Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had agreed to hang a plaque honoring the officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Tillis joined with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) to obtain unanimous consent to pass a resolution in favor of hanging the plaque after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refused to display it throughout 2025.
"I also want to thank the Republican leader, Sen. Thune, because he has agreed that we will be able to display this until the final location is in place, and I appreciate his help in doing that," Tillis said in his floor speech.
CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane called the move a "big defection by Senate Republicans against Trump, who spread more lies about January 6th this week through the White House's new web page."
MS NOW cut off Vice President JD Vance's aggressive speech, where he blamed the Minnesota mother fatally shot by an ICE agent for her own death, and started fact-checking him on the live broadcast.
Vance had suggested that federal law enforcement agents would have immunity over fatal shootings and attempted to justify the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a mother and poet shot dead in her Honda Pilot just after dropping off her 6-year-old child at school.
That's when MS NOW host Chris Jansing muted Vance and cut to a discussion with a panel about his claims, including his accusations that the media has contributed to the escalated rhetoric over ICE agents and heightened immigration tactics targeting American citizens.
"While there are these calls to turn down the temperature, the vice president of the United States just called Gov. Tim Walz 'a joke,' suggested he may have committed crimes himself, and again, blamed the victim, seemed to blame the victim in this terrible shooting," Jansing said.
The move from Vance and the Trump administration was strategic, MS NOW reporter Laura Barron-Lopez reported.
"Yeah, Chris, I mean, I think you really hit the nail on the head here when you were breaking down what the vice president is doing here, which is often the administration in situations like this, goes on the attack," Barron-Lopez said. "They are attacking the press. And it reminds me, actually, of prior comments made by a number of the president's allies, including Steve Bannon, who said, who is the real opposition? The media is the real opposition. And in cases they try to flood the zone."
Vance was using the moment to try and distract — pulling attention away from the administration, she added.
"And right now the vice president is at the podium in the press room saying that they are going to create a new position, a new assistant attorney general position that would look into fraud because they are taking what were very clear examples in cases of fraud dating back to the Biden administration in Minnesota," Barron-Lopez said. "And over the course of the last, more than the last month or so, they have started to use those very specific cases of individual cases of fraud to go after the Somali community, the legal immigrant community in Minnesota. And that is why they increased the number of ICE agents of CBP agents on the ground in Minnesota at the start of this year."
Vice President JD Vance suggested that federal law enforcement agents enjoy the same absolute immunity as that bestowed upon President Donald Trump by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
The vice president spent Thursday morning justifying the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent the day before in Minneapolis, and he spoke to reporters in the afternoon at the White House briefing room to suggest the victim had committed a crime because she had been influenced by left-wing radicals, including state officials.
"First of all, I wish thestate officials in Minnesotawould investigate why you haveso many people who are usingtheir vehicles and other meansto actually interfere with thelegitimate law enforcementoperation," Vance said. "The precedent here isvery simple. You have a federallaw enforcement officialengaging in federal lawenforcement action."
"That's afederal issue," the vice president added. "That guy isprotected by absolute immunity.He was doing his job."
Federal law enforcement officers generally are granted a partial shield from state prosecution by the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, unless they violate "clearly established" rights.
But the immunity from criminal prosecution that the Supreme Court ruled on in July 2024 refers to the president alone, for official acts taken while in office.
"The ideathat Tim Walz and a bunch ofradicals in Minneapolis aregoing to go after and make thisguy's life miserable because hewas doing the job that he wasasked to do is preposterous," Vance said. "Theunprecedented thing is the ideathat a local official canactually prosecute a federalofficial with absolute immunity.I've never seen anything likethat. It would get tossed out bya judge."
Vance suggested that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz – his vice presidential rival in 2024 – could potentially be targeted for prosecution related to the shooting under a National Security Memorandum defining some left-wing viewpoints as terrorist ideology.
"So what I'd like Minnesota to focus on is thereal issue that they'reencouraging people," Vance said. "Minneapolisofficials are encouraging peopleto commit violence against ICEofficials. It's ridiculous, it's got to stop."
Vice President JD Vance excused an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who killed a 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by noting the officer was "sensitive" because he had been dragged by a car months before.
During a White House briefing on Thursday, Vance pointed to a CNN headline: "Outrage after ICE officer kills U.S. citizen in Minneapolis."
"That's one way to put it, and that is the way that many people in the corporate media have put this attack over the last 24 hours," he complained. "And I say attack very, very intentionally because this was an attack on federal law enforcement, this was an attack on law and order, this was an attack on the American people. The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace, and it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day."
"What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his legs," he continued. "So you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?"
