Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Deadly ICE Shooting Sparks Outrage, Protests; Gov. Walz Holds News Conference After Deadly ICE Shooting. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 08, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: -- 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 as American citizens who deserve the care of their government.

And so, and I think, as Jasmine said, it's completely correct that we don't have polling on this particular incident. But we have plenty of polling over the past year that shows that the public has really turned on this administration's mobilizing of ICE, mobilizing of the National Guard, the approach to interior immigration enforcement, all of these things have become very unpopular with the American people.

So that's the context in which all of this is happening. And that's the question that we're going to see answered in the coming days.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, no question, except -- I'm going to move on in one second. But the question that the administration thinks that they know the answer to is anytime they're talking about this, they're not talking about the economy and things like that.

Actually, let me go to the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who's now speaking.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: -- on unimaginable tragedy and the horror of the last 24 hours. Also, a deep thank you to Minnesotans and those across the country. I understand a fund has been set up to support Renee's six-year-old child and wife, other things being done. I would encourage Minnesotans and folks across the country in this moment, you're seeing neighborliness and kindness rise to the occasion is go and find out what they're doing there and give some help if you can.

I'd also say last night we saw Minnesotans meet the moment once again. Thousands of Minnesotans demonstrated last night peacefully. They shared a message about the reckless ICE mobilization is not keeping us safe and led to the tragedy that the world witnessed once again.

To Minnesota, I say thank you. There's strength in numbers, there's power and peace, and what we saw was a beautiful vigil to a life that we're starting to learn more about. And I will let those that want to push out false narratives to slander or defame Renee Good, Minnesotans will tell her life story. Minnesotans will be there to defend her honor and see this as a human being, not a moment in time or the callous casualness that I've watched some people on TV gloss over what they saw.

We've also spent a lot of time talking last 24 hours about accountability. That means no function of government operates with impunity. It means when someone's in a position of authority and they commit any act that impacts our people, there has to be another place to turn to get justice. Checks and balances.

Basic idea, the center of the formation of our country. It's the only measure that protects us from the abuse of government or federal overreach or tyrannical government. Yesterday, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the BCA, spent the day yesterday attempting to get that accountability.

We have learned that the Trump administration has now denied the state that ability to participate in the investigation. And I just want to make this as clear as possible to everyone. Minnesota must be part of this investigation. These are nonpartisan career professionals that have spent years building the trust of the community.

There's a BCA force investigations unit that was created by the legislature, by the people of Minnesota to provide an independent, consistent and trusted mechanism for investigating the use of force incidents involving law enforcement officers. Minnesota has seen our share of these.

And what you've seen is, and I have witnessed it during my time, that these professionals have risen to the moment. They are trusted by people. People who are not by inclination trusting of law enforcement or government have come to see the professionals at the BCA as true arbitrators that can get them justice. The unit is the result of years of scrutiny, public engagement and bipartisan legislative action.

Minnesotans have made it clear time and again they expect transparency through this process where a police officer uses deadly force. The BCA Commissioner -- Superintendent Evans have earned that trust by delivering on that expectation.

I think it's clear to everyone as they saw this, that it feels now that Minnesota has been taken out of the investigation. It feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome.

[12:35:12]

And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment from the President to the Vice President to Kristi Noem have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate. They have determined the character of a 37- year-old mom that they didn't even know don't know. They've determined that the actions are done.

I don't know. I've not used inflammatory terms of what happened. I've asked us to find the answers. The only way we find the answers is a thorough investigation by non-partisan professionals. We've delivered that. We've been able to do it. We've earned the trust.

And when I say that the trust of BCA and I tell Minnesotans the trust of law enforcement here. Everyone knows globally, certainly here, that George Floyd, who was murdered a few blocks from this site, tore at the soul of who we were. But we healed. We built back trust.

Chief Brian O'Hara came in and took one of the most difficult jobs in America of building back trust in the police force in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. And he's earned that. And he's level. And he's fair. And he's asking for that.

And so Minnesotans, I will continue to press that we be part of the investigation, that we do the investigation so that Minnesotans can trust what the outcome is. I don't have a predetermined notion. Yes, I saw the video. Yes, I saw that. But a thorough investigation will see what happened before that. It will take all factors in and it will come up with a fair and just conclusion. And we will accept that.

