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One World with Zain Asher
Trump Sends Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota; Outrage in Minneapolis After Pretti Killed by Federal Agent; Video Contradicts DHS Accounts of Fatal Minneapolis Shooting; Multiple DHS Officials Furious Over Handling of Shooting; White House Blames "Hostile" Democrats for Minneapolis Unrest. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired January 26, 2026 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. coming to you live from New York, I'm Zane Asher.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching a special edition of One World.
And any moment now we will hear from the White House two days after yet another American citizen was shot and killed by ICE officers in
Minneapolis. This is the second this month alone. We will bring you that press briefing from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when it happens.
Now, this comes as two legal challenges are being heard today against what the Trump administration is describing as an immigration crackdown.
ASHER: Yes, U.S. President Donald Trump says that he's sending his border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight in a move that one city council member
warns will just escalate tensions. And in just the last hour, we learned that President Donald Trump spoke to Minnesota's governor and said the two
are on a similar wavelength, that's according to the president. Tim Walz says that Trump agreed to consider reducing the number of federal agents in
Minnesota.
Saturday's shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who had already appeared to be restrained by a federal immigration officer, has deepened a
lot of the fear, the outrage and the massive protests in Minneapolis.
GOLODRYGA: CNN Senior Reporter Stephen Collinson has written a critical analysis on the situation in Minneapolis as the nation gets ready to
celebrate the 250th anniversary of its declaration of independence. And he joins us now from Washington, D.C.
Stephen, I'm wondering how much we should read into this phone call between President Trump and Governor Walz, the deployment of Tom Homan, who had
been seen by many as sort of sidelined by Kristi Noem for a while now, and all of this coming in the face of a potential government shutdown in terms
of funding for Department of Homeland Security operations within a matter of days.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, I think the signs from the White House this morning are that they believe that this after
this last terrible incident, this kind of enforcement may not be politically sustainable for much longer. That doesn't mean that they're
backing away from the mass deportations, but clearly the horrific video of Mr. Pretti's killing that was seen by millions of Americans has changed the
political dynamics around this Minnesota situation.
Tom Homan is by no means a liberal, but it could be seen the fact that he's going there as a sign that the president is starting to lose a little bit
of confidence in some of the public performance of some of his other officials. You mentioned Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino, who runs the border
agency.
This is ironic, of course, because many of these officials, with their tough and uncompromising public appearances, seem to be performing for the
president and trying to live up to the expectations of ruthless federal power that he himself has sent, especially with his social media posts and
public appearances.
But I think in Washington early today, the political winds have shifted a little bit. There have been a number of Republicans expressing public and
private disquiet over these kinds of scenes. So, it may be the White House is stepping back tactically here, although I wouldn't expect any
downgrading of their immigration enforcement policy more broadly.
ASHER: And, Stephen, by now, most of us have seen the video. And in the video, you can see that his gun, Alex Pretti's gun, is removed by federal
agents. And after his gun is removed, when he is essentially no longer a threat, technically, when it comes to brandishing a weapon, that is when he
is shot. And he is shot multiple times.
The fact that members of the Trump administration have resorted to blaming Democrats for this and also essentially asking Americans to go against what
they see in the video, this idea that Alex Pretti was brandishing a gun, how is that playing out among ordinary Americans? How is that narrative
landing this time?
COLLINSON: Well, I think what we saw also with the killing of Renee Good less than three weeks ago in Minnesota is that officials are trying to tell
people a version of events which people can see plainly is not the case. All of these multiple angled videos completely refute what the
administration was saying.
[13:05:00]
Kristi Noem, for example, the Homeland Security Secretary and others, when they came out and started talking about this, it was also the case that
they were trying the same act on some of the Sunday talk shows in the United States. That probably helps explain why this position is becoming
less sustainable politically for the administration. You can only tell people so much. In some ways, it's like when the president comes out and
tells us all we're living in an economic golden age and people can't afford the prices at the supermarket. The reality starts to crack and the
narrative of the administration is much less effective.
