Trump Officials Trade Blame As Political Pressure Mounts Over Minneapolis

The finger-pointing within the president’s inner circle over the administration’s response to the killing of a second person in Minneapolis is in full force.

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday said the two agents who fatally shot Alex Pretti have been on leave since Saturday — contradicting insistence by now-sidelined Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino that the agents were working in other cities.

Tellingly, key administration officials are also distancing themselves from the narrative they used in the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s killing when they accused the 37-year-old ICU nurse of being a “domestic terrorist” who wanted to “massacre” federal agents.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who said Pretti was there to “perpetuate violence,” was following deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s lead, according to a report in Axios. Miller in turn, blamed Customs and Border Protection for faulty information and potentially not following White House instructions.

The growing list of attempts to shift liability show that people close to President Donald Trump recognize the latest shooting as a major political vulnerability for the White House.

“Mistakes probably were made, political ones and some tactical ones,” said a DHS official, granted anonymity to speak about internal dynamics. The official pointed to the mounting pressure on the immigration agencies, and the intense situation on the ground as protesters and agents clash.

“Eventually under the stress, things are going to break, and people are going to make mistakes, and then that gets used in the media coverage on both sides — and everybody gets to fighting,” the person added.

A senior White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics, brushed aside the ongoing criticism facing the administration’s initial response to the shooting.

“There’s no concern,” the official said. “What Stephen put out was based off of a preliminary report, and that’s what a lot of agencies were doing as well, basing their statements off of that preliminary report.

The White House also pointed to the president’s latest defense of Noem, including that she’s “doing a very good job” and won’t be resigning. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Miller is “one of President Trump’s most trusted and longest serving aides. The president loves Stephen.”

In the four days since the shooting, the White House has tried to contain the growing political crisis in Minneapolis, changing course by shifting its message and deploying border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to work with Democrats. Bovino, who the president called a “pretty out there kind of guy,” was also moved out of the state.

But the personnel shake-up has done little to abate the political pressure encircling the administration, as a number of GOP lawmakers publicly criticize the response, including some who have pressed for Noem’s firing. And now a partial government shutdown is looming over Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding, as Democrats demand new restrictions on the agency.

“There has to be accountability,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said. “This is not like some wish list. This is like really practical, common sense stuff that would actually go a long way towards minimizing the harm that we’re seeing in Minnesota right now.”

The president, for the most part, has stuck to a tight script, telling reporters that he wants to see a “very honorable and honest investigation” into Pretti’s death. Trump has distanced himself from the “terrorist” label, which both Noem and Miller used in the hours after the shooting.

Miller said the White House told DHS to use extra CBP personnel to keep protesters away from fugitive apprehension operations, saying the president’s team is “evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol.” He also said the initial assessment that Pretti was brandishing a weapon and engaging in “domestic terrorism,” just before he was shot was “based on reports from CBP on the ground.”

The senior White House official said Miller’s statement wasn’t in response to frustrations about his initial comment, but was designed to “set the record straight.”

“There was an initial assessment provided by CBP, and in the end, it turned out that, you know, it was an incomplete assessment,” the official said. “So I think Stephen was just trying to clear up some of the confusion.”

The tensions among the president’s top immigration officials have simmered for months. Noem and Homan have regularly disagreed over the best way to implement the president’s mass deportations agenda, and both want to be perceived as the one in charge. And Miller, viewed as the architect of the president’s immigration agenda, has pressured DHS to deliver on daily arrest and deportation targets, which some DHS officials argue has resulted in an aggressive and haphazard approach.

Miller, one of the president’s longest-serving and influential advisers, has often been seen as untouchable by aides and allies. His influence now extends well beyond immigration to a host of hardline, America First policies. His decision to walk-back and explain his rush to describe Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” was viewed internally by some as a rare example of vulnerability for the president’s domestic policy chief. These feelings were amplified by Republicans on social media jumping to his defense.

An administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, said it appeared that Miller was “wounded,” but said it would be a “huge mistake to count him out.”

The senior White House official defended both Miller and Noem, saying they are here to stay and calling the secretary’s ouster in particular “wish casting.”