Very, very difficult for Minnesotans to think in any way this is going to be fair when Kristi Noem was judge jury and basically executioner yesterday. That's very, very difficult to think that they were going to be fair.

With that being said, Minnesotans, we've risen to the occasion so far, but it's going to get challenging. It's going to be challenging because I feel your anger. The human desire to lash out in this moment is very real. I can tell you that that is the wish of many people. That they fulfill the wish they want to see us turn on one another, turn towards violence rather than peaceful reconciliation, rather than peaceful civil disobedience.

And we have to do our best to not play into that. I say this, too, when I saw yesterday some of the anger, whether it's Minneapolis police, Minnesota State Patrol, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Minnesota National Guard, they are there to protect and serve, as it said. They are there to protect Minnesotans.

Throwing your anger at them only inflames the situation. And I know some of you were up at the Whipple building this morning and to the press who are here. I saw some of this myself. Thank you. Continue to have access to every single space. Continue to cover this story. Continue to show the world what's out there.

I will say it where our president won't. The press are the defenders of our democracy. You need to be there. But I also tell folks, protect our Minnesotans who are out there and don't turn the anger to them. This is a brazen use of force.

They want us to bend the knee. They want us to capitulate. The way we give them what they want is allow them to use this as an excuse to put more troops on the ground. Use them as an excuse to show that these are violent protests.

And I also witnessed what I think is going to be a pattern over the next few days in the coming hours, is I saw an individual show up there with the intent to antagonize folks who were peacefully protesting with a bullhorn to scream at them. And again, the desire to move on that individual is exactly what they want, because our respect for the First Amendment means we will expect and respect all opinions.

If this individual is there expressing support for ICE, that's their constitutional right to do so, and they need to be protected. Don't allow that to be a catalyst to create violence. We believe in states' rights. We believe the federal government needs to stay out of this. We believe that the situation has gotten worse and less safe because of their presence.

And I will just say there were two incidents yesterday I saw after this that just tore at my soul. I saw an individual at the scene identify themselves as medical personnel, a physician, and asked to provide aid, and an ICE agent said, I do not care.

[12:40:09]

That lack of humanity was chilling to me. And after this incident happened, and after the tensions rose, ICE agents entered a Minnesota school, causing disruptions at that school. I can't say this strongly enough as governor, as a parent, as a teacher, to our elected representatives, Democrats and Republicans, I beg you, I implore you to tell them to stay out of our schools.

This tragedy will be magnified a hundredfold if this fight moves into the hallways of our public schools amongst our youth. And they're watching us. They're watching us now, how we respond.

So I've got a few simple asks. Let us, the professionals, handle this on Minnesota soil, this investigation. De-escalate this situation by removing yourselves from this situation with these 2,000 agents that were put here. And above all else, stay out of our schools.

I'd like to ask you to care, but that might be a step too far for some people. But I know Minnesotans care. So we'll protest peacefully. We will win in courts. We will certainly win in the defense of our democracy because the American people see what's happening here.

But the way that we don't win and the way that we lose, if this turns towards violence and allows them to escalate, it cannot happen. So I ask the grass top leaders out there, the faith leaders, the folks who are on the streets. And in many times, the true leaders are not the elected officials. They're the folks on the ground.

I beg you, implore you, follow those words of the leaders we had. I had the privilege of serving with John Lewis. And John talked about good trouble. I'm not telling you not to find good trouble. But I asked John many times. I said, John, I don't know if I'd have our self-restraint.

Didn't you want to lash out? He said, yes, daily. But he said, I wanted to win this. I wanted to do what's right. And I wanted justice to prevail. And to do that, I knew the only way was to not lash out, to not give in to that.

So to each and every one of you, we're not going to win this through violence. We're going to win it through justice. We're going to win it through compassion. We're going to win it through Minnesota Nice. And we're going to win it by holding every one of these people accountable as they should for what we've seen on the streets of Minneapolis.

With that, I'm going to turn to Commissioner Jacobson to give you a situation update.

