CNN Gets Schooled Live by DHS Spokesperson — McLaughlin Exposes Media Lies About ICE in Viral Exchange

Fearmongering, fake outrage, and dog-whistle hysteria didn’t stand a chance with DHS' rising star.

Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, is quickly becoming a rising star.

She’s willing to push back at the media when their narratives don’t match reality, and today on CNN she proved it.

McLaughlin appeared on air with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown to discuss ICE operations in Minnesota.

As Brown and Blitzer repeated their network’s talking points, McLaughlin sat just feet away, ready to set the record straight.

She refused to bow down.

The entire appearance lasted less than twenty minutes and was filled with memorable moments, but three clashes stood out above the rest.

From the opening moments, tension was palpable.

The first clash came when CNN anchor Pamela Brown played a clip of ICE agents asking a woman for identification in Minneapolis.

Brown tried to frame Minnesota as a “police state,” arguing the concern wasn’t coming from the media but from “people watching videos for themselves.”

However, McLaughlin called out the media fearmongering right to their faces — and Pamela Brown clearly wasn’t ready for it.

The two went toe-to-toe for over a minute:

BROWN: “But what do you say to to those who watch that and other videos that they’re seeing themselves?

“I mean, this is not just the mainstream media.”

“This is people are seeing these videos and they’re concerned and they’re concerned that a place like Minnesota is turning into a police state, and they’re going up to U.S. Citizens asking for I.D.”

McLaughlin pushed back immediately.

MCLAUGHLIN: “I think that there’s a lot of fearmongering going on, I think, by the media.”

BROWN: “But hold on, let me just correct you right there. They’re watching these videos and using their independence of mind.”

“It’s not ‘the’ media!”

That’s when McLaughlin unloaded on the entire MSM.

MCLAUGHLIN: “No, actually it is the media!”

“And we’re seeing it time and time again by saying things like the ‘police state.’”

“What we’re seeing is rampant violence against our law enforcement, highly coordinated. We have our legal authorities. When individuals see videos like that, you have to ask the question, was this individual obstructing law enforcement? Which is a federal crime.”

“Were they assaulting law enforcement? Which is a felony. Were any of those instances occurring before this video was cut, because you saw a very short cut, and that’s what I’m talking about, the media.”

“There is not a lot of context that’s being out there and we have to be very responsible.”

Brown tried to pivot one last time.

BROWN: “Well then why don’t you allow ICE officers to wear cameras?!”

MCLAUGHLIN: “We of course allow them to wear [cameras].”

CNN then pulled out data from their own polling, using it to sell the narrative that ICE has “gone too far” and is losing public support.

But DHS’ Tricia McLaughlin wasn’t having it.

This was much bigger than one CNN poll or one clip on public sentiment.

McLaughlin called out the media’s role in perpetuating the anti-ICE narrative.

BROWN: “So are you willing to consider, in some cases, ICE has gone too far and is losing American support?”

She laid out the facts about the ICE operations in Minnesota that the media REFUSES to report to the American people.

MCLAUGHLIN: “Pamela, in the last five weeks, we have arrested 2500 criminal illegal aliens off of the streets of Minneapolis.”

BROWN: “No one…people like that.”

MCLAUGHLIN: “If I can finish, if I can make my point, I appreciate you having me, but I do want to be able to make my point.”

“The point of the matter is I have not seen CNN cover who some of those individuals are.”

“An individual from Ecuador who he murdered his three month old son, an individual who is perpetuating human slavery and human trafficking. Scores and scores of murders, child pedophiles.”

“Why does the media not talk about that? We continue to see that people love to demonize law enforcement, vilify them as they’re facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them.”

“And yet we’re not talking about the great work that they’re doing on the ground, the fact that they are risking their lives day in and day out to get these criminals off the ground.”

“Gang members known and suspected terrorists, these are all the people that we’ve arrested in Minneapolis, and DHS and Secretary Noem, President Trump have done a phenomenal job of trying to give people transparency on who we are arresting, and yet we’re sitting here talking about relitigating cases over and over and over.”

Finally, CNN pivoted to its favorite scare tactic: tying the administration to “White Nationalism.”

They presented an ICE recruitment poster reading, “We’ll have our home again,” claiming it was a dog whistle for extremists.

Brown then tried to get McLaughlin to denounce the poster.

Not only did McLaughlin refuse — she ate their lunch live on air, calling out the absurdity for everyone watching.

BROWN: “There’s an ICE recruiting poster and it read quote; ‘We’ll have our home again.’ That’s gone viral.”

“That phrase is cited as having ties to White Nationalist groups in the U.S. and Canada, and a database of symbols maintained by the global project against hate and extremism.”

“I want to let you explain that. And also, even if this is not intentional, do you denounce this? If this could be seen as a dog whistle to White supremacists?”

The look on McLaughlin’s face said it all. McLaughlin paused, and then delivered the moment that cut through it all.

MCLAUGHLIN: “We’ll have our home again is now a White Nationalist dog whistle? I mean, what are they even referring…what is that dog whistle to?”

“By the way, I knew…I had a feeling you would ask me about this.”

“There’s no reason that we should be manufacturing outrage.”

BROWN: “It’s not.”

MCLAUGHLIN: “It is actually.”

“There are plenty of policy disagreements we should be having, and I, I really believe we should be having.”

“Manufacturing fake outrage is not that. There are plenty of poems. There are plenty of songs. There are plenty of books with the same title and the fact that people would like to cherry pick something of White Nationalism to make some sort of connection to DHS law enforcement…”

“Well, it’s no wonder we’re seeing such vast, rampant assaults against our law enforcement. It’s no wonder Secretary Noem is facing so many threats against her life, I am, Tom Homan, across the board is because of garbage like this and people choosing to manufacture outrage.”

“I think it’s quite frankly, embarrassing.”

CNN cut the interview short soon after.

McLaughlin had made her point — not through buzzwords or talking points, but by refusing to back down and refusing to let false narratives stand.

By the time she walked off that set, the message was unmistakable, the truth cannot be reshaped to fit a headline, and law enforcement officers risk their lives every day defending the country while many in the media look for outrage instead of accuracy.

Your monthly subscription goes further than you think. Thank you so much for your support.