I didn't see those comments, but from what I understand, he also put out a statement later as well. So, I'll let Tom speak to that, but all of us are on the same page in the fact that this law enforcement officer followed his training and that he defended and acted in defense of his life and those around him. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two quick questions. First, you said these protesters had been following the ICE agents. Do you have a little bit more of a timeline and can share with us some of those other initial encounters prior to the fatal shooting? And then secondly, can you speak to the closure of the ICE office at Rikers by Mayor, Mamdani.

NOEM: There will be more details coming out as this goes forward in the coming days and I'll talk more about that closure in the future. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, can you say there was how many times a day --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have been threatened like, how many other times --

NOEM: It had been ongoing throughout the day. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Madam Secretary. Whatever happened in Minneapolis, a mother of three is dead, an American citizen. Do you have a message for her family today? Yes, absolutely. And I reiterated this yesterday when I had my press conference in Minneapolis. I asked everybody not to just -- just pray for the officer but also pray for the deceased family and her loved ones as well. It was a tragic situation that I hope we never see happen again. That's why I'm encouraging all elected leaders to work together so that we can be cooperative in getting dangerous criminals off of our streets.

[12:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You go in and you go in with a lot of publicity about these operations. Do you feel like that needs to be revisited so that maybe you go in a little more covertly, or do you need to change the approach at all?

NOEM: I would say that we have all different kinds of law enforcement operations ongoing with the department at all times. We don't telegraph what they are, the details or specifics or where we're going to be operating. I would say that there's different tactics utilized for what's appropriate for the situation and the criminal activity we see in the city. Last question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The details of Renee Good, harassment of ICE officers early in the day. Were any of those details shared with you, because apparently, it wasn't just that one incident. It was earlier in the day as well.

NOEM: Yes, it was. And that will be a part of some of the details that we will be sharing in the future. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. And I appreciate you focusing on this operation and the 54 criminals that we have gotten off the streets because of the work of this team behind me. We thank all of them for their service and recognize it. Again, I'll remind you, tomorrow is law enforcement day. Please take the time to thank a law enforcement officer who is out there keeping us and our family safe. Have a wonderful day.

BASH: OK. You have been listening to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with some extensive Q&A there. She is in New York today. Reporters were able to ask a number of questions about what happened in Minneapolis. But the headline is that the homeland security secretary has declared what happened and is putting the blame entirely on the woman who died, and then saying there needs to be an investigation.

So, I'm not sure how these -- those two go together, but there is a conclusion that she is making, a very steep conclusion, a very specific conclusion, and yet there has been no investigation that has taken place.

I want to go right now to Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, this has been part of new reporting that you have not just because Kristi Noem, what she just said was in keeping with what she said in the immediate aftermath yesterday. And you know, I think that we have all become accustomed to the Trump administration. And to be fair, you know, Democrats who are watching this to sort of everybody goes to their corners about what happened, instead of taking a breath and saying, let's get the facts and let's let this investigation play out.

And in a situation like this, we have to remind people, this is not normal. Never mind the shooting, which is horrible, but the aftermath. There's -- that even a shared understanding of facts or at least waiting for the facts anymore. And you're hearing from people who are rank and file in the department of homeland security that they're shocked and probably not happy about it.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana. And actually, before I share that reporting, I do have new reporting that I just got from a senior homeland security official that shows a little more light on who the officer is, who shot the woman? I'm told that he has 10 years of experience that he is with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. That is the branch of ICE that deal specifically with the arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrants. And of that branch, he was part of the special response team.

So again, he was an ICE officer, as we know. He had 10 years of experience. We had heard there only from the secretary a number of years. That's information that I'm getting and is going to, of course, be part of this investigation and his actions.

To your point about the secretary reaching a firm conclusion, one that she shared yesterday in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and also, again, just now, that has really shocked the many homeland security officials that I have been speaking with, because typically, the department at this point would point to the investigation.

Would say, there is an investigation under way that will look at the actions and the conduct of the officer to determine if it was in line with his training. But instead, the secretary is saying now, without that review -- the full review having taken place, that he was in line with his training and these reviews take a long time. I've covered this for a long time. It can take months, if not years.

