Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing featured a heated confrontation between Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, over the ICE shootings in Minneapolis, and how Noem claimed Renee Good and Alex Pretty had committed "acts of domestic terrorism."
As you might expect, many in the liberal media couldn't wait to carry Raskin's water in their analysis of what took place, and that was the case on CNN's The Situation Room.
Hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown played the repetitive back and forth, where Raskin's main goal appeared to be to humiliate Noem for having used the term domestic terrorist in the immediate aftermath of the shootings of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Neither of them were going to remind their liberal base of CNN viewers that Raskin and his Democrat colleagues on the House January 6 Committee repeatedly described a "domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol" in their announcement of the committee's mission. That would include non-violent protesters, and Ashli Babbitt, who was gunned down by the Capitol Police. Would Raskin apologize for that? No one's asking.
RASKIN: ..And I want to give you a chance before the entire country to correct your false and defamatory claim. Based on what you know today, Madam Secretary, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?
NOEM: Congressman, what happened in Minnesota in those two incidents was an absolute tragedy --
RASKIN: Were they domestic terrorists, as you said to the country?
NOEM: -- My condolences to their families, because I know that their lives will never be the same after that happened --
RASKIN: Is that an apology for what you said?
NOEM: We, in those instances, offer as much information as we can from officers and agents on the ground in a chaotic scene that gets really --
RASKIN: ...Madam Secretary, based on what you know today, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?
NOEM: As you know, there's ongoing investigations that are being led by the FBI...
And it continued.
RASKIN: Oh, but you didn't wait for the investigation, did you? You didn't wait for the evidence. You proclaimed that they were domestic terrorists at the time. Why did you do that?
NOEM: And you didn't wait to attack our law enforcement.
RASKIN: ..Why did you call them domestic terrorists?
NOEM: ... Our ICE officers and our HSI officers that day risked their lives to protect that scene, so evidence could be reclaimed, so it could be used in the investigation, because those violent rioters that were...
RASKIN: So you're proud of the fact that you called them domestic terrorists? Is that what you're telling America?
NOEM: HSI officers put their lives on the line to protect that scene, so evidence -- so we could have --
RASKIN: Yes, they do. Yes, they do. But you told a lie about them! You said that they were domestic terrorists. Do you regret that?
NOEM: I offer my condolences to those family.
RASKIN: Based on what you know today, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?
NOEM: There's ongoing investigations. And so I can't --
RASKIN: So you still don't know? You think that's an open question?
NOEM: I would think you would want there to still be investigations going into these situations.
RASKIN: Well, you stated the conclusion two hours after they were killed that they were domestic terrorists. I wanted to give you an opportunity to correct the record, not just for their family, but for everybody in America who believes in the truth and fairness and honesty.
When this dramatic scene ended, Blitzer and Brown went to work, praising Raskin, and picking up where he left off.
BLITZER: Pretty tough question from Jamie Raskin, the Democratic congressman from Maryland, who used to be a professor of constitutional law at the American University here in Washington.
He was very tough with her. And she refused repeatedly under his questioning to apologize for saying these horrible things about these two individuals.
BROWN: Right. And they're -- He points out the inconsistency, and now that she is falling back on, well, there's an investigation, so I'm not going to retract what I said about domestic terrorism, that they were domestic terrorists. But then he pressed her on, well, then why did you come out in those early hours --BLITZER: Two hours, yes.
BROWN: Two hours after they were killed, and label them that without a thorough investigation?... But one thing is clear. She is not offering an apologies to those families who have made it very clear that it's hurtful to them that she called their loved ones who are now dead domestic terrorists.
BLITZER: She could have easily said, I was getting information. I misspoke. I apologize to the families. They were not domestic terrorists. She could have said that.BROWN: Right. She is -- I think at this point, there's a lot of information out there, where that question about, what you know now, would you still label them as domestic terrorists, there's enough information out there where she could give an answer to that, but clearly didn't want to.
It seems that neither Blitzer nor Brown heard Noem offer her condolences to the families and say, "My heart is with them." They also ignored Noem's claim that Raskin "didn't wait to attack our law enforcement." Especially after how the January 6 Committee so fervently defended law enforcement on January 6.
Early on, Raskin had determined that Good was trying to get away from police, not attack them. And in his opening statement at the hearing, he called the two shootings homicides. In this Situation, none of it matters.
