Karoline Leavitt Blasts Reporter as a 'Left-Wing Hack' in Live Press Briefing over ICE Question

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed a reporter during a press conference, calling him a "left-wing hack," after he asked about deaths in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.

Speaking during the briefing, which streamed live on Thursday, Jan. 15, the reporter mentioned that 32 people had died in ICE custody last year, and said 170 U.S. citizens had been detained by the federal agency.

The journalist — identified by Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Eireann as Irish reporter Niall Stanage, who works for The Hill — then mentioned that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said that the agency had been "doing everything correctly" after Good's death.

“How does that equate to them doing everything correctly?” Stanage asked.

“Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” Leavitt then asked him in response, prompting Stanage to clarify if she was asking for his "opinion" on her death. She confirmed that she wanted to hear him explain why he believes she was killed.

The journalist said, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,” prompting Leavitt to fire back, “OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion … Because you’re a left-wing hack."

"You’re not a reporter, you're posing in this room as a journalist," Leavitt, 28, continued. "And it’s so clear by the premise of your question. And you and the people of the media who have such biases but fake like you’re a journalist, you shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat."

Leavitt laid into him further, saying, "But you’re pretending like you’re a journalist, but you’re a left-wing activist. And the question that you just raised and your answer proves you’re biased. You should be reporting on the facts. You should be reporting on the cases,” before saying that many U.S. citizens had been killed by "illegal" immigrants.

The press secretary said she bet Stanage hadn't "read up on those stories," bringing up victims such as Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.

The White House didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional comments.

On the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 7, Renee Good, 37, had just dropped her 6-year-old child off at school before a deadly encounter with federal immigration agents, PEOPLE previously reported.

The mother of three had been driving home in her Honda Pilot with her wife, Becca Good, when they came upon a group of ICE agents, her ex-husband told The Associated Press. The ex-husband, who asked not to share his name, said Good and her partner had moved to Minneapolis last year from Kansas City, Mo.

The Goods took a detour on the way home to join neighbors who were protesting ICE officers during an immigration enforcement operation in the city. Good's vehicle was allegedly blocking agents in the street, and when she began moving her car as an ICE officer started pulling on her door handle, she was shot dead by agent Jonathan Ross.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as tensions continued to escalate between ICE officers and civilians in Minneapolis following Good's death.

Trump, 79, broadly criticized the Democratic leadership of Minnesota in a post shared on Truth Social on Thursday, while noting that implementing the act would allow him to send the U.S. military to the state to combat rebellion or violence.

"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," the president wrote.

His threat came one day after a man was shot in the leg by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have condemned the presence of ICE in the state. Walz, 61, urged his constituents not to escalate their confrontations with ICE after the man was shot on Wednesday, warning that doing so would only further motivate Trump.

In a statement posted to X after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act on Thursday, Walz wrote, "I am making a direct appeal to the President. Let's turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are."

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Frey also spoke out after the shooting on Wednesday, saying during a news conference that evening, "This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in."

He added, "We're in a position right now where we have residents that are asking a very limited number of police officers we have to fight ICE agents on the street, to stand by their neighbors. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another."