So, I think that is something that people are talking about. And it also appears that Mr. Pretti was only exercising his constitutional rights to
protest and to carry a weapon. He had a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Minnesota. That is causing concerns on the right among, you know,
National Rifle Association and other groups who are objecting to the administration saying, well, you can't show up with a weapon to a protest.
There's no sign that his administration officials said he was brandishing that weapon before he was set upon by the agents.
So, all of this is creating political pressure on the right and on the left for President Trump. And as well, there's this issue of a potential
government shutdown towards the end of a week of the week.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Stephen Collinson, thank you. And as we noted, we are standing by for a White House press conference. We'll bring you the
briefing live as soon as it happens.
Well, as with most of the violent incidents we've seen since the so-called immigration crackdown began, smartphone cameras captured this weekend's
deadly shooting from several angles.
ASHER: Yes, and the images are telling a very different story compared to what the White House is saying, as we were just talking about there with
Stephen Collinson. Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz went so far as to say, thank God we have video. Sara Sidner has the story. We want to warn you
that these images are indeed quite graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the clearest angle of the shooting as it happened. That is Alex
Pretti recording on his cell phone as Border Patrol agents arrive outside the donut shop.
He goes into the street, waving cars through. Now, here is how the Department of Homeland Security described how Pretti approached federal
agents.
KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
SIDNER (voice-over): That's not what video shows. It shows federal agents approach Pretti. All he has in his hand is a cell phone, not a gun. Then
you see him moving one protester away from agents, while agents shove another to the ground. As he tries to help the protester they shoved,
agents deploy pepper spray. Three wrestle him to the ground. More join in.
From another angle, you see one agent punching him in the face with a canister of pepper spray in his hand. Pretti is on the ground under them.
Nothing appears in his hands. You can see an officer in a gray jacket walk into frame. Seconds later, agents shout, he's got a gun. One agent removes
a gun from Pretti's belt. He steps away from the scene carrying a firearm seen here in his right hand. It turns out, state authorities say Pretti has
a license to legally carry a gun, but you never see him draw it.
Instead, an agent draws his gun while standing above Pretti and fires the first shot. Pretti survives somehow rising up to his knees. Then agents
fire at least 10 more times. Pretti's body slumps face down in the street, lifeless. But federal authorities weren't done with their accusations
against him.
GREG BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER: This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
SIDNER (voice-over): Pretti's neighbor Chris Gray says that couldn't be farther from the truth.
CHRIS GRAY, ALEX PRETTI'S NEIGHBOR: Well, everything they say about my neighbors is a lie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller joins us live now. John, I just want to get your thoughts and I'm sure
you've watched the video multiple times as we have as well. Your initial reaction to what we see there?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, one of the things that strikes me is the video certainly undoes the initial
statements of DHS officials about what occurred and basically makes that account impossible. Now, that is not unusual.
[13:10:00]
As I often say on our air, as an analyst, as I often said, always said as a police official when breaking down any incident involving an officer,
involved shooting, you know, when you start out, you know, the first story is always wrong, or at least it's going to change. So, you say this
information is preliminary. It is likely to change. This is what we understand so far. We're continuing to gather facts.
One of the problems that DHS is running into is the buzzsaw of their own certainty, which is they release these statements and then they never
really came back to them to readjust them as more information became available. That's caused a real credibility problem. And the video is the
thing that really undoes it, because, you know, we get back to what do you want to believe the statement they gave or your own lying eyes?
GOLODRYGA: John, one thing we've heard constantly, especially from police chiefs, is that police officers, especially in urban areas, are trained to
de-escalate. And actually, the police chief of Minneapolis over the weekend said this on CBS. He said in less than three weeks, we've had three
shootings. The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year, recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and
hundreds of violent offenders. And we didn't shoot anyone.
So, talk about the significance there of being trained to de-escalate in these types of situations, as opposed to what looked like sheer chaos, with
six officers on top of one man who was already down on the ground, and then the shooting ensues.
MILLER: Well, what we're seeing is the opposite of de-escalation. We're seeing escalation being driven by the agents in the field. Now, for
perspective, the demonstrators, the protesters, the activists, they are there to annoy the agents, to impede the agents, to try and thwart the
agents. The whistle blowing, the warning of DHS is in the area, the blocking of roadways.