"If the media wants to tell the truth, they ought to tell the truth that a group of left-wing radicals have been working, tirelessly, sometimes using domestic terror techniques to try to make it impossible for the President of the United States to do what the American people elected him to do, which is enforce our immigration laws."
Vance insisted that the officer "defended himself" and that "everybody who's been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves."
Speaking with host Chris Jansing, Bump, now an analyst for MS NOW, was asked about Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan at first saying he wanted to see how the investigation played out before commenting.
When Jansing brought up the family and small child that Good left behind, that was when Bump started having trouble answering her questions.
“All this can be very personal,” he remarked before pausing and sniffling.
Laughing with embarrassment, he continued, “Look what you did to me, Chris. I have a six-year-old and,” before pausing again, and struggling to speak before joking , “Live TV is great.”
"You know, seeing the image of those stuffed animals in the glove compartment of her car — really emotional for me,” he managed to get out. “And, you know, I take away from — this is great — you know, what I take away from this is, for me, that's the thing that stands out.”
“That this was a family that could have been like mine,” he added. “And there are a lot of situations, a lot of incidents that have involved ICE, have involved the government over the course of the past 13 months, in which there is resonance for other families in similar ways. And for me, it's hard to think about that family being affected in this way. And I know that there are lots of other people affected in that way. And I think it's important for us to remember the way in which we respond to these things, because that's the humanity, and that's, I think, fundamental to what America is; understanding that all of us can be in these situations, and all of us should be able to avoid them, particularly when they are so unnecessary, as the shooting yesterday was.”
CNN anchor Dana Bash Thursday was shocked after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's continued claims about the fatal ICE killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Noem responded to series of questions from reporters during a press conference in New York City when she doubled down on the allegations that Good had targeted an ICE officer while driving her maroon Honda Pilot — while also saying that there should be a more thorough investigation.
"This vehicle was used to hit this officer. It was used as a weapon. And the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy," Noem said.
Bash started questioning Noem's statements during the live broadcast.
"Reporters were able to ask a number of questions about what happened in Minneapolis. But the headline is that the Homeland Security secretary has declared what happened and is putting the blame entirely on the woman who died and then saying, there needs to be an investigation. So I'm not sure how those those two go together," Bash said. "But there is a conclusion that she is making a very steep conclusion, a very, specific conclusion. And yet there has been no investigation that has taken place."
Noem repeated what she said in the hours after the fatal shooting — which Bash pointed out.
"I think that we have all become accustomed to the Trump administration. And to be fair, you know, Democrats who are watching this to sort of everybody goes to their corners about what happened instead of taking a breath and saying, let's get the facts and let's let the investigation play out," Bash said. "And in a situation like this we have to remind people this is not normal, never mind the shooting, which is horrible, but the aftermath, this is there's not even a shared understanding of facts, or at least waiting for the facts anymore. And you're hearing from people who are rank and file in the Department of Homeland Security that they're shocked and probably not happy about it."
According to host Anna Cabrera, the controversial FBI director has ordered his agency to assume total control over what has been described as the murder of Renee Good, who was shot in the face at point-blank range by the agent who has yet to be identified.
Cabrera noted that the local law enforcement has been surprisingly banned from interviewing witnesses who saw the shocking shooting and its aftermath.
According to national security correspondent David Rohde, the move by Patel is stunning and likely to create a firestorm of suspicion.
“The statement, according to the Minnesota state investigators, is that the FBI reversed course, that this initially was going to be a joint investigation,” Rohde explained. “And now they've said the FBI will handle it themselves. That is very unusual. If you look at the Butler [PA.] assassination attempt on President Trump, that was a joint investigation. The killing of Charlie Kirk, That's a joint local and federal investigation. And that's how most investigations like this go forward. There are sources and resources that local law enforcement has that the federal government doesn't.”
“So this is very, very unusual. And, you know, there'll be a lot of questions about why is FBI Director Kash Patel doing this on his own? And what prompted this?” he suggested.
“To be honest, given the politically charged environment, that's just going to cause more suspicion, more partisan division,” he added. “And I think it's really bad. One of the positive things about law enforcement investigations are when they are transparent and that doesn't appear to be happening here.”
Reporters pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about why she had jumped to the conclusion that Renee Nicole Good was a domestic terrorist after she was shot to death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
During a Thursday press conference in New York, a reporter noted that a discreet operation there contrasted with the chaos surrounding the Minneapolis shooting.
"Because of the protesters and the violent criminals that were attacking our law enforcement!" Noem interrupted. "If you remember in that operation, what happened was our officers were out trying to get a car stuck out of the snow when they were surrounded and assaulted and blocked in by protesters that were inciting."
The reporter pointed out that the officer "fired point-blank into a driver."
"Is that part of the training?" he asked. "How is that self-defense?"
