Today’s White House press briefing was absolute fire. Not only is Karoline Leavitt excellent at her job, but so is Vice President JD Vance, who announced a new assistant attorney general position being created at the Justice Department: a federal fraud czar. This office will have national jurisdiction, and it will begin in Minnesota to combat the rampant (alleged) Somali fraud network that’s stolen billions from taxpayers. Leavitt began by saying this administration stands with ICE and that the immigration enforcement agenda will continue.
.@PressSec is NOT MESSING AROUND. 🔥
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"POTUS and his ENTIRE administration stand fully behind the heroic men & women of ICE, & will always hold up law & order in the USA.
...Democrats are IMPEDING ICE DAILY creating extremely heightened & dangerous circumstances that make it… pic.twitter.com/7Q7pJq7Sjt
.@PressSec The Trump Admin Is DOUBLING DOWN. 💪
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"The Trump Administration will REDOUBLE the efforts to get the WORST of the WORST criminal illegal alien killers OFF of American streets. The DHS will CONTINUE to operate on the ground in MN to REMOVE illegal aliens & CONTINUE… pic.twitter.com/qThWrSh8oC
🚨 BREAKING: @VP announces a NEW assistant Attorney General position who will have NATIONWIDE jurisdiction over the issue of fraud.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"Their efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it's going to be a nationwide effort."
GOOD! 👏 pic.twitter.com/jH9Iw8EuEU
🚨BREAKING: @VP says the media is leaving out a KEY DETAIL:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"That VERY ICE Officer nearly had his life ENDED derived by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg! So you think he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile. ‼️
What that headline… pic.twitter.com/xcUzsQWEPm
Many questions revolved around the deranged leftist who tried to run over ICE agents in Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot and killed, which has led liberal America to brand these federal agents—patriots really—as committing murder. We don’t know that yet, but the video does not lie: Good’s car rams into an agent, who had been previously struck in prior operations. Most legal experts have gone on record that this looks like a clean shoot, because it was.
.@VP NAILS IT. 👏
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"What young mothers shows up & decides they're going to THROW THEIR CAR in front of ICE Officers enforcing legitimate law? You've gotta be brainwashed to get to that point...to throw your vehicle in front of legitimate officers & drive your car into them." pic.twitter.com/xOrLR885Ny
Vance handled the media with ease, as he’s done since Donald Trump picked him to be his running mate. One thing that can be said about most of those who provide a voice for this administration: they know how to go to war with the media, what questions are coming, and how to slap down the nonsense—there was plenty of that today. Though some were not so bad, like this one from ex-Politico reporter Rachael Bade, who spoke about ensuring the safety of DHS agents during these operations and whether training needs to be revisited:
.@DCHuddle’s @RachaelMBade in the “new media seat”: “I mean, Democrats have accused ICE of murder. They've said they're targeting Americans. They've told ICE to get the F out of Minnesota. This is going to stoke the fire against ICE agents. And you're talking about ICE agents… pic.twitter.com/HzxRF4IqeN
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 8, 2026
Look, first of all, of course nobody wants an American citizen to be killed. This is absolutely a tragedy, but it's a tragedy of the making of the far left. They have radicalized a very small segment of the population, taught them that ICE agents are engaging in, in wide-scale violation of people's rights. What are ICE officers are doing is deporting the millions of criminal aliens that were let in during the Biden administration. So, number one, we have to say, as a matter of leadership, and I would appreciate if the Democrats would join me on this. Let's be honest about the fact that we have way too many illegal aliens in this country. Our ICE officers should be supported in doing their job. You're trying to actually marshal the far left lunatic fringe, to engage in doxxing, to try to make it impossible for them to enforce the law, and in some cases, actually to engage in acts of domestic terrorism against our law enforcement officers. When you talk about different plans, different protocols, different policies, I forget exactly how you asked the question. Here's the simple fact. What we're going to do is make it easier for the American people's administration to enforce the American people's law, and that means that Democrats have to stop rallying the mob against legitimate law enforcement operations. And that means that we are going to get tougher, and that's what this AG position is about. We're going to get tougher at the people who are defrauding the United States by inciting violence against our law enforcement officers. That's one of the things that we're going to do. We've already started that work at the Department of Justice. We're going to keep on doing it and this new AG position is going to kick that into high gear.”
And then we were off to the races, and yes, our friends at Newsbusters clipped the mayhem as did we. For all the bluster and nonsense spewed by Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, it’s we who need to be careful about labeling Good a lunatic liberal. No, no, we don’t, but watch Vance cook here.
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell: “Is there a risk with you describing her as a deranged leftist, talking about very specific facts of these events when an investigation is just beginning? Are you preempting a thorough investigation by drawing such conclusions? And have you received any… pic.twitter.com/dOi24X5MEV
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 8, 2026
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell: “Is there a risk with you describing her as a deranged leftist, talking about very specific facts of these events when an investigation is just beginning? Are you preempting a thorough investigation by drawing such conclusions? And have you received any information beyond the videos we’ve seen publicly about this individual, her specific acts that has informed your point of view?”
