On Friday's The Situation Room, CNN hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown were called out for spreading misinformation by DHS's Tricia McLaughlin during a discussion of immigration enforcement arrests that have been hyped by the media....like Renee Good was merely driving by an ICE protest, instead of participating.
Brown brought up video a Minneapolis woman posted showing her being asked for ID by federal agents, leading McLaughlin to theorize that the woman either resembled a specific criminal alien that agents were searching for or that she had been among those illegally harassing agents. The CNN co-host then followed up:
But what do you say to those who watch that and other videos that they're seeing themselves? I mean, this is not just the mainstream media. This is people are seeing these videos and they're concerned and they're concerned that a place like Minnesota is turning into a police state, and they're going up to U.S. citizens asking for ID, and, you know, and, you know, using tactics -- and what do you say to that?
The two then had a back and forth in which Brown denied that it was the fault of "the media" that some are complaining about ICE actions and wrongly accusing DHS of racial discrimination:
McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think that there's a lot of fearmongering, I think, by politicians --
BROWN: But it's not -- let me just correct you right there. Let me just -- they're watching these videos and using their independence of mind. It's not "the media."
McLaughlin then insisted:
Actually it is the media, and we're seeing it time and time again by saying things like "the police state." What we're seeing is rampant violence against our law enforcement, highly coordinated. We have our legal authorities. When individuals see videos like that, you have to ask the question, "Was this individual obstructing law enforcement?" which is a federal crime. "Were they assaulting law enforcement?" which is a felony. Were any of those instances occurring before this video was cut? Because you saw a very short cut, and that's what I'm talking about the media. There is not a lot of context that's being out there.
After the DHS official complained about the media ignoring the lists of violent criminal aliens that DHS releases to the public, Blitzer brought up the shooting of Renee Good and called it "outrageous" that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem labeled her as a "terrorist." Here's Blitzer: "When she called this 37-year-old mother of three who was driving that car a domestic terrorist, that really was outrageous."
The two then went back and forth as Blitzer seemed to hint that Good might have just got caught up in traffic after dropping off her child:
McLAUGHLIN: When we say it was an act of domestic terrorism, that is in no way outrageous. What we saw on the ground there -- she had been stalking and harassing law enforcement throughout the morning, and then she went on to use her car as a deadly weapon. That's not --
BLITZER: She was driving by after dropping off her little six-year-old boy at school.
MCLAUGHLIN: She was not -- that -- that's just simply not true. I have the facts on the ground. ...
Blitzer then brought up video of another woman who was forced out of her car by agents and repeated her claim that she was just trying to get to a doctor's appointment, leading McLaughlin to correct the CNN anchor:
That is -- she was not going to the doctor. This individual was actually arrested because she was time and time again impeding law enforcement officers. Again, a small snippet of this video. So she was an agitator intentionally, again, trying to impede federal law enforcement officers which is a federal crime and is a felony.
Transcript follows:
CNN's The Situation Room
January 16, 2026
11:04 a.m. Eastern
TRICIA McLAUGHLIN, DHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: We have incredibly targeted immigration enforcement operations. So what's happening there is there is reasonable suspicion if somebody is in the vicinity of this operation of this target, then they could be asked for their identification. We've been vindicated by this, by the supreme court. September of 2025. You all saw a case out of Los Angeles where they said we can use reasonable suspicion. I think I've seen a lot on this network and other places where they're talking about this is racially based. Absolutely not. Racial animus is no place in DHS and is of course, not used. We're using what is protected under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
PAMELA BROWN: All right. Let's dive a little bit deeper into that. I want to play this video of a recent incident in Minnesota that has received attention.
(video clip of woman in Minneapolis being asked for her ID and place of birth by federal agents)
BROWN: So that video was filmed by a woman who, as you heard said, she is a U.S. citizen. Why exactly was she stopped? Was there reasonable suspicion -- which is a legal bar, as you noted, that a crime was committed in that situation? And why was he asking her, "Where are you born?"? What was he basing that on?
McLAUGHLIN: Sure. So either this is -- and I haven't seen this video before -- so there could be two circumstances here. Either he -- this is a targeted operation and she's around the vicinity of it, around the target, there's reasonable suspicion because there might be a descriptor. Or she could be five-six, and they're looking for somebody who's five-six. That could be part of it. They're looking for somebody that could be part of it.
The other piece of it is, it could be -- I don't know if she was obstructing law enforcement, if she was assaulting law enforcement prior to this, but they either have those title eight authorities under the U.S. Code, 1357, or they have that reasonable suspicion.
