Stephen Colbert ripped into Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for mischaracterizing the shooting of a Minnesota mom by an ICE agent.
The Wednesday shooting, which was captured on video from multiple angles, showed Renee Nicole Good attempting to drive away in her car as an ICE agent shot at her three times. Both President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—among other top Trump Cabinet members—have defended the act as self-defense on the part of the agent.
“They’re telling you to believe them and not your eyes,” Colbert told viewers in his monologue Thursday. “And they told you that immediately, before there was any investigation.”
Colbert then showed a clip of Noem, wearing an oversized cowboy hat, describing Good as a domestic terrorist who “attempted to run [ICE agents] over and ram them with her vehicle.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you lying over your hat,” replied Colbert.
When the clip of Noem’s speech ended, Colbert was shown wearing an even larger, more flamboyant cowboy hat.
Still covering Noem’s wild spin on the shooting, Colbert said, “Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tweeted, ‘I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine.’”
“And he does mean machine,” Colbert joked. “I’m pretty sure Kristi Noem was the original prototype for M3GAN.”
Colbert next laid into the Trump administration as a whole for the tragic killing.
“It sure looks like a federal agent gunned down an American citizen without cause in front of witnesses on a city street, but the administration is telling you that you didn’t see that,” Colbert said.
Colbert called the shooting “a senseless, yet entirely predictable tragedy.”
He added, “Our hearts go out to Renee Good’s loved ones, friends, and the community where it happened.”
