A CNN legal analyst questioned Vice President JD Vance's education after his claim that federal immigration agents enjoy "absolute immunity."
The vice president justified the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Wednesday in Minneapolis by smearing the woman as a left-wing radical intent on impeding and harming federal agents, who he argued were "protected by absolute immunity."
"The precedent here is very simple," Vance told reporters Thursday at the White House. "You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job."
CNN's Elliot Williams, a former federal prosecutor, dismissed the the Yale Law School graduate's argument as nonsense.
"That is not correct, and thevice president of the United States went to literally themost prestigious law school onthe planet and knows thatthat's not accurate," Williams said. "Now,certainly law enforcementofficers enjoy tremendous andvery broad immunity for theactions that they carry out onthe job, and they should,because they have to make verystressful on-the-spot decisionswithout the benefit of hindsightthat we all have watchingthings on TikTok."
"That said,when someone steps far outsidethe bounds of either state orlocal law or, frankly, even theirown guidelines as lawenforcement officials,absolutely, they can be heldaccountable both by the agencythey work for or state, local orfederal authorities," Williams added. "So that'sjust simply not an accuratestatement from the vicepresident."