The framework of lies that Trump administration officials told shortly after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti which had been set up by henchmen of the immigration authorities, is gradually collapsing. An initial investigation report by the Border Protection Agency (CBP) contradicts previous statements from the White House, which described the 37-year-old nurse as a “terrorist” and “potential assassin” who aimed to kill security officers.
President Donald Trump also qualified his previous statements on Tuesday. “The bottom line is it’s just terrible. Both (fatal incidents) were terrible,” he said in an interview with Fox News and referred to the killing of Alex Pretti as well as that of Renée Good. She was shot dead on January 7th by an ICE immigration officer. Both incidents occurred in the US city of Minneapolis.
Trump said his administration wanted to try to “defuse” the situation in Minneapolis. However, he left it open exactly what this should look like. According to US media, this could be a partial withdrawal of ICE employees from the city.
At the same time, the president called for an “honest” investigation into the circumstances that led to Pretti’s death on Saturday morning. The Trump administration’s previous lies, which both denigrated the victim and distorted the facts, could be proven by numerous video recordings.
Nevertheless, so far no one in the government has taken responsibility for the numerous false statements. However, Trump maintains his criticism that Pretti should not have had a weapon with him when he filmed the authorities’ immigration operation and demonstrated against it. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, who made similar statements in recent days, have not yet retracted them.
For members of the Republican Party who are committed to defending the Second Amendment, i.e. the right to bear arms, such statements are doubly problematic. Not only are they legally wrong, since Pretti had a legal firearms license, but they are also politically sensitive.
The NRA lobby group, which represents the interests of the American gun industry and owners, condemned these statements as dangerous and called on government officials to resist “generalizations and the demonization of law-abiding citizens.”
Criticism from all sides
The criticism from the ranks of the gun lobby makes it clear that it is not just Democrats who are bothered by the government’s statements. “At the moment there is a hail of criticism from all sides,” said an anonymous Trump advisor in an interview Axios.
The White House is also trying to distance Trump from the controversial statements made by his government members. The Republican president told reporters that he did not consider the killed Pretti to be an assassin. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said.
Still, Trump even praised Noem on Tuesday for her excellent work on the U.S.-Mexico border, where the number of illegal immigrants has fallen dramatically since Trump took office. So far, the only person to have faced any sort of consequence in the wake of the two fatal incidents in Minnesota is Gregory Bovino. The former top man at the border protection agency CBP was replaced by Trump with border czar Tom Homan.
Trump confirmed to Fox News that the decision was about optics. It’s not a “backtrack”, just a small change. “While Bovino is very capable, he’s also a pretty eccentric guy. And in some cases that’s a good thing. Maybe in this case it wasn’t so good,” Trump said.
Political poison for Trump
Democrats and at least one Republican are calling for more consequences. They argue that Noem and Miller should also take their hats off. Democratic Rep. Bernie Thompson said Monday that the House of Representatives must immediately begin “impeachment proceedings against Kristi Noem.” Both Trump and Noem have “blood on their hands,” according to Thompson.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis added that Miller was unrivaled when it came to incompetence and that if he were president, neither Miller nor Noem would have a job. On Monday, the two largest federal employee unions also called for Noem and Miller to resign.
Neither Noem nor Miller have yet commented on the calls for their resignation. However, Miller had to publicly admit that the CBP officers may have violated their own regulations in the fatal shooting of Pretti.
For Trump and his government, the situation in Minnesota is also political poison. At an event in Iowa on Tuesday, he didn’t even mention the two fatal shootings in Minneapolis. The topic was the economy, and Trump is currently having a hard time convincing people of the success of his policies there too.