Kristi Noem Declares ‘Every Single Situation Is Going to Rely on the Situation’ in Mind-Numbing Interview 

Ever since an ICE goon shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday, Kristi Noem has—more than usual—been very busy operating outside the law, propagating lies, and rewriting reality.

Let’s start with Sunday. The Secretary of Homeland Security appeared on State of the Union with Jake Tapper, in which she was called out for naming Good a “domestic terrorist” just two hours after the shooting. (In less authoritarian times, DHS would typically conduct an investigation before definitively labeling someone a “domestic terrorist.”) When Tapper pushed her on this, Noem responded, “Everything I’ve said has been proven to be factual and the truth.”

Noem’s version of the story—which has been captured in multiple videos, from multiple angles—is that the mother-of-three “attacked” the ICE officers and “attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle” while they were trying to push their own vehicles out of the snow. The secretary doubled down on those claims on Fox News later on Thursday, saying Good was “an anti-ICE rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle.”

But if you have eyes and ears and have watched any of the videos, you’ll know this isn’t true. Good’s SUV was blocking the road, but she was trying to drive away from the scene when one ICE agent tried to open her car door, and she was shot and killed by another. In one of the videos, one of the agents calls her a “fucking bitch” after she was shot.

“If you look at what the definition of domestic terrorism is, it completely fits the situation on the ground,” Noem continued to Tapper. “This individual, as you saw in the video that we released just 48 hours after this incident, showed that this officer was hit by her vehicle. She weaponized it and he defended his life and those colleagues around him in the public eye.”

TAPPER: You called Renee Good a “domestic terrorist” shortly after the shooting. Why did you not wait for an investigation?

KRISTI NOEM: Everything I’ve said has been proven to be factual and the truth. This administration wants to operate in transparency.

TAPPER: What you said… pic.twitter.com/iZIRHUZ3vU

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 11, 2026

“I’m wondering if you’re not doing a disservice to the officer by reaching a conclusion before the investigation takes place,” Tapper responded. She shot back, “I haven’t heard you say what a disservice it’s done for [Mayor Jacob] Frey to get up, and say ‘get ICE to get the F out of my city,’ and [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] to stand up before she had any of the facts and called this officer a murderer.” (Frey has since said, ‘I dropped an F-bomb. They killed somebody. Which one of those is more inflammatory?”)

In another very telling and extremely frustrating moment, Tapper attempted to get Noem to confront some good old MAGA hypocrisy. Reiterating Noem’s claim that the ICE agent acted in self-defense, he said, “I want to show some video to you right now and ask, what is the appropriate response for police officers in this situation?” He then showed a clip of January 6 rioters assaulting officers before asking, “Would any of these officers be justified in shooting and killing the people, causing them physical harm?” Noem awkwardly responded, “Every single situation is going to rely on the situation those officers are on.” Tapper quickly reminded Noem that Trump pardoned all the rioters.

“That’s one thing President Trump has been so focused on, is making sure that when we’re out there, we don’t pick and choose which situations and which laws are enforced and which ones aren’t,” she said. “Every single one of them is being enforced under the Trump administration and the clarity of the law stands.”

“It’s just not true,” Tapper said. “There’s a different standard for law enforcement officials being attacked, if they’re being attacked by Trump supporters, we just saw that.” Noem responded with more meaningless fodder not worth repeating.

Speaking to Tapper after Noem’s segment on Sunday, Frey said, “I’m biased because I got two eyes. Anybody can see these videos. Anybody can see that this victim is not a domestic terrorist.”

Twenty-four hours before that interview, DHS actively blocked three congressional Democrats from visiting an ICE facility in Minneapolis, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Federal law allows members of Congress to make impromptu visits to ICE prisons—a policy that was affirmed by a federal judge in December—but on Thursday, Noem directed staff to start requiring seven days’ notice because, according to her, the judge had only protected facilities funded by regular congressional appropriations, and not ones funded by the “Big Beautiful Bill.” As such, the law doesn’t apply to her, and any short-term requests must be personally approved by her. Speaking in a press conference afterwards, Omar called the move a “blatant disregard of the law.”

On Wednesday, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) announced in a press release that she intends to impeach Noem for being an “incompetent leader” and “disgrace to our democracy.” The thing is, those are prerequisites for working in the Trump administration.

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