Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Anadolu
Topics: Donald Trump, Immigration, Minnesota, Politics
William Morgan
Topics: Donald Trump, Immigration, Minnesota, Politics
Although it's the role of White House reporters to ask questions and the job of press secretaries to answer them, Karoline Leavitt turned the tables on one journalist while facing heavy scrutiny over the killing of mom Renee Good at the hands of ICE in Minneapolis.
Journalist for The Hill Niall Stanage asked a question about the administration's claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are doing 'everything correctly' following 37-year-old Good's fatal shooting, January 7.
Citing the deaths of 32 people in ICE detention since Trump took office last year, the reporter asked how immigration officers could be doing everything correctly in light of these statistics and after Good was 'shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent.'
But 28-year-old Leavitt fired back a question rather than answering, asking Stanage for his personal opinion on the topic, saying: “Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?”
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Stanage, taken aback by the hostile question, answered simply: "Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably."
Leavitt immediately attacked the reporter, firing back: "OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion."
She then called him a 'hack' for questioning the executive over the killing of a US citizen at the hands of federal immigration agents and tore into his credentials.
"You’re not a reporter, posing in this room as a journalist," the White House spokesperson said. "And it’s so clear by the premise of your question. And you and the people of the media who have such biases but fake like you’re a journalist, you shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat."
This follows a year of attacks on traditional media outlets by the White House, which has seen them side-lined for MAGA loyalist voices on the right of politics, and social media influencers and content creators given extra access at both the White House and Pentagon.
This is perhaps why Stanage was called a 'left-wing activist' for asking about Good's killing, with Leavitt telling the reporter exactly what topics he should be covering.
Instead of writing about the mom-of-three shot dead in her car, she said the 'hack' should have been writing about American residents killed by 'illegal' migrants.
Leavitt continued in her tirade: "The question that you just raised and your answer proves you’re biased. You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases...
"I bet you never even read about Laken Riley or Jocelyn Nungaray or all of the innocent Americans who were killed at the hand of illegal aliens in this country and the brave men and women of ICE are doing everything in their power to remove those heinous individuals and make our communities safer.
"And shame on people like you in the media who have a crooked view and have a biased view and pretend like you’re a real, honest journalist."
But the White House press secretary did not stop her attack there, broadening her fury to the wider press pool gathered to ask her questions.
"Shame on you people in the media who have a crooked view, a biased view, and pretend you’re an honest journalist," she said.