Top ranks of the federal government are turning on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her defense of the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by an ICE agent over the weekend.
And federal immigration agents agree with some of the criticism of their top boss.
President Donald Trump’s favorite network Fox News grilled Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Monday over reports of the internal frustrations on DHS messaging in the wake of the horrific shooting of the 37-year-old VA nurse.
Fox & Friends host Griff Jenkins confronted Attorney General Pam Bondi’s No. 2 on whether he agreed that Pretti’s actions amounted to the legal definition of ‘domestic terrorism,’ like Noem claimed.
‘Look, I don’t think anybody thinks that they were comparing what happened on Saturday to the legal definition of domestic terrorism,’ Blanche finally replied after trying to deflect the question by criticizing Minnesota’s Democratic leadership.
‘And you’re right — to the extent there’s body cam or other videos that witnesses are still providing to us. So I’m not describing it as anything except for a tragedy,’ he added.
Noem said at a Saturday press conference: ‘When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism.’
Even Trump issued a subtle rebuke to Noem’s flubbed leadership in Minnesota by announcing Monday morning he is appointing White House border czar Tom Homan to take lead in Minneapolis.
‘I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.’
Top government officials and DHS agents are turning on Secretary Kristi Noem after she called Minneapolis shooting victim Alex Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’ and claimed that he intended to ‘massacre’ immigration enforcement agents
Pretti was shot multiple times by officials, but video appears to show he was disarmed of his concealed carry handgun before the first shot was fired
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche pushed back on Noem’s claim that Pretti was a ‘domestic terrorist’ during a Fox & Friends interview on Monday morning
Homan and Noem have a longstanding rivalry over conflicting perspectives on how to handle illegal immigration and Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
And Noem’s tenure at DHS has been riddled with damning claims of turf wars with other leaders including against CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott and some reports indicated her position in the Trump administration was on the chopping block on several occasions within the first year.
Unnamed DHS officials told Fox congressional correspondent Bill Melugin on Sunday that Noem’s messaging in the wake of Pretti’s death are ‘catastrophic’ for morale and ‘eroding trust and credibility.’
Some compared it to when Democrats tirelessly tried to convince Americans that the southern border was closed despite thousands of illegal immigrants flooding into the US every day during former President Joe Biden’s term.
DHS’ response to the shooting is ‘a case study on how not to do crisis PR,’ the sources added.
Noem said at a press conference that Pretti, who was killed on Saturday from multiple gun shots by an ICE agent, intended to conduct a ‘massacre’ of federal immigration agents and brought a handgun to the protest in order to inflict ‘maximum damage.’
But bystander video showing multiple angles of the incident have viewers saying the DHS claims are not accurate and do not show him ever reaching or unholstering his concealed weapon.
Forensic audio analysis counted 10 shots at Pretti in under five seconds.
Pretti, 37, was a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in Minneapolis, Minnesota who was shot and killed by agents in Customs and Border Protection flak jackets
Trump hasn’t rushed to Noem and the agent’s defense, as he usually does.
A White House official told conservative radio host Erick Erickson that Trump is not happy with how DHS has handled the response to the shooting.
On Truth Social, Trump said the video of the incident was ‘a horrible thing to watch,’ but maintained defense of ICE agents by calling them ‘patriots’ and demanding Americans let them carry out their orders to find and detain illegal immigrants in Minneapolis.
One agent told Fox that DHS is only ‘making the situation worse’ with their messaging and another said they are ‘fed up.’
‘DHS is wrong,’ an agent went so far to claim, adding: ‘We are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative.’
