Today in Politics, Bulletin 282. 1/9/26

… The cover-up by DHS of the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross is well underway, with Kristi Noem declaring him innocent before any investigation has been conducted while refusing to cooperate with state and local investigators. But cover ups can be difficult where there is so much video.

… New video footage just made public showed that Good’s last words to ICE agents before driving away from them were: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” She was shot seconds later. Three times.

… Ross’s comment seconds after killing Good: “Fucking bitch.”

… The ICE agent is claiming that he feared Good was about to seriously injure or kill him:

… Noem on the DHS investigation: “We expect that all the policies and procedures of review will be exactly that he acted appropriately.”

… Q: “The officer involved in the shooting in Minneapolis yesterday - has he been suspended? Noem: The officer went to the hospital. He was hit by the vehicle. He received treatment, was released, and is spending time with his family now.”

… He had no injuries. He received no treatment.

… Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: “So our ask is really simple here. Our ask is to embrace the truth. Our ask is to include the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in this process because we in Minneapolis want a fair investigation. If you got nothing to hide from, then don’t hide.”

… Renee’s wife Becca Good shared the following statement with MPR News: “First, I want to extend my gratitude to all the people who have reached out from across the country and around the world to support our family. This kindness of strangers is the most fitting tribute because if you ever encountered my wife, you know that above all else, she was kind. In fact, kindness radiated out of her.”

… “Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine. Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”

… “On Wed, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns. Renee leaves behind 3 extraordinary children; the youngest is just 6 years old and already lost his father. I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”

… “We thank you for the privacy you are granting our family as we grieve. We thank you for ensuring that Renee’s legacy is one of kindness and love. We honor her memory by living her values: rejecting hate and choosing compassion, turning away from fear and pursuing peace, refusing division and knowing we must come together to build a world where we all come home safe to the people we love.”

… JD Vance held a press conference to use it to launch his 2028 presidential campaign: “She is a victim of left-wing ideology. What young mother shows up and decides they are going to throw their car in front of ICE officers enforcing legitimate law? You have to be brainwashed to go to that point.”

… Q - “You just suggested Renee Good is part of a broader left-wing network. Who do you think is behind this network? Vance: Well, it’s one of the things we’re gonna have to figure out.”

… Vance: “I think we’re gonna see those deportation numbers ramp up as we get more and more people online, working for ICE, going door to door.”

… PA Gov Josh Shapiro to Meidas: “Vance is profoundly and pathetically a weak human being, and he does whatever he thinks his boss wants him to do. We saw a tragic end of life in MN, where children were left without a mom and a spouse was left without her partner. What we need right now is not idiotic gaslighting from the sitting VP, but a thorough investigation. Vance should be ashamed of himself—and he’s not. And I think that speaks to the weakness of his character.”

… Trump was asked about Vance’s comments: Q - “Vance yesterday suggested Renee Good was part of a broad left-wing network. What has your team told you about this? Who is in charge of it? Trump: I haven't seen the VP's statement but he's generally very accurate. She was an agitator. Probably a paid agitator. She was not normal.”

… AOC: “I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of 3 in the face 3 times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between Vance and I. I do not believe the American people should be assassinated in the street.”

… Kennedy Center director Ric Grenell: “No sanctuary cities. No sanctuary cars.”

… I can’t imagine why nobody wants to perform there anymore.

… Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner: “If any law enforcement agent, any ICE agent is gonna come to Philly to commit crimes, then you can get the F out of here. I will charge you with those crimes. You will be arrested. You will stand trial. You will be convicted. Trump cannot pardon you for a state court conviction. Do you hear me, ICE agents? There are honest, decent moral law enforcement officers out there by the bushel, including in ICE. This is not for you. This is for any one of your colleagues who thinks they are above the law.”

… Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) went on Fox host Will Cain’s show, who is also Pete Hegseth’s close friend: Cain -”Have you interviewed the ICE agent involved in the shooting? Moulton: No, but I’ve watched the video. Why are you so afraid to show the video to your viewers? You haven’t shown it on your show. Why don’t you just show it and let people use their own eyes?”

… NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani on CNN: Q - “Noem said that he ‘followed his training.’ Is that what you saw in those videos? Mamdani: If that is following his training, then I think there are larger questions about the training that’s being provided to ICE agents.”

… Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX): “People need to quit demonstrating, quit yelling at law enforcement, challenging law enforcement, and begin to get civil.”

… Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) on Newsmax: “It’s time for Americans to say ‘enough,’ and if you get in the way of the govt repelling a foreign invasion, you’re gonna end up just like that lady did.”

… AOC: “I would not say assassinating a young mother of three in the street is part of ICE’s mandate. Watch the video for yourself. You will see a woman trying to back up her vehicle and leave a volatile scene. And she was met with three bullets to the face.”

… Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): “The videos make clear: the ICE officer was justified and Democratic politicians lied about what happened. Proud to stand with our brave ICE officers against the left-wing mob.”

… Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino on Fox: “If you ask 95% of the American citizens that we come into contact with—they absolutely love what we are doing.”

… NBC: “The liberal grassroots group Indivisible said its chapters in cities across the nation have scheduled more than 1,000 vigil-style events to honor Renee Nicole Good this weekend.”

… Indivisible spokesperson Leah Greenberg: “A lot of people are shocked and horrified. Folks who maybe aren’t paying attention to this stuff normally are poking their heads up and saying, ‘What the hell happened here?’ You’re going to see a nationwide outpouring of grief and mourning for Renee Good and for all of the victims of ICE. What you’re going to see coming out of this is a widespread understanding, across broad swaths of America, that this is an unaccountable secret police force that needs to be reined in dramatically.”

… Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) to Meidas: Q - “What do you make of Republican efforts to increase ICE funding yet again? Garcia: Absolutely not. It’s a rogue agency. They’re also causing so much harm to other law enforcement agencies that are trying to do good.”

… Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) was asked the same question: “There should be no more money for ICE. There needs to be accountability for ICE. We need to do that before another fucking dollar is spent on them.”

… Meidas Capitol Hill correspondent Pablo Manriquez: “Some House Rs have begun to seriously sour on Kristi Noem. Noem’s lies about Renee Good this week have resulted in a tsunami of constituent calls and emails to Hill offices condemning Good’s murder by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, as well as the subsequent dipshittery by Noem and Vance. Rep. Yassamin Ansari has introduced an impeachment resolution against Noem that Speaker Johnson is unlikely to bring to the floor. Across the Capitol, Senate Rs have begun to eye-roll Noem, but stop short of saying she should be impeached.”

… New CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil closed out his broadcast from MN with this inane word salad: “There is so much to say about the last 24 hours, but sometimes what matters most is what is yet to be said at all, and what we all still need to hear. By now, we’ve all seen the videos. Renee Good is alive and those videos, behind the wheel of her SUV, her 3 children expecting mom home again soon come. And we’ve seen the freeze frames, too. We’ve heard the political warfare, the clashing declarations about what happened, and unfortunately, we know the ending for Renee Good. Nothing is going to change that.”

… “Yet what we have not yet heard his one another. I spoke to people today who haven’t slept since it happened, who want ICE out now, who don’t like masked men on their street, don’t want their neighbors arrested, don’t want families ripped apart. I’ve heard, too, not on the streets protesting but in passionate notes in my inbox from people who want to see our immigration laws enforced, legally and peacefully and with safety for all, including the officers who, in many cases, are also parents themselves. These are both deeply American sentiments.”

… “But our job now is may be the most American thing of all. It’s to find a way to live with people who are genuinely different from us. To try to be fair to them, and in doing so, to make things better, and keep things decent. Because in America, no one else is going to do it for us. It’s not my job to tell you what to think about what happened here yesterday, but I can tell you we owe our children a nation that is better than the one we live in today. And I can say that because we all know it’s true.”

… Variety’s chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario: “Tony Dokoupil's bizarre Minneapolis monologue, in which he spoke for 90 seconds and found nothing to say, caps a week of blunders that suggest his approach to the job is one prolonged ego trip.”

… WaPo: "DHS released a MD woman who was held for 25 days despite evidence that her lawyers say proves she was born in the US and is a citizen. Attorney Victoria Slatton: “She is a US citizen. She was born here. I think that we’ve presented more than enough evidence, but we will continue to fight it until every single court accepts and acknowledges it. I want it known that she was in custody for 25 days, and it should not take as much evidence as we submitted or as much of a fight as we had for a US citizen to be released from custody.”

… Consuelo Diaz Morales was arrested by ICE agents in Baltimore on Dec. 14 while she was leaving a Taco Bell with her younger sister. Her sister said Diaz Morales told the agents she was a US citizen.

… Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez: “Many of our immigrant neighbors are picked up simply by moving their cars. Help your neighbors take out the trash, because there are many reports of neighbors being kidnapped when they’re taking their trash out.”

… NYT on their new lengthy interview with Trump: When asked if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

… Trump was asked why he needed the US to own Greenland instead of just entering into a security arrangement with the territory: “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

… Trump was on with Sean Hannity again: Q - “Do you have any plans to meet with Machado and would you accept the Nobel prize she wants to hand to you? Trump: I understand she’s coming in the next week sometime. That would be a great honor.”

… Alfred Nobel specifically stated in his will that once the prize has been awarded it can’t be changed. But if Trump is so pathetic that he wants to take Machado’s medal, and she’s so desperate and weak that she will give it to him, let the world watch that disgraceful charade.

