White House press secretary in heated exchange with Irish journalist after ICE question
James Cox
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called an Irish journalist a "left-wing hack" in a heated exchange after he asked her a question about the killing of Renee Good by a US immigration agent last week.
Niall Stanage, a White House columnist for The Hill and a native of Belfast, asked a question about the Trump administration's defence of the acts of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Mr Stanage referred to statistics which show 32 people died in ICE custody and 170 US citizens were detained by ICE in the last year, while Ms Good was “shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent”.
“How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?” he asked.
“Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” Ms Leavitt replied. When Mr Stanage asked if she wanted his opinion, Ms Leavitt said she was.
“Because an Ice agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,” Mr Stanage replied.
A visibly angry Ms Leavitt then launched into a tirade against the journalist.
“OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion, because you’re a left-wing hack. You’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist... 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.
“But you’re pretending like you’re a journalist, but you’re a left-wing activist. And 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.”
She continued, telling Mr Stanage he should be more concerned about how many American citizens were killed by "illegal" immigrants.
“I bet you didn’t even read up on those stories... 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.”
The exchange has gone viral in the US and elsewhere, highlighting the Trump administration's staunch defence of ICE, despite opinion polls showing the American public are increasingly unhappy with their conduct.
Protests have raged in Minnesota, where Ms Good was killed, and in cities across the US since the incident.
US president Donald Trump has even threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to send the military in to Minnesota.
You can watch the exchange between Ms Leavitt and Mr Stanage below.