"This is an experienced officer who followed his training, and we will continue to let the investigation unfold into the individual and continue to follow the procedures and policies that happen in these use-of-force cases," Noem remarked. "But let's remember the events that surrounded what happened yesterday on that tragic situation was that these individuals had followed our officers all day, had harassed them, had blocked them in. They were impeding our law enforcement operations, which is against the law, and when they demanded and commanded her to get out of her vehicle several times, she did not."
"You called her a domestic terrorist, though!" the reporter exclaimed. "Without knowing who she was or what she was about."
"This was an act of domestic terrorism," Noem claimed. "So this is standard operating procedure after every use of force situation is that we followed these procedures and protocols."
A national security correspondent questioned the presence of President Donald Trump's border chief on the front lines of a tense protest in Minneapolis.
Thousands gathered Thursday morning, less than a day after an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot 37-year American citizen Renee Good during a raid, and Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino smiled and laughed with federal agents as tensions flared outside a federal facility.
"What we're seeing hereis certainly not accidental," said CNN's Josh Campbell, "because so much of thisimmigration enforcement effortthat we've seen across thecountry has largely been aboutmessaging, public messaging,getting imagery out there, and Ihave to say, I mean, you know,from the perspective of a lawenforcement leader, it could behim wanting to come out thereand try to, you know, buck uphis own troops, which leadersoften do to say, 'Look, I'mgoing to come out, you know,thank you for what you're doing.'So that's one aspect."
"Butclearly there is a publicmessaging aspect because he'sbeen there for so long, justkind of waiting around at times,looking back into the crowd, and, you know, one thing thatwe've noted throughout ourcoverage, especially when we'vetalked about excessive use offorce incidents that werequestionable, as you mentioned, there's always a bigquestion about de-escalation," Campbell added. "Isthis something that you want totry to, you know, bring downtemperature, the temperaturewith the public, particularly ina volatile situation where youhave someone who's been shotand killed by law enforcement.This is somewhat of theopposite."
Campbell also noted that President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among other high-ranking officials, have clearly signaled to agents on the street that they would justify almost any use of force during immigration enforcement.
"Overthe course of the last fewmonths, we've seen the Department of Homeland Securityleadership and the Department of Justice come out to quicklyexonerate agents," Campbell said. "In the wordsof one law enforcement sourcethat I talked to who works at afederal agency, they said thisis essentially sending a signalto ICE and some of these otheragents that they're essentiallyuntouchable, because if your ownleadership is coming out quicklyand saying you did everythingabsolutely right, not waitingfor a robust investigation, youhave to wonder what that will doto the psyche of these agents asthey're out there trying todecide, shoot or don't shoot. Ifyou already know that, at leastif past is prologue, there hasn'tbeen a lot of accountability."
FBI Director Kash Patel told Real America's Voice host John Solomon that his agency was targeting organizations exercising their free speech rights by funding protests following Wednesday's killing of a woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
"Just talked a little bit ago to the FBI," Solomon told MAGA influencer Steve Bannon on Thursday. "I got a statement directly from Kash Patel, the FBI director."
"He said and confirmed this morning that the organizers and funders of the anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis are under criminal investigation for impeding lawful law enforcement activities and endangering public safety," he continued. "This is the most strong statement that anyone in the administration is given that not only are the people that ICE is rounding up, doing unlawful activities, but these left-wing anarchist protesters are also potentially going to face criminal sanctions soon."
Donald Trump’s decision to withhold childhood care funds from the multiple jurisdictions, which will hurt his own supporters, was pilloried by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul during an appearance on MS NOW Thursday morning.
Brought on to discuss her proposal to expand free and subsidized child care in her state, the governor was asked about her dealings with the Trump administration and gave the relationship a thumbs down.
Appearing on “Morning Joe,” she told the hosts, “[It’s a] war with kids. Let's just call it for what it is. You know, he singles out the five — some of the largest states happen to be run by Democratic governors, and he thinks he's screwing with us. But what he doesn't realize is that in a state like New York, these child care funds and social services funds are administered by the counties. Of my 62 counties in New York, 47 are red counties. So now I have Republican county executives, represented by Republican members of Congress, who are also getting screwed in the process.”
“Well, the state will have to help out here, right? But it's a reimbursement program,” she elaborated. “They told us with this, basically, another hostage letter. I get them almost every week, some threatening letter withholding money for a tunnel or a bridge or whatever. They just wake up and decide they want to attack us on a given day. But this letter we received two days ago says that if we don't provide volumes of information going back years, that is in the hands of counties, within two weeks, it's going to be permanently suspended.”
“I’m sorry,“ co-host Joe Scarborough pressed. “Why is there a war on kids coming from this administration?”
