As many questions remain after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal law enforcement officers on Saturday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spent most of Monday’s press briefing clarifying where the Trump administration stands on the investigation.
Following the second fatal federal immigration law enforcement-involved shooting in Minnesota in the last month, Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller called Pretti an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents,” on Saturday, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a press conference over the weekend, labeled Pretti’s actions as “domestic terrorism.”
“Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America’s streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals,” Leavitt said in her opening remarks.
Leavitt confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is working collaboratively with DHS in its investigation, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection is conducting a separate investigation into Saturday’s shooting. She gave no details about what has been discovered, as the investigation remains active.
According to Fox News’ congressional correspondent Bill Meligun’s X post, “Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino & some, not all Border Patrol agents, will be leaving the state of Minnesota imminently.”
Border czar sent to Minnesota
While many states in the U.S. experienced winter storms over the weekend, Trump greenlit federal disaster declarations in 12 states to provide aid at Noem’s direction. Because of this, Leavitt said that while Trump continues to have “the utmost confidence and trust” in the DHS secretary, border czar Tom Homan is being sent to Minnesota on Monday to help with the ongoing escalation between federal law enforcement, Minnesota officials and protesters.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Homan cares about the people in Minnesota, that he would be “tough but fair” and that he would report directly to him.
“Homan is the point person for cooperating with state and local authorities in corresponding with them. Again, to achieve this level of cooperation to subdue the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis,” Leavitt said Monday, adding that the lack of collaboration between state and federal law enforcement has escalated the danger in Minnesota:
“He has the full trust and faith of the president. He will continue to have these meetings in the hopes that ICE and local law enforcement can cooperate and work together to have successful immigration enforcement, as we’ve seen in almost every other state across the country.”
Homan will work to execute Trump’s calls he made to “Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and EVERY Democrat Governor and Mayor in the United States of America to formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence,” Trump declared in a separate post.
His four requests were as follows:
- Walz and Frey must hand over “all criminal illegal aliens” currently incarcerated by the state to federal law enforcement, as well as criminals with active warrants to be deported.
- State and local law enforcement to hand over all criminals living in the country illegally that are arrested by them.
- Local law enforcement must aid federal law enforcement in arresting criminals living in the country illegally.
- That Democratic politicians work together with the Trump administration to carry out its immigration crackdown.
He also separately requested that the U.S. Congress pass legislation to end sanctuary cities.
Trump’s demands come after both Walz and Frey continued to voice their frustrations with federal law enforcement’s presence in their state over the weekend. Walz referred to ICE agents as “violent” and went as far as to relate children in Minnesota to Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
“Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” Walz said in a press conference following the shooting of Pretti. “Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”
It’s weeks of Democratic leaders’ rhetoric, Leavitt said Monday, that led to the tragic incident Saturday and has put federal law enforcement in danger. Over the weekend in Minneapolis, a Homeland Security Investigations officer had his finger partially bitten off by a rioter, according to Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
They were “spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets: murderers, rapists, pedophiles, human traffickers and gang members,” Leavitt said.
“Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey have shamefully blocked local and state police from cooperating with ICE, actively inhibiting efforts to arrest violent criminals. They have also used their platforms to encourage left-wing agitators to stalk, record, confront and obstruct federal officers who are just trying to lawfully perform their duties, which has created dangerous situations threatening both these officers and the general public and Minnesotans alike,” she added. “This is precisely what unfolded in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Obstructing federal law enforcement and inciting violence against officers is wrong and illegal.”
Trump did, however, announce on Truth Social Monday that he had a productive phone call with Walz and said the governor was “happy” to hear Homan was coming to Minnesota to handle operations.
Trump and Leavitt claim the protests are an intended distraction
While Homan is in Minnesota to deescalate tensions between federal law enforcement and local officials, Trump also assigned him to investigate the ongoing alleged fraud scandal there, Leavitt confirmed.
Both she and the president accused Minnesota politicians of using the ICE protests to distract from the “total amount of money stolen, over the years, by Corrupt Politicians and Fraudsters, from Minnesota,” Trump said on Truth Social, “will exceed $100 Billion Dollars.”
“We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy,” he said in a separate post. “Much of what you’re witnessing is a COVER UP for this Theft and Fraud. The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that has been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States of America.”
Minnesota was put in the spotlight the day after Christmas when independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a video claiming he had uncovered widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social programs, specifically Somali-owned entities. He has since testified before Congress regarding his findings, including alleged fraud in other states.
Trump said on Monday that an investigation into Democratic Somali-born Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and her connection to the fraud scandal was warranted.
Leavitt further explained why Omar was under investigation by the Department of Justice in her press briefing:
“The president raised a good question over the weekend with respect to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who now has a net worth within the millions, and one must ask themselves, ‘why and how is that possible? Is she connected to the fraud rings that we have seen taking place within her state and her own district?’ It’s a question the American people are raising, and the President believes it’s one worth answering.”