BOB JACOBSON, MN DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Governor. Again, I'm Bob Jacobson, and it is my honor to serve as the Commissioner of Public Safety. First of all, again, I want to express my sincere condolences to the loved ones of Renee Nicole Good. Someone has lost their life, and that is not something that anyone takes lightly.

Minnesotans came out yesterday to express their grief, their frustration, and their anger at this terrible tragedy. I expect that they will continue to come out today. And I want to thank everyone who demonstrated peacefully. This helped honor Renee's memory and gave her family space to mourn.

Minnesota's residents and visitors have the right to demonstrate and to exercise their First Amendment rights. I want to remind everyone that there are safe ways to do so. Our goal is to reduce tensions, to avoid conflict, and to maintain a calm environment.

As I mentioned yesterday, we recommend the following safe and lawful ways to demonstrate. Please get together peacefully with others in public areas where pedestrians are allowed.

BASH: OK, we're going to continue to monitor this press conference in Minnesota. And as we do, I want to bring in our Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller. John, there's so much to unpack here. But I want to start with the point that Governor Walz was making, that we were making here on this program earlier, about the Trump administration officials from the President to the Homeland Security Secretary again this morning, in Walz's words, being the judge, jury, and in this case, executioner.

Can you talk about that from the perspective of any potential of justice, the way that you and I are used to investigations followed by the justice system working in a situation like that actually playing out?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, Dana, it's very unusual. Typically in these situations, and you can go back to any of the high profile ones, the mantra in the day following that is, we have to slow down, we have to let the investigation take its course, we don't have all the facts.

[12:45:10]

What we're seeing here is a polar opposite response, which is the Secretary of Homeland Security says this was a justified shooting, he followed his training. She is a domestic terrorist. You know, this was all within DHS policy. You have the President of the United States saying similar things. So that begs two important questions. One, with the FBI doing the independent investigation, what signal does it send when the nation's chief executive and the head of the agency involved are both saying there's nothing to see here, move along. Especially with the FBI director being the most politically appointed FBI director, probably in the agency's history.

The --

BASH: John, I'm sorry to interrupt you.

MILLER: Yes. Go ahead.

BASH: The governor is taking questions from reporters. We want to go back there.

WALZ: -- to deescalate in the moment to allow Minnesotans to back up and grieve, to allow this investigation to be played out by the rule of law. I have -- I said it again, I have not passed any judgment on this. And to please, please, whatever it is, leave Minnesota alone.

Earlier this week, I don't know if it was -- if something he wanted or whatever, I already made it clear, I'm exiting the stage here in a year. But I told him I have a year to continue to do what I love dearly and what I believe I've been good at, making Minnesota a better place to live.

The number of calls we got today of parents asking if they should send their kids to school or not, Minneapolis had to make what I believe was the absolute correct decision to cancel school. We have students out of learning today. I would just ask him, I'm not talking anything about border security. I'm not talking anything about what he needs to do on that.

None of this is accomplishing either his mission or making us any safer. So just give us a pause. Let us breathe. Look, we're exhausted. We're exhausted as Minnesotans. We're exhausted as Americans.

And this relentless assault on Minnesota for whatever reason is just cruel now. It has reached cruelness. So please, just give us a break.

And if it's me, you're already getting what you want. But leave my people alone. Leave our state alone. And look again and see what's happening. It's not me saying it. You're hearing it from many, many others. So that's what I would say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Walz, Mr. Jacobson, is there anything stopping state and local law enforcement from conducting an independent investigation of this, even if the federal government does not want to have you have a joint investigation?

JACOBSON: So, great question. We have asked for cooperation from the federal government. We were invited in to do a joint investigation on this initially. We continue to work with the federal government all the time on joint investigations. This is not something new, whether it be with the FBI or other federal law enforcement agencies. So we are accustomed to doing joint investigations.

As the governor has mentioned, our force investigative unit within the BCA has a stellar reputation for doing quality investigations, for finding the answers to the questions that people have. There are so many questions out there that I know the public has from watching what's been shown on social media and regular media.

And the goal for me would be to provide an investigation, preferably in tandem with the federal Bureau of Investigation, because we work with them all the time. And they are in -- they do have all the evidence in the original investigative notes and reports. We have none of that. They have shared none of that with us.