This is in the great American tradition of civil disobedience. And some of these offenses are arrestable, more likely by local law enforcement than
federal agents. But what you're seeing is after, I mean, just think back to the George Floyd protests. A lot of police on the front lines took a lot of
abuse from demonstrators, and they were trained to not react to that, to not overreact to that. They're human beings, but in most cases they didn't.
In this case, we have been told by sources within DHS that the agents, when they're turned out, are told to be assertive, not to back down, and to
counter any resistance with force. And when you look at the numbers, they're quite startling. This initiative is less than a year old.
During the time of that, various DHS law enforcement components in this roundup of illegal migrants has shot, we are told, from the trace, which
tracks these things numerically, 19 people have been shot. Five of them, like Renee Good, were individuals who were trying to get out of car stops,
which sometimes the agents reacted to, well, we were about to get run over, or she was ramming our car, in different instances. But remarkably, like in
this case, four of the people who were shot were people who were monitoring or recording agents.
So, what we're seeing here, if this wasn't a sweeping federal agency across multiple cities, if this was a single police department that had shot 19
people over the course of a year, most of whom were not armed, there would be maybe a federal monitor, serious questions being answered. So, really,
when you get down to it, what you're seeing unfold today is, what's happening? They're sending in Tom Homan to kind of take over operations
there.
The Trump administration, according to Governor Walz, has discussed maybe reducing the number of ICE, DHS, CBP people in Minneapolis. Have they
reached a tipping point where they are beginning to determine that this is harming their agenda more than it is driving it?
ASHER: That's a good question. John Miller, live for us there. Thank you so much. I want to bring in our next guest, Kim Hyatt, who is a reporter
for the Minnesota Star Tribune. She's joining us live now from Minneapolis. Kim, thank you so much for being with us.
So, when you think about these two killings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, you've got Renee Good just a few weeks ago, and now,
obviously, Alex Pretti, both killings happening essentially in broad daylight, both with several witnesses, bystanders taking video from
multiple different directions, as the governor of Minnesota said, thank God we have video. Obviously, it would be a very different situation if there
was no video here.
Walk us through what the reaction has been on the ground there in Minneapolis. I mean, it's one thing for an American citizen to be shot and
killed once, but for it to happen twice in less than a month, how is the reaction different or more heated this time with Alex Pretti compared to
what we saw a few weeks ago?
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KIM HYATT, REPORTER, THE MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE: Thank you so much for having me. I think, as you can imagine, the reaction has been a lot of
outrage and grief. This was a community already on edge following the killing of Renee Good, and then there was another federal agent shooting a
week after that. It was nonfatal, and that, of course, had a strong reaction with protests and outrage.
Then, just over the weekend, we had another fatal shooting, and the response has been shock, outrage. There's been vigils across the state, not
just in Minneapolis and neighborhood parks, but all over the state. People are mourning, and there is this great sense of exhaustion and people
holding their breath and wondering what is going to happen next.
GOLODRYGA: How has this moment been shaping the broader discussion and debates about federal and state relations and public safety policy in
general in the state and in the City of Minneapolis now?
HYATT: Sure. Like your last guest was just talking about, there's this growing sense of a tug-of-war between the feds and local agencies and who
is in charge of what, who is controlling the narrative and the investigations. It just adds to this overwhelming sense of unknowingness
and anxiety. And it's hard to know. There's so many breaking news situations. There are protests that pop up and vigils and demonstrations.
There are court proceedings going on with various lawsuits. It's a firehouse situation here in Minneapolis and in Minnesota, with so many
developments happening at every moment.
And so, it's really hard to put a single emotion or a word describing what is going on. There's no let-up. There's no sense of when -- where the end
is in sight. We don't know.
ASHER: I mean, just in terms of the fact that we're dealing with a situation whereby even before there's been any kind of investigation taking
place, it appears that members of the Trump administration seem to come out in front and automatically side with the federal officers in this
situation. It almost -- one of our guests earlier on our air was essentially saying that it almost feels as though there's now this culture
created within the Department of Homeland Security, within ICE, among Border Patrol agents as well, where they can act with impunity,
essentially.
