President Trump is keeping his distance—for now—from a definitive judgment on the federal officer who fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, saying only that his administration is "reviewing everything" about the case. In a five-minute Sunday phone interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump declined twice to say whether the officer's actions were justified in the killing of 37-year-old intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti.
Trump instead focused on the fact that Pretti was armed during the protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the city, saying he opposed "any shooting" and specifically criticizing someone who shows up at a protest "with a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines." He later described the weapon as "dangerous and unpredictable" and claimed it "a gun that goes off when people don't know it," though Homeland Security officials said Pretti was carrying a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Video analysis carried out by multiple media outlets indicates Pretti, who had a permit for the gun and was carrying it legally per the city's police chief, never brandished the firearm and had already been disarmed by a federal agent when he was shot.
Pretti was filming Border Patrol and ICE agents on a Minneapolis street Saturday morning when he was shot and died at the scene, less than three weeks after another US citizen, Renee Nicole Good, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in the city. Trump signaled to the Journal that federal immigration agents will eventually pull back from Minneapolis but offered no timeline, praising what he called a "phenomenal job" and saying a different federal team would remain to pursue what he described as massive welfare fraud in the city.
Inside the administration, officials are weighing political fallout from the heightened tensions and rising public concern about immigration raids, even as senior adviser Stephen Miller and other hard-liners push to maintain an aggressive posture. Moderate Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen is calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached, joining growing calls among House Democrats for the same, the AP reports, and an increasing number of Republicans are also calling for more oversight of federal immigration agents. The CEOs of more than 60 companies based in Minnesota, including Target and Best Buy, signed an open letter calling for state, local, and federal officials to work together to de-escalate the situation in Minneapolis, the AP reports. And former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both indicated Pretti's killing could be a pivotal moment, NBC News reports.
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