The White House has sought to distance Donald Trump and senior officials from their initial portrayals of Alex Pretti, the man fatally shot by federal agents in Minnesota, as a gunman. The reversal comes after widely circulated video footage showed Pretti being shot in the back approximately ten times after being tackled and disarmed, undercutting earlier assertions that he had posed a threat.
Over the weekend, officials including Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had labelled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who attempted to assassinate law enforcement. However, on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to repeat those characterisations, stating that Trump wanted to “let the facts and the investigation lead itself.” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also attempted to backpedal, telling Fox News that no one had intended to invoke the legal definition of domestic terrorism.
Trump himself appeared to seek an off-ramp after earlier posts on Truth Social blaming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for the shooting. In a new announcement on Monday, Trump said he had a “very good call” with Walz and that they were on the “same wavelength” regarding immigration enforcement. Walz’s office stated that Trump agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and committed to allowing the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to conduct an independent investigation, after the BCA had been blocked from the scene.
Trump also announced he would send border czar Tom Homan to oversee operations in Minneapolis, replacing US Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino. The move signals a repudiation of Noem, to whom Bovino reports, and who has been at odds with Homan. Despite the backtracking, Leavitt maintained that the tragedy resulted from “deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders,” reflecting the administration’s careful navigation of the fallout as support for ICE and Border Patrol tactics erodes among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