Based on that kind of environment, where do people in Minnesota actually place their trust, knowing that or fearing that it is highly possible that
some of these federal agents may indeed act without impunity and as a result also still be protected?
HYATT: I think you can see by our coverage and what we're hearing from community members is that they're putting trust in each other. That's why
you see this outpouring of mutual aid and support and various groups and businesses coming together. They find trust within their neighbors and
their community. And certainly, there is a lack of trust within the federal government for sure.
And what's coming out of the narratives that they are portraying that is contradicted by eyewitness testimony and videos, I mean, I think that
people are leaning on each other right now. And looking -- I would hope to local reporters on the ground who are following every twist and turn of
this rapidly developed situation, but there's a lot of misinformation out there. There are A.I.-generated images and videos. And so, it's hard to
say.
But I do know that the sense of community strength and resilience, I think people are looking to each other for trust and comfort at this very, very
difficult time.
ASHER: All right. Kim Hyatt, live for us there. Thank you so much. Let's go straight now to the White House because the White House is actually
holding its first press briefing. You see Karoline Leavitt here. Let's listen in.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The White House will continue to correspond directly with governors and local officials in the
coming days, especially in those states that were harshly impacted by this storm. I would also like to address the chaotic scenes in Minnesota over
the weekend.
Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex
Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals.
[13:20:00]
Saturday's shooting remains under active investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. The Customs and Border Protection is also
conducting their own internal review. As President Trump said yesterday, the administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting and
we will let that investigation play out. But let's be clear about the circumstances which led to that moment on Saturday.
This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota. For weeks, Governor Walz and the Mayor Jacob
Frey and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst
criminal illegal aliens from our streets. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, human traffickers, and gang members.
Governor Walz and Mayor Frey have shamefully blocked local and state police from cooperating with ICE, actively inhibiting efforts to arrest violent
criminals. They have also used their platforms to encourage left-wing agitators to stalk, record, confront, and obstruct federal officers who are
just trying to lawfully perform their duties, which has created dangerous situations, threatening both these officers and the general public and
Minnesotans alike.
This is precisely what unfolded in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Obstructing federal law enforcement and inciting violence against officers
is wrong and illegal. This used to be a universally accepted position in the United States. Amid the hysteria, we must remember how we got here to
this moment today and what this Democrat opposition is about.
Former President Joe Biden and the Democrats opened America's borders for four years, inviting tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the
world to flood into our country. Among them, violent criminals who terrorized American communities and have inflicted devastating permanent
pain and harm on law-abiding Americans and their families. Yet we never saw outrage from Democrats or their allies in the liberal media over these
horrifying crimes against U.S. citizens.
The pain of American angel families was ignored and dismissed because it undermined the Democrat narrative. Innocent Americans like Jocelyn
Nungaray, Laken Riley, and Rachel Morin are just a few of the many victims savagely murdered by illegal alien criminals.
Earlier this month, an illegal alien from Mexico with a long criminal history who came into our country under Joe Biden's administration threw a
baseball-sized stone at a school bus carrying children in New Jersey and fractured the skull of an eight-year-old innocent child.
President Trump promised accountability to these American families by securing the border, deporting every illegal alien who has committed
crimes, especially, and most importantly, violent crimes. Nearly 80 million Americans voted for him to deliver on that very promise, and he is. As the
duly elected president, the president is fulfilling the will of the people by arresting and removing these threats from our country in cities from Los
Angeles to New York and, yes, Minneapolis.
Yet Democrat leaders in Minnesota with sanctuary city policies have actively defied federal immigration law and the will of the people. And as
a result of that defiance, two Minnesotans have now tragically lost their lives on the streets of Tim Walz's state.
It is President Trump's hope and wish and demand for the resistance and chaos to end today. That's why President Trump spoke with Governor Walz
directly this morning, and he has outlined a clear and simple path to restoring law and order in Minnesota. Number one, Governor Walz, Mayor
Frey, and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities,
along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation. Number two, state and local law
enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then thirdly, local police must assist federal law
enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes.
If Governor Walz and Mayor Frey implement these common sense cooperative measures that I will add have already been implemented in nearly every
single other state across the country, customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota.