We would welcome the opportunity to jump back in to do that investigation, use our high quality investigators from the BCA to be able to do that with them, to find the answers that the public deserves. Without any of that information, without any of that assistance from the FBI or the federal government, we would be at a loss to be able to initiate and conduct a thorough investigation. For us to be able to do that, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without cooperation from the federal government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How difficult would it be to file state charges without the cooperation of the FBI?

JACOBSON: To be able to file state charges, we would need, again, a full investigation, which would include the opportunity to have been at the crime scene, to have had the opportunity to take a look at all the video and evidence that the FBI would have in their possession. I don't make any prejudgments about what happened yesterday.

[12:50:02]

We can all see what we want to see on the videos and what we have seen in the media. That doesn't mean -- none of us, I will not, as a public safety professional, jump to any conclusions as to who is at fault in this. What I will say, though, is that unless we do that thorough investigation, unless we have access to all of that evidence, unless we have access to the agents that were involved in that, to any witnesses, without any of that, we would not be able to put together a quality investigation for any prosecutor to be able to make a determination as to whether or not someone should be charged with a crime.

WALZ: I'm going to note on this, too, that no one less than Tom Homan yesterday said it would be unprofessional to pass judgment ahead of time. Now, the disconnect between what Tom Homan said and Kristi Noem said needs to be rectified by the federal government.

I will note, too, this is a question I asked, not being an attorney of my team, and it will go to the family, that there will certainly be civil cases filed on this. And those will be filed in Minnesota court and be held in court.

Corin (ph)? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is standard operating procedure when a federal agent of any kind in Minnesota shot and killed somebody, a civilian? Are you usually involved? Is there usually a joint investigation?

JACOBSON: Generally, if there is a -- any investigation involving use by a federal officer, generally, the federal government, federal officials will lead that investigation. We have participated in numerous investigations in the past. It is very infrequent where there's a use of force by law enforcement officer, federal law enforcement officer, but we have worked jointly and shared information in previous investigations.

WALZ: I'd like to say -- I'm going to add on this and say, if you truly wanted to de-escalate this situation, the logical conclusion would be to follow that procedure and allow Minnesota to participate. And that's where we started yesterday, and it's one of the reasons I came out here, and I'm not going to criticize that because that was the proper process, and I'm going to have to talk to Minnesotans to try. And it's a very difficult task.

I think we all know what's -- what can happen here to calmly wait until all the facts come out. I think you in this room are seeing the gravity of this situation by not allowing Minnesota to participate, and the prejudgment that's already been made by leadership creates a very, very dangerous situation. And that's why, once again, I'm going to reiterate to our federal partners, simply let us be part of this.

Use our professional folks. They will gain you the credibility and the trust of Minnesotans to believe the work that you're doing is honest, and it's not just a whitewash to backfill a pre-deceived notion.

All right. So I got (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything that the state can do to put in additional protection around schools or to allow for additional e- learning days for these situations?

WALZ: Yes, it's interesting, Dana (ph), that you would ask that. We were just -- as we were coming in here discussing, someone asked about that, and they mentioned Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock folks about escorting people in. We have not determined that yet, but it is a situation that we're going to have to explore.

As I said again, the thing that cut me deeply was watching what happened in our schools and the chaos. And I was on with Commissioner Jett this morning as he's talking to folks from St. Cloud to Duluth about what they think about today. Should we be in classes today and tomorrow in those schools, or does it pose a potential risk?

And so we're trying to figure that out. I think many of the things and the lessons we learned during COVID is local communities and local schools being able to make some of these decisions in the long run probably gets us better outcomes, but we are deeply concerned with that.

I'm going to come back as soon as we get any more information from all of you. We'll be in front of you again. I will reiterate, I was -- many of you know my wife, Gwen, the First Lady's an English and literature teacher, and we were talking about some of this. And she got asked the question, and it was being, when will all of this end?

And what Gwen said, it will end when enough people say it will end. And I think that is sage advice. And then I couldn't help but thinking, and it scares me a little bit. I heard those words.

We remembered them, many of us in here in sophomore, and we read it, that the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive. It certainly feels like that in this moment.

