Heart & Soul Conversation #12 ……Come Garden With Me

An evasive Trump told reporters on Thursday that the American citizen shot and killed by ICE "behaved horribly," but stumbled when reporters pressed him harder.

As news of the fatal shooting of an observer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis began to spark outrage and protests, President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to defend the officers' actions and falsely claim that the victim, Renee Nicole Good, was driving toward officers or even that an officer was hospitalized, none of which appears to be true from reporting or video footage.

New York Times reporters went on to confront Trump about these discrepancies on Thursday morning, and when put on the spot, he became evasive.

“She behaved horribly,” said Trump. “And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over. I’ll play the tape for you right now.” Trump then had his assistant Natalie Harp bring over a laptop that played a slow-motion video of the shooting.

“With all of it being said, no, I don’t like that happening,” Trump added before the video played.

After Times reporters noted that the video didn't show any ICE officer being run over, Trump stumbled over his words, saying, “Well, I — the way I look at it — It’s a terrible scene. I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”

Trump's claims that the shooting was justified have been echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said the officer “used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues” from a woman who was "stalking" them.

The exact nature of what caused the officer to fire his weapon is not the only criticism ICE is facing; other reports have indicated the officers blocked a doctor who was on scene from rendering medical assistance after the shooting.

President Donald Trump came under fire on Monday from both parties' leadership in the Senate Judiciary Committee over his refusal to include them in the briefing about the operation to capture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.

In recent months, Democrats have complained that the administration is sidelining their elected officials from participating in Venezuela briefings while keeping Republicans in the loop. This time, however, Trump is simply not including the Judiciary Committee at all, prompting Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) to release an outraged statement.

The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that the operation was a law enforcement action, not a military one, partly because the former would not require congressional approval — but, Grassley and Durbin pointed out, if it's a law enforcement action, the Judiciary Committee should at least be briefed on things.

"President Trump and Secretary Rubio have stated that this was a law enforcement operation that was made at the Department of Justice's (DOJ) request, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," they wrote. "The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over DOJ, FBI and DEA, and all three agencies are led by individuals who our Committee vetted and processed. The Attorney General herself will be present at today's briefing."

"There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing," they wrote. "The administration's refusal to acknowledge our Committee's indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the Committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro's arrest."

The capture of Maduro, while it has been broadly met with support from the GOP, has caused divisions among key pro-Trump factions who backed the president as a noninterventionist, and the administration's approach to the transition of power has generated further controversy.