[13:25:00]
ICE and local law enforcement can peacefully work together as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions. Additionally,
President Trump is calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass legislation ending sanctuary cities once and for all. American cities
should be safe sanctuaries for law-abiding citizens only, not for dangerous illegal alien criminals who broke our nation's laws and do not belong here.
We hope Governor Walz will do the right thing and continue to work with President Trump to keep the American people safe following their call this
morning. Americans overwhelmingly want exactly what President Trump is delivering, strong borders and strict immigration enforcement against the
worst illegal aliens, of which there are still hundreds of thousands to deport from the interior of our country.
The most peaceful way to carry out this vital public safety mission is for Republicans and Democrats to do it together and for state and local law
enforcement to work together with federal law enforcement. We want to let cops be cops. You wouldn't know this continues to be a very popular policy
position from the biased media coverage over the course of the last few days, but polling shows huge support for this exact thing President Trump
is calling for.
More than 80 percent of Americans favor deporting illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes. A country unable to deport criminals who enter it
illegally is no country at all. The open borders agenda of Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and the Democrats was already on the ballot on November 5, 2024,
and it was resoundingly rejected.
President Trump will never back down from his promise to deport violent criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again, and he welcomes all
cooperation in that effort. With that, I will answer your questions. And Jordan Conradson, why don't you kick us off today? Thank you for being
here.
JORDAN CONRADSON, GATEWAY PUNDIT: Thank you, Karoline. Jordan Conradson, Gateway Pundit. I have a few questions. First, with respect with respect to
the shooting in Minneapolis. We're seeing massive outrage from mainstream media on the left. But I'm just wondering, where was that outrage when
Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was executed by Capitol Police Officer Mike Bird, who she posed no threat to in the U.S. Capitol?
LEAVITT: Well, you raise a very important point, which I also believe that I just raised as well in those opening remarks, in that there has no doubt
been selective outrage by the liberal-biased media in picking and choosing victims and highlighting their stories. And as I've said, President Trump
does not want any Americans to lose their lives in the streets of America and in American communities across the country. He believes what happened
on Saturday is a tragedy.
But every life is equal to President Trump, and that's why the lives of Laken Riley and continue to matter to him and be an utmost priority to him
to this very day. And it's unfortunate that we did not see the same type of sensationalist media coverage over the tragic deaths of those innocent
American women and girls across the country as we are in the wake of this tragedy that took place on Saturday. Gabe. Sure, go ahead.
CONRADSON: I want to get your response to this. The Arizona attorney general, just days before this shooting in Minneapolis, seemingly
encouraged rioters to go out, shoot and kill ICE agents. And I'll quote her here. She said, "If you reasonably believe your life is in danger and
you're in the house or in your car or on your property, you can defend yourself with lethal force." And she said that you can't tell if ICE agents
are law enforcement or imposters. And it becomes an issue of whether you reasonably believed they were law enforcement.
Do you have a response to that? And does the White House believe that she should be held accountable for?
LEAVITT: Well, such dangerous rhetoric, as I pointed out, is exactly what has brought us to this position today, where you have elected Democrat
officials across the country who are encouraging left-wing agitators and crazy people to go out and unlawfully obstruct lawful immigration
enforcement. Again, these brave men and women of ICE and Border Patrol and the federal enforcement are just trying to do their jobs to enforce our
nation's immigration laws and to go after the worst of the worst in this country.
I would encourage everyone in this room and I would encourage the Arizona attorney general to look at the video of an ICE agent in Minneapolis. He
was approached by left-wing agitators who were honking their horns and were screaming slurs at him. And he rolled down his window and he said, what are
you doing? I am out here trying to catch a child predator, somebody who has convicted crimes against an innocent child, and you are trying to obstruct
me from doing my job.
This rhetoric against ICE, comparing them to Nazi Gestapo, Donald Trump's police force, is despicable. It is shameful. And it is precisely what has
led to the escalation of tensions in Minneapolis and in other places across the country. Gabe, go ahead.
CONRADSON: Should the DOJ be looking in order for justifying violence?
