White House’s Karoline Leavitt blames Democrats for Minneapolis violence

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats were responsible for escalating threats against federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

“The Democratic Party has demeaned these individuals,” Leavitt said Thursday of federal immigration agents. “They even called them ‘Nazis’ and ‘Gestapo.’ And that absolutely leads to the violence that we see in the streets. »

“If you look at some of the footage from Minneapolis last night, look at that vehicle, look at what it says,” Leavitt added. “It says ‘F ICE.’ You have these individuals proudly pointing their middle fingers at the camera, another ICE individual, a vehicle that was vandalized last night by these left-wing agitators. These people don’t do this without the encouragement of people in power who make them feel like everything is okay.”

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Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting in Minneapolis, January 14, 2026. (Adam Gray/Associated Press)

Leavitt added that media reports of chaos in Minneapolis added to the violence.

Chaos erupted in Minneapolis Wednesday night and Thursday morning as agitators clashed with law enforcement following the city’s second ICE-involved shooting.

Law enforcement converged on the city in early January when a massive fraud scandal came to light. The city became a tinderbox on Jan. 7 when a protester, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an officer after authorities said she tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against the ICE official.

An ICE agent landed in the hospital Wednesday after being ambushed during an attempt to arrest a Venezuelan national, authorities reported. The officer fired his weapon, hitting a Venezuelan suspect, who is said to be stable and detained by law enforcement.

President Donald Trump denounced the violence, accusing Democrats of encouraging the chaos and threatening Thursday morning to invoke the Insurrection Act.

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“If Minnesota’s corrupt politicians do not obey the law and stop professional agitators and insurrectionists from attack the Patriots of ICE, who are just trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many presidents have done before me, and I will quickly end the travesty taking place in this once great state,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Democrats have continued to lambast the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown since his inauguration, with the rhetoric intensifying after Good’s death in Minneapolis. Democrats and critics of the president say Good was “assassinated” by law enforcement and encouraged the protests.

A firework explodes near the fence in front of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during protests, January 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Jen Golbeck/Associated Press)

The Insurrection Act is a federal law that allows the president to deploy the United States military or federalize the National Guard in the event of civil unrest or insurrection. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, invoked the law in 1957 to impose school desegregation in Arkansas.

The White House reiterated Thursday that the Insurrection Act is available to Trump if violence continues.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., Thursday, January 15, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

“The Insurrection Act is a tool available to the president. As you know, it’s been used sparingly, but it’s been used by previous presidents in American history,” Leavitt said Thursday during the press briefing.

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Leavitt’s comments were in response to a media question about whether there is a specific red line that agitators must cross in order for the president to exercise the authority of the Insurrection Act. Leavitt said only Trump could answer that question before defending the president by potentially invoking the law.

“I think the president’s Truth Social message spoke very loudly and clearly,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on January 15, 2026. (Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I think the president’s Truth Social message has spoken very loudly and clearly to Democrats across the country, to elected officials who are using their agenda to encourage violence against federal law enforcement officers, who are encouraging left-wing agitators to illegally obstruct legitimate law enforcement operations,” she said. “And if you talk to any law enforcement officer, no matter what level they’re working at, they want to work with their counterparts, whether it’s at the state level or at the federal level, law enforcement wants to work with their counterparts at the state and local levels.”

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“And it’s really shameful that now, for over a year, you have elected Democratic governors and mayors who have essentially taken their state and local law enforcement hostage and told them you can’t cooperate with federal law enforcement,” she added.