“Why do I think there is a war on kids?” Hochul repeated before exclaiming, “Because they’re stupid!”
“I mean, I don't understand this,” she continued. “I'm just telling you, I don't know why they are so hostile. I think it's this depth of cruelty they think they're going to get to me. But the kids are the political pawns in this process, and they're not doing that calculation.”
“Children are being hurt and they need to know that,” she added. “And that's why I'm saying it today. But also our governors are staying together, we'll go to court, we'll do what we can. But, my god, do you know how many cases I have against this administration ongoing? This is a growth industry for lawyers.”
Tensions continued mounting Thursday morning outside a federal immigration facility in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of an American woman by an ICE agent.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fired three times into a vehicle driven by 37-year-old Renee Good, killing her, on Wednesday, and protests erupted around the city against the Trump administration's crackdown, and federal agents from various agencies faced off against demonstrators.
"You have thegovernor [Tim Walz] who said yesterday his National Guard is on standby tocome in if they're needed," said CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller. "Buthe reminded people that's Minnesota's National Guard whoare, you know, working for thepeople. We also saw in priorincidents where, in Los Angeles,in particular, where the White House and the Pentagon sent in National Guard from otherstates, in one case, the Marinesto guard these federal buildingsand facilitate the passage ofthese operations."
The demonstrators gathered around 7 a.m. to block the deployment of immigration patrols from a federal facility, and Miller predicated President Donald Trump and his officials could order more resources into the area.
"It certainly has thepotential to accelerate thiskind of encounter and thesekinds of clashes, and what youwill see is two differentthings," Miller said. "If this continues toescalate, one, the federalgovernment will send in moreresources. Don't be surprisedif we see National Guards or Marines or guardsdeployed from other statesfederalized by the president. Ifthis continues, but also do notbe surprised as we learn from George Floyd, as we learn from Ferguson, that protesters andactivists from other cities willflood into Minneapolis to saythis has become the battlegroundof this issue."
CNN's Ryan Young reported live from the scene that some agents appeared to be inflaming tensions and possibly leaving weapons scattered on the ground.
"What we're seeing is adifferent level of maybetraining per agent," Young reported. "There's someagents here who are trying touse de-escalation, and they'retalking with the protesters andtrying to walk them through it.Then there are other agents whoare literally havingconversations where they'reantagonizing the protesters,telling them to 'bring it,' if theywant to bring it, and they'rethey're using their body tophysically push people down tothe ground. We've watched thatin several different occasions.That happened right here on theline."
Young noted that federal authorities appeared to be dropping some of their equipment as tensions flared.
"The other thing that we'venoticed is some of theseskirmishes, it shows a level ofcontrol when it comes to theequipment," Young reported. "It doesn't seem toreally match what they should bedoing. We've seen several ofthe Border Patrol agentsdropping parts of theirequipment. There are Border Patrol agents here with bodycameras on, some of those havefallen to the ground. We've seensome of their agents in terms ofpepper spray fall to the ground."
"One of thethings that we've noticed is itseems like in the last half houror so, more agents have arrived, and not only agents from Border Patrol, but it seems like some Homeland Security specialresponse teams have arrived here,as well," he added. "I'm just going to walkyou to the front of the linehere and show you this. So this,for instance, this gentlemanright here has been challenginga lot of the agents and gettingin their faces nonstop. He'sbeen doing a lot of the talkingback and forth. You see, as welook down this line here, thatyou can see the faces of people.So this has been veryinteresting to watch as peoplehave been screaming that thereare murderers."
Conservative former Judge Andrew Napolitano argued that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent should be charged after shooting Renee Nicole Good to death in Minneapolis.
In a Thursday interview on Newsmax, Napolitano pointed out that Good appeared to be trying to steer away from the agent when he shot her through the windshield of her vehicle.
"There is a video showing her turning the wheel to the right, as if to avoid him," he explained. "If he is charged with a crime, as I think he should be, under Minnesota law, a jury will decide this. Or a judge will decide [that] the evidence is so one-sided, he has qualified immunity, and therefore we're not going to proceed with the prosecution."
"If he does face state charges, is there any way that on a federal level, the DOJ could get involved in this?" host Shaun Kraisman asked.
"The DOJ would probably prefer this to be in federal court," Napolitano acknowledged. "But there is no way that I'm aware of that they can, that a federal judge can take the case away from a state court."
"The state is a sovereign itself," he continued. "The state prosecution, if there is one, would have to play out and reach its conclusion in the Minnesota state courts and then go to the U.S. Supreme Court before the feds could get involved."
Napolitano asserted that Good's mindset could be inferred from her actions.
"If the jury inferred that she tried to avoid him, then his shooting of her is criminal," he remarked. "If the jury infers something else, then it would depend on what the inference is."