[13:30:00]
LEAVITT: I would defer you to the Department of Justice on that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Karoline. Regarding Minnesota, on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security posted that Pretti looks like he wanted
to do maximum damage in a massacre of law enforcement. Stephen Miller on Saturday posted that or called Pretti a would-be assassin. Why did
administration officials jump to conclusions before an investigation had even been conducted?
LEAVITT: Well, look, this has obviously been a very fluid and fast-moving situation throughout the weekend. As for President Trump, whom I speak for,
he has said that he wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With regards to the deployment of Tom Homan to Minneapolis, should the deployment of Mr. Homan to Minneapolis be seen as a
sign that the president is dissatisfied with how the officials on the ground had handled the incident?
LEAVITT: No. Mr. Homan is doing an exceptional job, and he has been working with Secretary Noem and President Trump over the course of the last
year. Secretary Noem still has the utmost confidence and trust of the president of the United States, and she's continuing to oversee the entire
Department of Homeland Security and all of the immigration enforcement that's taking place across the whole entire country. Of course, Secretary
Noem is also in charge of FEMA, and we are in the wake of a brutal winter storm where hundreds of thousands of Americans have been impacted by that.
So, Border Czar Homan is in a unique position to drop everything and go to Minnesota to continue having these productive conversations with state and
local officials, and I know that he's catching a plane in just a few hours to do just that at the request of the president. Jennifer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Saturday's shooting, has the president been briefed and have you been briefed on specific details of the shooting? How
many shots were fired? How many guns discharged? I mean, did the protesters gun go off or only the officer's guns? Do you have any of those details?
LEAVITT: Again, the investigation is continuing, Jennifer, and we will let the facts lead, and we will let the facts play out in this investigation. I
do know that HSI and FBI are conducting interviews with those that were involved in the agents who were involved in this unfortunate tragedy on
Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they keeping the president up to date on all those details?
LEAVITT: The president is obviously very much on the ball with respect to this investigation. I think he's made that quite clear with the various
statements that you've seen him put out, and also the four points that the president has outlined as well to Governor Walz and to encourage him to
cooperate with ICE and with the administration. Mary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. To follow on Gabe's question, Secretary Noem said Alex Pretti committed an act of domestic terrorism.
Stephen Miller labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist. Does the president agree with them?
LEAVITT: Look, as I've said, I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Pretti in that way. However, I have heard the president say he wants to
let the facts and the investigation lead itself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he alarmed to hear his top officials referring to him in that way, rushing to that judgment?
LEAVITT: Danny, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karoline. On Stephen Miller's comments, will Stephen Miller be apologizing to the family of Alex Pretti for calling him,
quote, "an assassin" who tried to murder federal agents despite the fact that, as you say, this is still under investigation?
LEAVITT: Look, again, this incident remains under investigation, and nobody here at the White House, including the president of the United
States, wants to see Americans hurt or killed and losing their lives in American streets. And we mourn for the parents. As a mother myself, of
course, I cannot imagine the loss of life, especially losing one's child. And that same empathy from the president goes for the parents of angel
families and parents of victims of illegal alien crime across our country as well. And that's exactly why the president continues to be
wholeheartedly committed to deporting the worst of the worst criminals from our country.
Why don't we go to the back? Kelly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karoline, does the president believe that the killing, though, was a mistake? Has he expressed that at all?
LEAVITT: Again, the president has said, you know, we have to review it. And there -- this investigation needs to continue. And he's letting the
facts and the investigation lead itself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does he want the body camera footage to be released to the public now?
LEAVITT: That's not something I've heard the president commit to. So, I won't do that from the podium. Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How serious is the administration taking allegations that local and state officials in Minnesota are actively coordinating with
demonstrators through encrypted or non-encrypted communications, as well as providing government resources to impede immigration enforcement
operations?
LEAVITT: I'm sorry, Carrie, could you repeat your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How serious is the administration taking allegations that local and state Minnesota officials are communicating with
demonstrators to basically impede immigration officials?
LEAVITT: Well, we've definitely seen active organization amongst these left-wing groups, Carrie. And it is something that I know the FBI and the
Department of Justice are looking into. Again, it is illegal to unlawfully obstruct lawful immigration enforcement in this country.