Now, I want to note that we don't know everything the Department of Homeland Security has. It is entirely possible. The secretary has reviewed information we don't have yet. For example, she has talked about the agitators and protesters in saying that, in this case, they were harassing and impeding an ongoing operation before the shooting happened. But all the same, these are the types of things that officials typically wait before they weigh in.

[12:15:00]

I'll also tell you, this is at a moment where thousands of agents are already on the ground more than there typically would be in Minnesota and Minneapolis --

BASH: And then she said more might be headed --

ALVAREZ: And she said more could be headed there. Before when these officers arrived, I'm being told that they were briefed, extensive briefings about the potential of agitators, and that if they got violent, they needed to call local police. So, there had been briefings before this shooting happened as well.

But again, Dana, this has really rocked a lot of the officials that I'm speaking with, officials who have been doing this for a long time, not only because there was a shooting which is so rare for ICE, which has been again doing this for decades. But also, that the department has already drawn a firm conclusion on an event that we are still trying to piece together.

BASH: I'm going to get to Ryan Young in one second. But I just want to go back to the first piece of reporting that you just gave us. I know you were trying to clear it as the homeland security secretary was finishing her remarks, one of the questions has been, is this person just part of the new surge of agents who have been hired across the country with this new pot of money that Homeland Security has gotten. And the answer, based on this new reporting, is no. He's been there for 10 years. That's a critical piece of information.

ALVAREZ: And if I can just note one more thing --

BASH: So, he has experience.

ALVAREZ: He has experience. The Department of Homeland Security has said yesterday that he had been dragged by a vehicle in an incident last year. That's one other note about him. And lastly, he was hospitalized and then discharged. That is standard protocol of any type of incident like this.

BASH: All right. Ryan Young is on the ground in Minnesota. Ryan, we saw this morning, you were in the middle of some clashes, some peaceful protests, but also some clashes. I know that you -- I saw you inhale some tear gas. Hopefully you're OK now. What's happening where you are?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're fine. Look, I think the conversation here really is about the energized public. You have people who come from all of Minnesota who decided to be here this morning. They arrived here at 7am this morning, some even before five o'clock, because they wanted to be here to have their voices heard. They wanted to block the gates here. This is one of the gates here and the other gate is over here.

And you see all the border patrol officers who are still crowded around this gate. If you look on the ground there, you can still see the orange mess that's left behind. That's from some of the agent that was sprayed out on the ground multiple different times as they tried to disperse the crowd.

One of the things that got people really agitated was when some of the officers showed up with not only non-lethal weapons, but actual assault rifles. And that made people very upset and angry. We'll show you some of the video of the scuffles that happened here. Some of the times you understood what was going on, people did throw snowballs in their direction. There was a response. There was other times where the agents spotted people in the crowd and they decided -- they needed to remove those agitators from the crowd.

Now, even right now, there are people who are screaming toward these agents as they walk back this direction. They closed the exit to the area here so people could stop coming to protests. And at one point, as the protesters started to leave, we thought this would be over. And then the next thing that happened is Greg Bovino showed up and started walking the line himself. That really sent further agitation to this crowd. People were watching him. They were mocking Him. They were yelling at him nonstop.

We got a quick, sort of, not really an interview here, but he did respond to some of the questions. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Good to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A real quick about being on here. Your reaction to the crowd?

BOVINO: We're here. It's title eight, immigration enforcement operations continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So, he was asked a direct question about whether or not this would continue. He says his troops plan to be here. Then someone wanted to ask him about the shooting. We all tried to ask him about the shooting. He couldn't talk about this at this point. Then there were some counter protesters who showed up, who were actually in support of the operations here, saying that the state was messed up, and they needed these officers here that only made people more angry about what was going on. And in fact, people tried to remove them. When we talked to some of the protesters earlier, they made it very clear that what they were concerned about was outside agitators getting involved and starting with some of the same issues that they've seen in protests in the past. They were trying to make sure that did not happen again.

But I will tell you, more than four hours we've had over hundred border patrol officers standing out here in formation to make sure no one can cross the street, and we've seen a continuity of all these trucks coming in here, most of them empty. But people are very, very agitated when it comes to this, especially when Greg Bovino walked out and started looking directly into the crowd.

