President Donald Trump on Friday said he is focused on protecting law enforcement from agitators, while stopping short of endorsing claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Minneapolis were part of a coordinated nationwide left-wing network.
Trump said video from the Minneapolis incident that led to the shooting death of Renee Good showed clear signs of professional agitation.
"I watched it yesterday, and there are a lot of different elements to it," Trump said at the White House following meetings with oil executives, during remarks carried live by Newsmax and the Newsmax2 streaming service.
"But there was a woman screaming, 'Shame, shame, shame, shame.' She was an agitator, probably a paid agitator.
"But in my opinion, she was an agitator — a very high-level agitator so professional she wouldn't stop screaming."
Trump said the woman's behavior stood out as abnormal and rehearsed.
"This isn't a normal situation. This is a professional troublemaker," he said.
"When somebody sees something like that, they don't go screaming and screaming the same words over and over."
Trump said TV news outlets tried to lower the audio of the woman in the video, but her conduct was unmistakable.
"She was so loud and so crazy and just not normal," he said.
Vice President JD Vance told a White House briefing Thursday that Good was part of what he called a "broader left-wing network" opposed to ICE.
"I haven't seen the vice president's statement, but he's generally very accurate," Trump said Friday.
The president said that regardless of who is behind the protests, his administration will stand firmly behind federal agents.
"You have agitators, and we will always be protecting ICE, and we're always going to be protecting our Border Patrol and our law enforcement," Trump said.
Asked whether the FBI should be sharing evidence from its investigation into Good's shooting death with Minnesota state officials, Trump expressed skepticism.
"Normally, I would — but they're crooked officials," he said.
Trump on Wednesday accused activists nationwide of escalating attacks against immigration agents and law enforcement officers.
He said Good was "very disorderly, obstructing, and resisting" and that she "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer," prompting the fatal response.
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