White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly forcefully shut down a reporter from The Hill on Thursday after he accused the ICE agent involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Good of acting “recklessly,” sparking a heated exchange that underscored growing tensions between the administration and members of the media.
The confrontation began when Niall Stanage questioned Leavitt during a press briefing, referencing comments made earlier by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Stanage cited statistics about deaths in ICE custody, the detention of U.S. citizens, and the shooting of Good, asking how those facts squared with claims that ICE agents were “doing everything correctly.”
Rather than accepting the premise of the question, Leavitt turned it back on the reporter, asking why Renee Good was “unfortunately and tragically killed.” Stanage responded by stating his opinion directly, saying that an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably. That answer immediately drew a sharp response from the press secretary.
Leavitt accused Stanage of abandoning journalism in favor of activism, dismissing his remarks as those of a biased, left-wing commentator rather than a neutral reporter. She told him bluntly that his framing revealed his political agenda and challenged his role in the briefing room. When Stanage appeared taken aback and asked what Leavitt wanted him to do, she doubled down, accusing him of pretending to be a journalist while pushing a partisan narrative.
She argued that reporters should focus on reporting facts rather than injecting personal opinions into questions, saying the premise of Stanage’s question and his answer demonstrated clear bias. Leavitt insisted that journalists should be covering the full scope of issues surrounding immigration enforcement, not selectively highlighting cases in a way that casts federal agents in the worst possible light.
Leavitt went on to challenge Stanage directly, asking whether he had figures on how many American citizens have been killed by illegal aliens whom ICE is tasked with removing from the country. She suggested that he did not and accused him of ignoring stories involving victims such as Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray, along with other Americans killed by individuals in the country illegally.
According to Leavitt, the men and women of ICE are working under difficult and dangerous circumstances to remove individuals who pose threats to public safety and to protect communities. She praised ICE agents as brave public servants doing everything in their power to carry out their mission, despite what she characterized as relentless hostility from parts of the media.
She concluded by condemning what she described as a crooked and biased media culture that, in her view, distorts facts and undermines law enforcement while claiming the mantle of objective journalism. Leavitt said that reporters who approach the issue with preconceived narratives should be honest about their activism instead of pretending to be impartial, arguing that such behavior does a disservice to the public and to those tasked with enforcing the law.