… Q - “If Machado gives you her Nobel peace prize, will that change your view of her running the country? Trump: Well, I'm going to have to speak to her. She might be involved in some aspect of it. I can't think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel prize more than me.”

… Trump: “I’ve stopped 8 wars and I think it’s been a major embarrassment to Norway. I don’t know what Norway has to do with it but that’s where the committee is located. A lot of Norwegian people. And it’s been a very big embarrassment to the country of Norway. Whether they have anything to do with it or not. I think they do. They say they don’t. But when you put out 8 wars, you should get one for each war.”

… Trump on Venezuela: “We have taken over a whole country. We have taken $4 billion worth of oil in one day and that will increase. All the big oil companies are coming in. They are going to make a lot of money. We brought stability to the region.”

… In the middle of his meeting today with oil company executives at the WH, Trump stopped in the middle and got up to talk to them about his ballroom, which continues to go way over budget (now $400 million) and has to be privately funded since he could never get Congress to approve it. The oil oligarchs want security guarantees if they go into Venezuela and US taxpayer money to help them pay for infrastructure. I wonder what Trump wants from them in return?

… Q - “Did you provide security guarantees to the oil executives for Venezuela? Trump: They will have those guarantees, yes.”

… One US oil executive to Financial Times: “No one wants to go in there when a random fucking tweet can change the entire foreign policy of the country.”

… FT: US shale bosses have warned Trump that his mission to seize Venezuela’s oil sector and drive down crude prices will put American output on the chopping block. One top executive: “We’re talking about this admin screwing us over again.”

… Trump was asked about elections being held in Venezuela now that Maduro is gone: “Before we do that, it’s going to take a while. They wouldn’t even know how to have an election. We’re going to rebuild the oil—the oil infrastructure. We’re going to be in charge of it. We’re going to make a lot of money.”

… Sen. Rick Scott and every south FL Republican member of Congress has held press conferences this week assuring their constituents that just because Trump left the Maduro regime in place without Maduro, that he is still all about freedom and democracy for the Venezuelan people. At some point they are going to realize that they are being lied to. Trump cares about stealing the oil. Nothing else.

… Sen. Ruben Gallego on MS NOW: “Your insurance premium is going up. Your grocery bill is going up. Your rent is going up. And what’s Trump doing? Starting more foreign wars so billionaire oil barons can cash in.”

… Republicans increased the defense budget from $850 billion to $1 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase during a year when the country was not at war. Now he announced that he wants to budget increased again to $1.5 trillion to help fund his many new foreign adventures.

… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked where the money was going to come from for another massive increase in defense spending: “GAO believes there’s between $300 billion and $600 billion in fraud. President Trump asked for $500 billion more to defend America. If we cut out fraud, we can flex up our military budget by 50%.”

… I have heard this line about “fraud” being found to pay for massive increases in military spending for decades. We also heard from the Trump Admin that DOGE was going to find $2 trillion in fraud. They found nothing. The money is either going to come out of the pockets of American taxpayers or we are going to borrow more while our national debt approaches $40 trillion.

… Reuters: “US officials have discussed sending lump sum payments to Greenlanders as part of a bid to convince them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the US. US officials have discussed figures ranging from $10,000-$100,000 per person. The idea of directly paying residents of Greenland offers one explanation of how the US might attempt to ‘buy’ the island of 57,000 people, despite authorities’ insistence in Copenhagen and Nuuk that Greenland is not for sale.”

… “The tactic is among various plans being discussed by the WH for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US military. But it risks coming off as overly transactional and even degrading to a population that has long debated its own independence and its economic dependence on Denmark.”

… Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen: “Enough is enough. No more fantasies about annexation.”

Sorry there was no Bulletin yesterday, I came down with the nasty flu going around and just couldn’t get out of bed. Today is Day 4 and feeling much better. My rage over Renee Good certainly helped energize me to get going on this one today.

Our new Capitol Hill correspondent Pablo Manriquez has exceeded expectations his first week on the job. Our plan is to deliver clips from the Hill in a unique manner, where we are in his ear as he walks up to Reps from both parties and he asks both his questions and the best ones from our team. The clips get uploaded and posted minutes after they happen. The results so far have been amazing - instead of fuming over questions that aren’t being asked, now we make sure we are the ones doing the asking.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, which has allowed us to continue to expand by bringing in outstanding people.

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to CNN on DOJ stonewalling Epstein: “I also want to remind those folks at the DOJ, you can be prosecuted by a future DOJ for violating this law because it’s a law. It’s not a congressional subpoena that expires at the end of this Congress. It will last forever.”

… Massie was asked about Greene’s statement that Trump told her ‘my friends will get hurt’ if the Epstein files are released: “I knew about that for at least a week or two before that was said, because Marjorie shared that with me privately the day it happened. I think he has friends who are going to be criminally implicated. What I’m