'Hack!' Karoline Leavitt erupts at reporter after biting question
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had a harsh response Thursday to a journalist who questioned the ICE killing of mother Renee Good in Minneapolis.
The fatal shooting of Good, who was gunned down driving in her car last week by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, has raised questions over the agency's aggressive tactics and response to protests. During a White House press conference, Leavitt had an angry response to comments from Niall Stanage, columnist at The Hill and analyst for NewsNation.
Stanage asked Leavitt the following:
"Earlier, you were just defending ICE agents generally, and earlier on, Secretary [Kristi] Noem spoke to the media and she said, among other things, that they are doing everything correctly. And 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. How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?"
Leavitt had a sharp response, reversing and attacking Stanage.
"Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?" Leavitt asked.
"Are you asking me my opinion? Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed unjustifiably," he responded.
That's when Leavitt lashed out.
"Oh, OK. So you're a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion," she said.
"You asked me my opinion. What do you want me to do?" Stanage responded to Leavitt, who attacked him in her reaction.
"Yeah, because you're a left-wing hack. You're not a reporter. You're posing in this room as a journalist," she said. "And it's so clear by the premise of your question. And you and the people in 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 that you're a journalist, but you're a left-wing activist. And the question that you just raised in your answer proves your bias. You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases. Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens? Who ICE is trying to remove from this country? I bet you don't. I bet you didn't even read up on those stories."