FBI’s Inquiry Into Minneapolis ICE Shooting Faces Doubts After White House’s Remarks

The Trump administration blocked Minnesota officials from investigating the death of the woman shot on Wednesday by a federal agent, then quietly offered this explanation: Local investigators simply could not be trusted to conduct a fair inquiry.

The investigation into the killing of Renee Nicole Good, 37, federal officials said, would be the exclusive province of the F.B.I., which is overseen by a director, Kash Patel, who has described President Trump as an unerring boss, and even a king.

Mr. Trump had already declared the shooting justified. Vice President JD Vance has asserted that federal agents had “absolute immunity” from prosecution. The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, has spoken about the incident as if it were a closed case: Ms. Good had “weaponized” her S.U.V. to kill agents, she said, even though video analysis by The New York Times suggested it was more likely that she was turning her car away from officers.

The extraordinary volley of public statements stood in striking contrast to the far more restrained approach to high-profile incidents taken by other presidents, who have typically called for calm pending the results of investigations. The all-hands effort to define Ms. Good as the only person who did anything wrong has cast serious doubt on the F.B.I.’s willingness to scrutinize the actions of the agent who killed the unarmed activist, according to former law enforcement officials who were once responsible for investigating comparable tragedies.

“It’s hard to have any trust in the federal investigation given the White House’s immediate public effort to drive an outcome,” said Vanita Gupta, a former top Justice Department official in the Biden administration who oversaw the department’s response to incidents of police violence, including the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Are the feds conducting any real investigation of the agent’s actions, or instead focused on trying to justify what happened by tarring the victim as a domestic terrorist?” Ms. Gupta added.