And sort of at some points, pointing out people that they wanted to remove who were creating issues. One of the big issues here was, where do you stand in the street? And that became very contentious at some point. So, it's finally coming down at this point.

[12:20:00]

BASH: OK. Glad to hear that, Ryan. Thank you so much for your incredible reporting there. And we're going to sneak in a quick break, but we are waiting for the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz to address reporters that should happen any minute. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back. There is still a lot. We don't know about what happened in the minutes leading up to Renee Nicole's death. We do have multiple videos of the shooting. So, I want to go back to that, and I do want to warn before we play them that they are graphic and difficult to watch. Here's one you.

[12:25:00]

(PLAYING VIDEO)

And here's a second angle from a higher vantage point.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

We're back at the table. And Eli, this sort of speaks to what one of the reporters in the room with Kristi Noem asked, one of the great questions she got, which is, what you're saying is a direct contradiction to what so many people believe that they are seeing with their own eyes when they watch this video.

ELI STOKOLS, WHITE HOUSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Right. And I think, you know, you have to step back and look at the administration, and what do cabinet officials do? They all take their cues from the president. What was the president's response very quickly yesterday, before any of the dust had really settled, first the social media post, and then we found out in comments the New York Times.

He was also taking the officer's side and blaming the woman in the car, and he initially said that she ran the officer over. The video all over the internet. And the video that the Times reporters in that -- in the Oval Office showed him during the interview, shows that the officer fired the shots was not run over.

And then you had the president saying, well, she was behaving very badly. She was antagonizing them. She was yelling at them. Again, people can decide if that merits being shot at or not. But, you know, you step back from -- I mean, J.D. Vance is going to the briefing room today at one o'clock with the press secretary. Unscheduled briefing was not on the schedule. He's been on Twitter, making the same argument like everybody has sort of seen the president's reaction and then amplified it and echoed it, and they're fighting in the usual spaces.

And for J.D. Vance to go to the briefing room at one o'clock and lean into this tells you that, you know, far from saying we need to calm down, we need to wait for the investigation. As you pointed out, as typically, we have seen presidents and elected officials at all levels do after something like this. You have them leaning in and it so far, not saying, let's take a step back, let's take a breath, but wanting to argue about this, wanting to fight.

And another point is that, you know, with the protests and the people shout, right? They need the protests. They need the kind of conflict on the ground as a pretext, an explanation for why the officers acted this way, that's part of this. So, they're not trying to calm things down by any stretch.

BASH: Everybody in politics needs a foil. In this particular case, this particular administration, the protesters are the foil, which is why Tim Walz has -- the governor has been saying, you know, don't take the bait. What are you hearing from your sources at the White House?

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: There are so much of what the White House has been doing for the last year is focused on perception. How is the American voter perceiving all of the things that, in some ways, feel rather unique to this time? And so, I think you're seeing them in this moment trying to bend the perception to their will, despite the fact that we are lacking a lot of context outside of these videos.

And so, you're going to see J.D. Vance double down on what he's been tweeting, which is basically saying that despite the fact that this is a tragic shooting, that it is upon the woman who died because she was in this position and because she accelerated while the agent was in front of her. Some of that video discounts what he's been saying in these tweets.

And you're going to see -- I think, really a blanket across the administration, trying to make it -- trying to make sure that their position is that this -- that the woman was wrong. And I don't know if you're seeing the American voter agree with that. I mean, obviously we haven't seen any polling about this, but what I'm talk -- when I'm talking to folks, what I'm hearing is that what the administration is saying happened, does not look like what happened in those videos.

BASH: What we are seeing is tragic, and what we are seeing is once again, shirts and skins that this is falling --

WRIGHT: They were shooting into their corner.

BASH: Just an example. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOEM: This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism.

SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): They know nothing of who this person is, and they frankly, know nothing about the community that I call home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The driver of the vehicle weaponized that vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we saw today is a murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jacob is an embarrassment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: Yeah. I mean, I think what strikes me is, just as Eli was saying, the reason politicians will usually say, let's all hold back and wait for the investigation, is to try to calm the situation, is to try to pacify those tensions and tell -- and make the protesters feel heard. And instead they are turning the protesters into the enemy, turning this into an us versus them situation, you know, not treating the people of Minneapolis.

[12:30:00]