Bulwark Takes - Will Saletan: Kristi Noem Cannot Be Trusted to Investigate These Shootings

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Will Saletan gives his take on why Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cannot be trusted to oversee the investigation into her own department. In just three weeks, ICE and Border Patrol agents killed two Americans. In both cases, Noem publicly described the victims as violent “domestic terrorists.” And in both cases, video evidence flatly contradicts her claims.

Hey, it's Will Salatan from the Bullwark. So we've now had two fatal shootings of American citizens by federal agents in one city, Minneapolis, in the last three weeks. And Christy Noam, the Secretary of Homeland Security, says her agency, DHS, is going to lead and control the investigation of this latest shooting, which again was committed by her own agents. So I want to show you why. even if you're a Republican or a Trump supporter or if you fully support immigration enforcement, I want to show you why Christy Noem and her department cannot be trusted with this investigation. And the reason is that Christy Noam is a pathological liar. What I'm going to show you is Noam's statements about what happened in these two shootings compared to what the videos show.

And you're going to see, you're going to see her look you right in the eye and lie to you about what's on the videos. Okay, so here's the first clip. This is Nome on January 7th, a couple of hours after the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer. You asked about a shooting that we just had in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was an act of domestic terrorism. What happened was our ICE officers were out in enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them

and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him. So that's Nome's account of what happened. The agents were trying to push out their car and a woman attacked them and tried to run them over. Now, here is the video of what actually happened. In fact, this is all the video angles put together by the New York Times to give you the complete picture. Here, the agent's cell phone footage shows he's moving directly in front of the SUV, as it's reversing and rotating towards him, initiating a three-point turn apparently to leave.

Law enforcement officers are trained to avoid doing this because it puts them in danger and often leads to the use of force against drivers. The cell phone is focused squarely on Ms. Good. She looks down, shifts into drive, and begins turning to the right, away from the agent. The other angle shows he's still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun. And we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the SUV as he fires a second shot and a third. So you can see what happened. Nome's story that this woman attacked the officers as they were trying to.

trying to get their car out of the snow is a complete lie. The woman is sitting there in her car as the officers confront her. The officer walks around from her blind side and he puts himself in front of her car. So when she tries to leave, he is trying to block her path. And you can see her turn the wheel to get out. She's not trying to hit him. She's trying to leave. Okay.

So you might say, maybe Nome hadn't seen all these videos yet. Well, later that night, she gave another press conference. Did she change her story and admit she got it wrong? No. No, here's what she said about Renee Good. She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over. This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism. No, she's doubling down. She says Renee Good weaponized her vehicle and tried to

run over the officer. And again, she called Good a terrorist. Okay, so let's give Noam more time to watch the videos and admit that she got it wrong. Here she is on CNN on January 11th. That's four days after the shooting. So by this time, all the video angles are well, known. And Jake Tapper gives Noam an opportunity to admit her mistake. The first thing you said was, quote, what happened was our ICE officers were out in an enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. That's not

what happened. We all saw what happened. It absolutely is what happened. This is four days later. Noam knows the truth. All she has to do is say, look, the part about how this woman, Renee Good, attacked the officers when they were trying to get their car out of the snow, I was wrong about that. But Noam looks Tapper right in the eye and says that her fake story is exactly what happened. Also, by this time, there was plenty of information about Renee Good. And it was super clear that she was just a mom. She was not a terrorist.

But Noam repeated that lie, too. You said within hours of her being killed, you said that she was a domestic terrorist. How do you define domestic terrorist? She weaponized her vehicle to conduct an act of violence against a law enforcement officer and the public. And just in case you have any doubt that Noam knew she was lying, here's what she said on CNN about what she knew when she made. her original statement. I had just been in Minneapolis and had been with those officers, had seen what they were facing on the streets every day, and had talked to their supervisors as soon as the incident

happened and had gotten the facts and seen videos before I ever went to talk at that press conference. She's telling you, she's telling you, she watched, she watched the videos, she knew the truth, but she sits there four days later and repeats her lies. Here she is again in the same interview. I said that your description, they were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle is not what we see on the videotape and it's not. It absolutely is the facts of what happened on the ground that day. Okay, so that's the Renee Good shooting. Now we have another shooting. This time, it's a border patrol agent and he shot Alex Preti, another American citizen. Also in Minneapolis. Here is how Nome.

described the incident at a press conference on Saturday. An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently. Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent-fired defensive shots. This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at this scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement. Wow, that sounds really bad. It sounds like this guy, Prattie, was nuts. He had a plan to inflict maximum damage. He went after the officers with a gun, and they had to shoot him. That's Nome's story. Now let's watch the video. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome said the officer

acted in self-defense and claims Priddy approached Border Patrol officers with a handgun. But Videos from the scene show that Preddy was holding a cell phone, not a gun, when he was shot. Video from this white car shows an up-close angle of a federal immigration officer pushing one protester. Then, three seconds later, he pushes Preddy. And then as the camera comes into focus, you see the same federal officer push a third protester with the orange backpack. Pretty raises his hand and turns away, just as the officer sprays him with a chemical irritant. Preddy is on the ground under them. One officer in a tan be seen repeatedly striking Preddy's head with a metal can.

Then, gunfire. Huh. I didn't see a gun there. He's not holding a gun. He's holding a phone. And his other hand is empty. There's no sign at all that this guy intended to do maximum damage to anybody. Now, to be clear, Prattie did have a gun, like millions of other people.

people who are usually defended by conservatives. He had a license to carry a firearm, but he never pulled it out. As you can see in the video, the officers attacked him and they pulled out his gun. And then after they disarmed him, while he was pinned down on his back, they shot him dead. But according to Nome, Pretti assaulted the officers. This individual showed up to impede a law enforcement operation and assaults. our officers. This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers. She's very clear. She says Pretti showed up with weapons

and that he used his weapon to assault the officers. And then she says he brandished the weapon. This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him and multiple dozens of rounds of in. ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers coming, brandishing like that. Brandishing? Do you see Preddy brandishing a gun in these videos? Preddy comes face to face with a federal agent and puts his hands up. Preddy raises his hand and turns away, just as the officer sprays him with a chemical irritant. And then Nome used the same word she used against Renee Good. She calls Prattie

a terrorist. The White House has labeled the man who was killed in Minnesota as a domestic terrorist? Is that something you agree with? And have you seen any evidence to back up that claim? When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism. This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism. That's the facts. No, no, those are not the fact. Here is what Fox News reported about Alex Pready. He was a nurse who took care of military veterans in the ICU. But Christine Ome doesn't care about any of that. She's got her story that this guy was a terrorist who brandished a weapon and she is sticking to it.

This individual impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them. State the facts as they unfolded on the street today. We were doing a targeted operation against an illegal criminal and this individual came with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition and attacked them. State the fact, she says. Look, it's obvious by now what Christy Noem is. She's not trying to spin or reinterpret things or change the subject. She is looking you and everybody else right in the eye. And she is lying to you over and over and over again about what we can all see in those videos.

So it shouldn't matter whether you're a Democratic. or a Republican, or what you think about ICE or immigration enforcement, the one thing, the one thing we should all be able to agree on is that this woman is an absolutely pathological liar. And she shouldn't have any job in our government, much less running the investigation of this killing. See you next time.