SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The state of Minnesota is conducting its own investigation into Wednesday's fatal shooting by ICE Officer Jonathan Ross of motorist Renée Good. This after - the - this is after the FBI excluded Minnesota authorities from its investigation on Thursday. Vice President Vance said that federal agents have, quote, "absolute immunity." Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty responded yesterday.
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MARY MORIARTY: I can't speak to why the Trump administration is doing what it's doing or says what it says. I can say that the ICE officer does not have complete immunity here.
SIMON: We will hear from Minnesotans and track down developments in the case elsewhere on the program today. NPR's senior contributor Ron Elving joins us now. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: From your vantage point and years of experience as an observer on the national political landscape, what stands out to you here?
ELVING: Once again, we are confronted with facts that seem quite clear, at least from one's own perspective. But then we see these facts presented in an entirely different light by those with a distinctly different perspective, such as the president. So millions have seen the video of Renée Good trying to get away from Officer Jonathan Ross, but the president said Good ran the officer over. There is no tape that shows that, but there are angles that suggest she may have grazed him, and it is possible to imagine an officer under these circumstances, believing he's about to be struck. So it surely looks bad at the same time for the federal government to refuse to include Minnesota officials in the investigation. And there's a suggestion there that the state is untrustworthy or that the feds do not trust their own case unless they control the investigation themselves.
SIMON: And there are calls in Congress, mainly from Democrats, to rein in ICE during the appropriations process. Given some other votes just recently that saw Republicans depart from the administration, are you seeing any daylight growing between congressional Republicans and President Trump?
ELVING: Maybe a glimmer on these ICE raids. They are costly and they provoke confrontations and violence. We have seen more Republican resistance to Trump this month. So in Congress voted to extend the expiring subsidies for Obamacare. Some want a vote before Trump takes more military action, and many wanted to do more to honor the police who defended the Capitol on January 6. But by and large, the party is still with Trump on immigration.
SIMON: Ron, of course, President Trump was quite blunt in his threats to Nicolás Maduro, yet the attack was still a surprise to really most everybody. President Trump has also been very plain about his threats to Iran and, for that matter, Greenland. Do - should we expect more surprises?
ELVING: We should be shocked if there are not more surprises, Scott. This is part of the playbook now. Trump has said he regards being unpredictable as smart strategy. And we have Trump's chief of policy adviser, Stephen Miller, who was a lesser figure in the first term, but built his relationship with Trump after that. We now see him speaking for the president, not just on domestic policy, but on international issues and events as well. Most recently, that's meant threatening to take over Greenland and refusing to take military force off the table.
SIMON: This week marks five years since the attempt to stop the ratification of the 2020 election. The House Judiciary Committee says that it wants former Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify as soon as this month. We should note there's already testimony that's publicly available by him, isn't it?
ELVING: Yes. Smith testified to a House committee behind closed doors December 17, and the video was just released on New Year's Eve. And we can hear why the committee was wary of this tape. The voice you hear here is the prosecutor's.
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JACK SMITH: President Trump was, by a large measure, the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol as part of this case does not happen without him.
ELVING: Listening to that, you know, I'm reminded, Scott, of the words of Senator Mitch McConnell, who was the Republican leader in the Senate, speaking on the floor of the Senate after the January 6 events. It was all very clear to him then, and Jack Smith makes it clear again.
SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving. Thanks so much.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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