CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pushed a story about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s alleged injuries following the shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota, despite “concern” from journalists, according to a report.
The news outlet was the first to report Wednesday that Trump administration officials said Jonathan Ross — the ICE agent who shot and killed the mother-of-three in Minneapolis on January 7 — suffered internal bleeding in his torso, citing two unnamed officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously said Ross was taken to a hospital after the shooting and released the same day. Vice President JD Vance said he “nearly had his life ended,” while President Donald Trump stated: “It is hard to believe he is alive.” However, video showed Ross walking around after the shooting before getting into his car and leaving.
The report about his injuries sparked “internal skepticism at the network” according to internal emails obtained by The Guardian.
A CBS News spokesperson said the network “went through its rigorous editorial process and decided it was reportable based on the reporting, the reporters, and the sourcing.”
One staffer told the newspaper the report was met with “huge internal concern” by some, while others viewed the exchanges as “standard editorial discussions.”
According to The Guardian, Weiss “expressed a high level of interest in the story” on an editorial call the morning of publication.
Journalists at the network wanted to probe the Department of Homeland Security further on Ross’s alleged injuries, given the agent was seen walking away after the incident.
“There was big internal dissension about the ‘internal bleeding’ report here last night,” one anonymous staffer told the newspaper. “It was viewed as a thinly-veiled, anonymous leak by [the Trump administration] to someone who’d carry it online.”
One medical producer at CBS News reportedly suggested in an email that “it would be helpful to ask what type of treatment he received” and whether he underwent surgery.
CBS News senior vice-president David Reiter also expressed concern about the claims in an email obtained by The Guardian. “I’m no doctor, but internal bleeding is a very broad term and can range in severity,” Reiter reportedly said. “A bruise is internal bleeding. But it can also be something serious,” Reiter continued, and added that the ICE agent was able to walk away from the incident.
Another anonymous network staffer told the newspaper it “felt to many here we were carrying water for the admin’s justifying of the shooting to keep our access to our sources.”
The fatal shooting is being investigated by the FBI without the assistance of state officials, who said they were blocked from accessing evidence. “It feels now that Minnesota has been taken out of the investigation, it feels very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome,” Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, said during a press conference last week.
In the months since Weiss was installed as editor-in-chief of the network, she has faced increasingly intense scrutiny over her editorial decision-making and faced accusations of favoritism towards President Donald Trump and his administration.
Trump hailed Weiss the “great new leader” during his return to the network’s 60 Minutes, the iconic news show he had accused of election interference just a year prior.
It emerged that Weiss was on location for the interview and approached Trump afterward to introduce herself, sources told The Independent.
“He was so happy to see her and she was so excited to meet him, they both leaned in and exchanged kisses on the cheek,” one source said.
Justin Baragona and Brendan Rascius contributed to this report
