White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said President Donald Trump‘s administration was “evaluating” why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “may not have been following” protocol during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday (January 28).
Miller initially labeled Pretti as a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement” and labeled him as a “domestic terrorist” via FOX News in the wake of his shooting over the weekend, but appeared to question the actions of ICE in his latest assessment.
“The initial statement from DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground. Additionally, the White House provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors. We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Miller said.
White House press secretary also claimed that Trump had “very good” calls with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday (January 26) following the death of Pretti, 37, a registered nurse who worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, after previously blaming Walz and Frey for “inciting” anti-ICE protesters, including Pretti, in a post shared on his Truth Social account on Saturday (January 24) after the fatal shooting. Videos shared online, however, appeared to show Pretti being taken down by multiple ICE agents and disarmed before an officer fired multiple shots during an anti-ICE demonstration in Minneapolis.
The incident took place weeks after Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a protest in the same city. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison demanded that a “full, impartial, and transparent investigation” be held in connection with the shooting while a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from “destroying or altering” evidence linked to the incident, Axois reports.
Recent Comments