PAMELA BROWN: But what do you say to those who watch that and other videos that they're seeing themselves? I mean, this is not just the mainstream media. This is people are seeing these videos and they're concerned and they're concerned that a place like Minnesota is turning into a police state, and they're going up to U.S. citizens asking for ID, and, you know, and, you know, using tactics -- and what do you say to that?
McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think that there's a lot of fearmongering, I think, by politicians --
BROWN: But it's not -- let me just correct you right there. Let me just -- they're watching these videos and using their independence of mind. It's not "the media."
McLAUGHLIN: Actually it is the media, and we're seeing it time and time again by saying things like "the police state." What we're seeing is rampant violence against our law enforcement, highly coordinated. We have our legal authorities. When individuals see videos like that, you have to ask the question, "Was this individual obstructing law enforcement?" which is a federal crime. "Were they assaulting law enforcement?" which is a felony. Were any of those instances occurring before this video was cut? Because you saw a very short cut, and that's what I'm talking about the media. There is not a lot of context that's being out there.
(cross talk)
BROWN: Well, then, why don't you allow ICE officers --
McLAUGHLIN: We have to be very responsible.
BROWN: -- to wear the cameras?
McLAUGHLIN: We of course allow them to wear -- they also wear --
BROWN: So they -- they all have -- will they all have body cameras so you can have the --
McLAUGHLIN: We are working on that with the Big Beautiful Bill actually.
(...)
BROWN: You have to look at the polling, right. This isn't the media. This is actual polling that says, "Hey, I like what ICE is doing in terms of its target. We want to get criminals off the street who don't belong in the country," but 51 percent say ICE makes cities less safe -- just 31 percent say it makes cities more safe. On the Renee Good case, you brought up 26 percent of Americans view the shooting as an appropriate use of force while 56 percent called it an inappropriate use of force. So are you willing to consider in some cases ICE has gone too far and is losing American support?
McLAUGHLIN: Pamela, in the last five weeks, we have arrested 2,500 criminal illegal aliens off the streets of Minneapolis.
BROWN: No one -- people like that.
MCLAUGHLIN: If I can finish -- if can make my point -- I appreciate you having me, but I do want to be able to make my point.
BROWN: Sure.
McLAUGHLIN: The point of the matter is I have not seen CNN cover who some of those individuals are. An individual from Ecuador who murdered his three-month-old son; an individual who was perpetuating a human slavery and human trafficking; scores and scores of murderers, child pedophiles. Why does the media not talk about that? We continue to see that people love to demonize law enforcement, vilify them as they're facing a 1,000 percent increase in assaults against them.
(...)
WOLF BLITZER: When she (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem) called this 37-year-old mother of three who was driving that car a domestic terrorist, that really was outrageous.
McLAUGHLIN: When we say it was an act of domestic terrorism, that is in no way outrageous. What we saw on the ground there -- she had been stalking and harassing law enforcement throughout the morning, and then she went on to use her car as a deadly weapon. That's not --
BLITZER: She was driving by after dropping off her little six-year-old boy at school.
MCLAUGHLIN: She was not -- that -- that's just simply not true. I have the facts on the ground. I, I mean, if you look at it for the hours --
BROWN: Do you have more information that you can release to give the public a better understanding?
McLAUGHLIN: If I can give you the facts of what happened that morning. At 9:30 a.m. Central Time, this is where that incident occurred in Minneapolis. This individual for hours before had been stalking and harassing law enforcement, impeding operations. At the time of that incident, our law enforcement approached this individual's vehicle as she was blocking at our law enforcement. That is a federal crime.
(...)
BLITZER: And we also saw that video of a woman being pulled out of her car as she was trying to simply go to the doctor. Is that what --
MCLAUGHLIN: That is -- she was not going to the doctor.
BLITZER: Is what you're seeing there -- are these the officers are trained to do? They cut off her seatbelt, they dragged her out of the car and took her out.
McLAUGHLIN: This individual was actually arrested because she was time and time again impeding law enforcement officers. Again, a small snippet of this video. So she was an agitator intentionally, again, trying to impede federal law enforcement officers which is a federal crime and is a felony.
BROWN: How do you know for certain, though, that she wasn't just caught up in the protests and the traffic and the chaos and was trying to get to -- how do you know that was --
McLAUGHLIN: Because she was doing this time and time over and over and over again. We've talked to federal law enforcement on the ground -- we talked to their supervisors in this case. We know exactly what happened here, and she'll be charged as such.
