'Don't mistake my words!' CNN anchor shuts down ex-Trump official in fiery exchange
A CNN anchor got into a fiery exchange Friday with a former Trump administration official over the leaked cell phone video capturing a confrontation in Minneapolis moments before a federal immigration agent fatally shot 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good.
CNN's Brianna Keilar pushed back on comments from Chad Wolf, former acting homeland security secretary under President Donald Trump and vice president of the America First Policy Institute, about the use of force after a new video showed the altercation.
Keilar started the interview by asking Wolf about the footage and the ICE agent's interaction with Good, which showed the reported agent Jonathan Ross apparently stepping in front of the Honda Pilot with Good behind the wheel while her wife had a verbal altercation with the officers.
"Was stepping out of the way of the vehicle a reasonable alternative in your view?" Keilar asked.
"Yeah, again, I don't think that everything that was just articulated there is correct," Wolf said. "You can, you know, you can go after individuals if they try to abscond in a vehicle so that that policy has been changed. Look, again, I'm not there on the ground."
"Explain how," Keilar responded, pushing back on Wolf's claim.
Wolf attempted to respond, then said he wasn't at the incident — that's when they started to talk over each other.
"That you said you can go after vehicles. That policy has been Chad, you said you can go after people in vehicles if they abscond. Can you explain how that's been changed?" Keilar asked.
Wolf attempted to use the example of U.S. border patrol agents chasing vehicles. And Keilar didn't hold back in response.
"We're in Minneapolis, in the middle of a city," she said. "Can you - can you apply that into an urban environment?"
"Absolutely you can. And again, I'm not there on the ground. So I'm not going to try to second-guess what a law enforcement officer is thinking. What's - what is he hearing? What is he feeling at the moment?" Wolf added.
Then he tried to claim that Keilar had agreed with him, which she retorted against and questioned the overall policy for law enforcement on shooting at a moving vehicle, which is not allowed.
"I said what you were saying is reasonable, that that would not be permissible. So please do not mistake my words," Keilar said. "I said you were saying that would not be allowed. I said, that is reasonable, and you said that would not be allowed. And then you started to say you would be arrested, but then you stopped and you changed tack. And I said, so you would be arrested. Would you be shot?"
Wolf tried to argue that people cannot drive vehicles toward law enforcement officers — which Keilar had a sharp response to.
"Yeah. I mean, I'm not making that point, Chad, but I appreciate you being here talking to us about this," she said.