JD Vance, vice president of the United States: “Well, first of all, the Department of Justice is going to investigate this. The Department of Homeland Security is already investigating this. But the simple fact is, what you see is what you get. In this case, you have a woman who is trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. Nobody debates that. You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that. I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement, a lunatic fringe against our law enforcement officers. I think what is clearly happening here, and it’s going to keep on happening unless the Democrats wake up and say, you know what? You don’t have to agree with our immigration policies. You don’t have to agree with what the President or the Vice President believe about immigration enforcement. But why don’t you take this to the ballot box? Why don’t you vote? Why don’t you organize? Instead, what some of them are doing, what some of them are doing, is encouraging people to get violent with our law enforcement officials. It’s disgraceful. And it’s got to stop.”
ABC’s @RachelVScott: “There’s a lot of emotion in Minnesota across the country over this incident, but you’re calling Renee Good a deranged leftist. There’s been heated rhetoric that we’ve also heard from officials. What responsibility do you and the President have to defuse some… pic.twitter.com/VbHZuubNQ5
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 8, 2026
ABC’s Rachel Scott: “There’s a lot of emotion in Minnesota across the country over this incident, but you’re calling Renee Good a deranged leftist. There’s been heated rhetoric that we’ve also heard from officials. What responsibility do you and the President have to defuse some of the tension that we are seeing play out in Minnesota, bring down the temperature as this investigation is unfolding?”
VANCE: “What we have a responsibility to do is to protect the people who are enforcing the law and protect the country writ large, whether you’re Democrat or Republican, you deserve to have the people’s laws enforced in the United States of America. Now, again, I don’t — I’m not happy that this woman lost her life. I’m not happy that this woman was there at a protest, violating the law by interfering with a law enforcement action. I think that we can all recognize that the best way to turn down the temperature is to tell people to take their concerns about immigration policy to the ballot box, stop assaulting and stop inciting violence against our law enforcement officers. That’s the best way to take down the temperature. And we’re not — look, we’re not going to give in to terrorism on this and that’s exactly what’s happening. People trying to antagonize to commit acts of violence. They throw bricks at them. Sometimes, they shoot at them. Sometimes, they dox them. Sometimes they go to their place of residence and harass their families. This is classic terrorism. And we cannot say that when, when, when a far-left fringe is inciting violence against our brave law enforcement officials, that we’re no longer going to enforce the law, that’s rewarding the very people who are engaged in this garbage. The actual reward that they just got is a new assistant attorney general who is going to prosecute and investigate this stuff even more, even more aggressively than before.”
The question about whether being part of Antifa, or any left-wing activist group, deserves being shot was probably one of the most loaded questions pitched today:
.@VP BLASTS Reporter for asking PROPSTEROUS question.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
Reporter: How does being apart of [Antifa] justify being shot?
VP: Being part of [Antifa] does NOT justify being shot...but ramming an ICE officer with your car, that's what justifies being shot.
These people have lost it. pic.twitter.com/AXjIqn6Hth
Well, being part of the network doesn’t justify being shot. But ramming an ICE officer with your car. That’s what justifies being shot. It’s not a good thing, by the way, but when you force somebody to engage in self-defense, it’s almost a preposterous question. I’m not saying that funding some of this stuff justifies capital punishment. Nobody would suggest that the reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car, and that guy acted in self-defense. That is why she lost her life and that is the tragedy. Now, there may be other violations of the law and other penalties that the — that are associated with those violations of the law. For example, if you are funding violence against our law enforcement officers, I’m not a prosecutor. My guess is that’s not the sort of thing that earns capital punishment, but it should sure as hell earn you a few years in prison if you’re funding the effort to try to insult our law enforcement officers. What is — I’m sorry, guys, what’s going on here? You guys are meant to report the truth. How have you let yourself become agents of propaganda, of a radical fringe that’s making it harder for us to enforce our laws. You just asked me a question that presumed that the reason why this woman died is because she was engaged in legitimate protest. She tried to run somebody over with her car, and the guy defended himself when that happened. Next question.”
There was some stuff about Venezuela, too—but the vice president delivered another masterclass in handling the media. He also left them with a warning about their coverage of the shooting:
.@VP is putting the media IN THEIR PLACE.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"What is NOT reasonable is for so many of you to PLASTER over the media that this was an innocent woman & that the ICE agent committed murder—Which is what many of you have said explicitly....THAT's what I have an objection to.
The idea… pic.twitter.com/mRV9TVUmF9
🚨@VP gives journalists ANOTHER lesson in basic respect & decency:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"It's really IRRESPONSIBLE for you guys to go out there & imply or tell the American people that a guy who defended himself from being rammed by an automobile is guilty of murder. Be a little bit more careful.… pic.twitter.com/LxHWjIAYJa
And again, thank you all for — for listening. Thanks for taking questions. And I just ask you, look, this is politics and often Republicans and you know, get — get in — get in arguments with the press about things. And I understand that. I think it's really irresponsible for you guys to go out there and imply or tell the American people that a guy who defended himself from being rammed by an automobile is guilty of murder, be a little bit more careful. We want to talk about toning down the temperature, which I know the President wants to do, and I certainly want to do. One of the ways we tone down the temperature is to have a media that tells the truth. I encourage you all to do that. God bless you. Happy New Year, guys
Did this man just win the 2028 nomination in the process? Too early, but this is how you conduct a proper press conference, Mayor Frey, if you’re done pandering to the Somalis.
.@VP tells Antifa insurrectionists to LOOK OUT:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 8, 2026
"They should NOT feel emboldened, because they have for the first time in American history, an administration that is NOT going to tolerate political violence from ANY KIND, ANYWHERE." 👏 pic.twitter.com/CfLbfzwemb
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