White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt probably thought attacking a journalist who asked a legitimate question about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during Thursday’s press briefing would help her win the hearts and minds of voters.
But it doesn’t appear things worked out as she might have hoped, based on the social media reaction to her meltdown at a simple question asked by The Hill’s Niall Stanage.
During the briefing, Stanage noted an earlier comment made by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that ICE agents are “doing everything correctly,” before asking Leavitt how that can be when “32 people died in ICE custody last year, 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE, and Renee Good was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent.”
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Leavitt then asked Stanage a question about Good, the 37-year-old woman shot and killed by an ICE officer while in her car in Minneapolis.
“Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” she asked, to which he replied, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably.”
Leavitt didn’t like the answer and declared, “Oh, OK. So you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion” before going on a tirade where she called Stanage “a left-wing activist” and said he was “posing as a journalist.”
When Stanage asked what was inaccurate in what he said, Leavitt ignored him and continued her rant.
“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.”
Although Leavitt’s lashing-out has gone viral, most of the sympathy was given to Stanage, who many noted asked a legitimate question about Noem’s comment and also responded honestly to her question about what he thought caused Good’s death.