And so I want Minnesotans to not believe that I'm telling you not to be angry, not to be scared, not to be feeling a little bit hopeless in this moment. But I would also say this, and I saw it last night, I saw it during George Floyd, I've seen it throughout our history, when things looked really bleak, it was Minnesota's first that held that line for the nation on that July 3rd, 1863.

[12:55:15]

And I think now we may be in that moment, that the nation's looking to us to hold the line on democracy, to hold the line on decency, to hold the line on accountability. And more than that, to rise up as neighbors and simply say we can look out for one another, we can have differences.

But we've proved to the world going on 250 years that our democracy could hold. It feels to me like we're at one of those inflection points. That simply asking our government to give us accountability, listen to local leaders, ratchet down the rhetoric, let people feel safe in their person.

And let's let our kids go to school without fear. Let's let our kids go to school knowing that tomorrow could be a little better day. And so we're going to work on that. I'll leave you with this, and I'm not sure when we'll get in front of you next, but to Minnesotans.

Again, just one last time, don't give them what they want. Don't give them the unrest that they want. Don't give in to allowing them to bring more folks in here. Don't allow them to expand this somewhere else.

Rise up, wrap your arms around your neighbors, peacefully express your first amendment and your constitutional rights. And let's start healing, get some answers and move Minnesota forward. Thank you.

BASH: OK, we've been watching a press conference with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. John Miller, I interrupted you to go back to that Q&A. I want to bring you back in. I mean, quoting George Orwell, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

MILLER: Well, and I mean, that picks up with where we left off, which is how is anyone after these pronouncements made by top officials that this was a completely justified shooting going to have faith in that investigation that is going on by the FBI that comes out with whatever determination?

And what the governor's point was in the press conference was, we were told -- and Bob Jacobson, the head of public safety for the state, said the same thing, that we would be doing a joint investigation with the FBI. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Force Investigation Unit that investigates law enforcement involved shootings and has a high level of expertise would be part of that.

And today, it turns out that apparently they are not and they are reacting to that because it begs the same question, where is the transparency and the jointness that they do with other law enforcement activities when it comes to this one? That's one point.

The second point, Dana, is there's 579 cops in Minneapolis. That's what Chief O'Hara has to work with. There are over 2,000 federal agents from ICE, CBP, ERO on this immigration blitz, the biggest that's ever been done in U.S. history, according to DHS and the Secretary.

So if there's any thought of what can the federal government do at this moment to deescalate the idea of another incident, another flashpoint, the Secretary told us once again that operations are going to continue uninterrupted with thousands of federal agents out there, and that's causing a rub.

BASH: Yes. John, thank you so much. Really appreciate you giving us your reporting and your expertise.

Quickly, before we get to the end of the show, just jumping off of what John just said. Not only are they not pulling ICE out, the Homeland Security Secretary, just as we were listening, announced --

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That she's willing to --

BASH: -- that she's surging.

ALVAREZ: Yes, that they're willing to send more. Look, I think two things can be true here. And this is what I hear from Homeland Security officials. You can stand with ICE. You can also want accountability. And that is what I keep hearing from them and why they were so shocked by this firm conclusion that has already been drawn in this investigation.

One veteran ICE agent told me I don't recognize my former agency. This is what they are grappling --

BASH: Somebody who's working there?

ALVAREZ: Someone who has worked there. This is something that they are all dealing with, current or former, and why it has been striking to them that this firm conclusion was made. I also want to note, ICE has been doing this work for many, many years, including in Minneapolis.

Shootings are rare. Yet another reason why this has marked this massive immigration operation in a way that Homeland Security officials are still wrestling with.

BASH: Yes, I mean, and shootings are rare, but we are in a moment where there is a tinderbox sitting on the whole of Minneapolis and many of these cities because of the surge across across the country.

BALL: Yes, absolutely. It's a very tense situation. And the face that -- and to your point, they have been rare historically, but this is not the first time in the past year --

BASH: Right.

BALL: -- that there has been --

BASH: Yes.

BALL: -- a shooting involving ICE officers. In fact, there's been a shooting involving a moving car. And so that is the context for all of this, is that this is a nationwide deployment. This is something everyone has seen in their cities.

BASH: Thank you all for being here today. Thank you so much for your great reporting.

Thank you for watching Inside Politics. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.