Washington, Jan 9 (IANS) US Vice President JD Vance launched an extraordinary broadside against news organisations over their coverage of a fatal shooting involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, calling the reporting “an absolute disgrace” and warning it “puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”
Vance said he had been shown “a photo of a CNN headline” and read it aloud: “Outrage after ICE officer kills US citizen in Minneapolis.” He added, “Well, that’s one way to put it,” before arguing the headline omitted key details he believes are central to the encounter.
“This was an attack on federal law enforcement,” Vance said. “This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people.” He said he was using the word “attack” “very, very intentionally,” and accused “many people in the corporate media” of mischaracterising what happened.
“What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago 33 stitches in his leg,” he said. “So you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?”
Vance also asserted the woman who died was interfering with an enforcement action. “What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America,” he said.
At one point, after a question that challenged his conclusions while investigations are ongoing, Vance pushed back sharply. “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?” he said.
When asked whether he had any doubt after viewing the video, Vance said, “Look, I don’t know what it’s — in a person’s heart or in a person’s head.” But he added, “What I am certain of is that she violated the law,” and “that officer had every reason to think that he was under very serious threat for injury or, in fact, his life.”
He drew a line between debate over intent and what he described as an inaccurate narrative. “If people want to say that we should have a legitimate debate about, you know, what was she really doing… that’s a reasonable conversation,” he said. “What’s not reasonable is for so many of you to plaster all over the media that this was an innocent woman and that the ICE agent committed murder.”
Vance said criticism should be directed at elected officials, not officers. “Attack me. Attack the president of the United States,” he said. “Don’t attack our law enforcement officers. They are trying to do the job the American people demanded that they do.”
Pressed about his message to unite Americans and reduce tensions, Vance said the press coverage itself was contributing to escalation. “The reporting over this has been one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen in media,” he said, adding, “I’ve never seen a case so misrepresented and — and misreported.”
He argued that enforcement and public safety help lower political temperature. “One of the things we’re proudest about is that you saw violent crime over the last year drop by 20 percent,” he said, framing the reduction as a result of “empowering our law enforcement officers to enforce the law.”
Vance called for “a media that tells the truth.” “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,” he said. “Be a little bit more careful.”
(IANS)
