Scoop: Blame game erupts over Trump team's false claim Alex Pretti sought "massacre"
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Stephen Miller walks up the stairs as he boards Air Force One on Jan. 27, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire for issuing misleading and incendiary information that claimed immigration agents killed an armed Minnesota protestor Saturday because he wanted to "massacre" them.
- That language has now become a source of controversy in the Trump administration.
- White House officials are blaming Customs and Border Patrol for furnishing inaccurate information, while others are targeting Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and top Trump adviser, six sources with knowledge of the situation told Axios.
Why it matters: The episode illustrates the confusion that gripped the administration after the Saturday shooting death of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. And it shows the influence of Miller, Trump's close and longest-serving political adviser whose dominion in the White House far exceeds his title.
- Miller's power extends to de facto oversight of Noem, though she's a Cabinet secretary who technically outranks him.
- "Everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen," Noem told a person who relayed her remarks to Axios.
Zoom in: Immediately after Pretti was fatally shot in Minneapolis about 10:05am ET on Saturday, administration officials in Washington knew they had a potential disaster on their hands but had little information.
- The officers directly involved in the shooting "all shut up and got lawyers real quick so there wasn't a lot of information," one source briefed on the statement said.
- The CBP officers on the ground furnished a report that, White House officials told Axios, left officials with the belief that Pretti had brandished a gun.
- Miller "heard 'gun' and knew what the narrative would be: Pretti came to 'massacre' cops," a source briefed on the process of assembling the press statement said.
- "Any early comments made were based on information sent to the White House through CBP," Miller told Axios in response to an earlier version of this story in which others blamed him for the "massacre" statement.
Friction point: DHS posted the statement at 12:31pm on X. Some White House officials had signed off on the statement. But others had not, leaving them frustrated.
- "Others within the White House attempted to clean up the DHS statement prior to it being sent, but it had already been disseminated," said another source familiar with the episode.
- President Trump was kept apprised of the statement by Miller and Noem's top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, one of Trump's former campaign managers in 2016, according to two sources.
Minutes after the DHS statement, Miller posted on X and called Pretti "an assassin," which a source said was also based on a preliminary report from Customs and Border Patrol.
- Vice President Vance then reposted it on his page.
- Noem subsequently used that language at a news conference, as did the Border Patrol commander then overseeing operations in the Twin Cities, Greg Bovino.
- "Bovino should be blamed" for the misinformation about Pretti, "not Stephen," a White House source said, adding that Bovino supplied the details about the shooting to those in D.C.
- During her news conference, Noem also inaccurately suggested Pretti was "brandishing" his weapon, although videos showed he never reached for his weapon and had been disarmed before he was shot.
Zoom out: As more videos from bystanders and observers contradicted the official narrative over the weekend, Trump became agitated with what he saw on TV and social media and decided to make changes in the Minnesota operation.
- On Monday, he dispatched border czar Tom Homan, a critic of the heavy-handed law-enforcement efforts pushed by Miller.
Between the lines: Miller said the Minnesota operation didn't follow the guidelines established by the White House in the aftermath of the Jan. 7 shooting of another Minneapolis demonstrator, Renee Good.
- Specifically, Miller said, Bovino's crew was supposed to divide its force into two groups: One unit was supposed to handle the arrests of specifically targeted "criminal aliens" and the other squad was in charge of crowd control to keep "disruptors" from interfering.
- "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," Miller said.
- "We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol."
Inside the room: Noem on Monday night had a two-hour meeting in the White House with Trump to discuss the matter, the New York Times first reported.
- "She's a loyal person and she wanted her voice heard," one source said. "She made sure to convey her loyalty."
- Miller wasn't in the meeting. Neither was Homan, with whom Noem has feuded. Homan was en route to Minnesota by then.
- Noem has complained to others that she feels she's being hung out to dry over the episode and has made sure to emphasize she took direction from Miller and the president, a source told Axios.
Between the lines: Trump's move was a rare break from Miller, who remains one of the president's closest advisers, sources said.
- "Stephen Miller is one of President Trump's most trusted and longest-serving aides. The president loves Stephen," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.
- Trump and Leavitt also repeatedly praised Noem. Despite rumors to the contrary, Noem's job is safe, White House officials say.
- "She's doing the job the president wants her to do," one official said. "There's no daylight here."
This story and headline have been updated to reflect comments by additional sources, including Stephen Miller.
