Outrage around the country has been building after an ICE agent shot and killed 37 year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Good had moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City, and local leaders say video contradicts the federal version of events.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, who represents Missouri's 5th District in Kansas City, told KCUR's Up To Date that the Trump administration's labeling of Good as a "domestic terrorist" is "completely irresponsible."
"What I observed is the woman is trying to turn right and not trying to hit an officer," he said. "It is completely irresponsible to say this was a domestic terrorist. Here's someone with no background that would suggest anything about that, and I would rather wait until the investigation that's conducted by the FBI and the Minnesota Attorney General's office."
The FBI informed Minnesota investigators that it would no longer cooperate on the investigation of Good's death with state authorities. Cleaver disagrees with that decision.
“With the FBI director being who he is, any kind of investigation is going to going to be tainted," Cleaver said. "As an old civil rights advocate in the bad old days, you know, we wanted the FBI involved. But times have changed.”
Cleaver also criticized the U.S. intervention in Venezuela following the Trump administration's capture of President Nicolas Maduro last week. He said that Congress was left completely in the dark about the operation ahead of time.
"I'm a member of Congress, and I don't know who you can talk to to get a clear picture of why we did what we did," he said. "We — and only we — in Congress have the power to declare war."
He also told Up To Date that he believes gaining access to Venezuelan oil was a major reason the U.S. took military action in the South American country.
Cleaver added that Trump's proposed takeover of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, would put the U.S. in a bad position not just with the Danes but also fellow NATO allies.
"I think right now, if one nation is attacked that participates in NATO, it means that everybody has been attacked," Cleaver said.
- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, Democrat, Missouri’s 5th District