[13:35:00]
And these agitators are making it nearly impossible for ICE to do their jobs and for federal law enforcement to carry out the will of the American
people to deport the worst of the worst.
I would just encourage everyone to please imagine in this room, all of you come to the United States in the administration. You come into this
briefing room. You walk through the gates of the White House. Just imagine if there were left-wing agitators or agitators of any kind who were in your
face, who were doxing you, who were harassing you, who were physically threatening you, who were biting off your fingers in the case of two Border
Patrol agents we saw this past weekend in Minneapolis.
That would make it very difficult for you to show up and do your job here at the White House every single day. That's what these officers in
Minneapolis are facing. That's why the president is calling on Governor Walz and Mayor Frey for these three very simple and common-sense points of
cooperation so that ICE and local law enforcement can work together.
Again, we are just asking for police to be police. And if you ask any law enforcement agent or official, they want to be able to work with their
federal counterparts at the state and local level and vice versa. John.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot, Karoline. Two questions. One is looking forward. The role of Mr. Homan, is he being sent by the president to defuse
the situation that exists right now on the ground? Is he the point person essentially for the White House in terms of trying to tamp down the
tensions that exist right now in Minnesota?
LEAVITT: Well, Mr. Homan is the point person for cooperating with state and local authorities and corresponding with them, again, to achieve this
level of cooperation to subdue the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis. And I would just point out that Mr. Homan is someone who has been lauded for
many, many decades for his experience working in law enforcement.
In fact, this is a Washington Post headline from nine years ago, 2016. Meet the man the White House has honored for deporting illegal immigrants. And I
would remind everyone in this room that it was former President Barack Hussein Obama who awarded a medal to Mr. Homan. So, he's obviously very
qualified. He has the full trust and faith of the president. He will continue to have these meetings in the hopes that ICE and local law
enforcement can cooperate and work together to have successful immigration enforcement, as we've seen in almost every other state across the country.
Jake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And secondly, Karoline, can you talk a little bit about tomorrow's trip by the president to Iowa, what the purpose of that trip is,
what the goals of that trip are?
LEAVITT: Sure, yes. Tomorrow, President Trump will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa. He will be making a local visit at a local business, and then
he will be giving a speech on affordability and on the economy. And I know he very much looks forward to being there, to meeting with the great people
of Iowa, but also lawmakers as well. Jake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karoline, a couple of quick questions. First, does the president remain fully confident in Kristi Noem's ability to lead the DHS?
LEAVITT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then just secondly, just on that Wall Street Journal reporting that we saw yesterday, the president said at some point
that the immigration enforcement officers would leave Minneapolis. Did the Saturday killing of Alex Pretti expedite that withdrawal at all?
LEAVITT: To your first question, the answer is yes. He still has confidence and trust in Secretary Noem. To the second question, I would
point you back to what I said earlier. If Governor Walz and Mayor Frey implement these common-sense cooperative measures, CBP will no longer be
needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota. ICE and local law enforcement will peacefully work together, as they are effectively doing in
so many other states and jurisdictions, to remove violent criminals from American neighborhoods across the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Walz ask the president to remove the immigration enforcement officers?
LEAVITT: He asked the president to scale down. And the president reiterated what the president put out in his statement yesterday and what
I'm sharing with all of you as well. I would just add on this level of cooperation a few statistics that I think are very important.
Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE. And we've seen historic turnaround in safety in cities that have chosen to
cooperate with ICE that are not just led by Republicans, but also look right here in Washington, D.C. We had a great level of cooperation with
Mayor Bowser and the local government. And we have been able to remove thousands of illegal aliens from the District of Columbia, where you all
live. So, you can thank President Trump for that.
The murder rate in Washington, D.C., has plummeted as a result. There were no riots. There were no protests. Nobody was tragically killed as a result
of that level of cooperation between federal and local authorities. And again, that's all the president is asking for in Minnesota. It's totally
common sense. Jared, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Karoline, in this process, you continue to describe the situation in Minneapolis as chaos. Was there any mistake made
by Secretary Noem that led the president to send Mr. Homan there?
LEAVITT: I'm sorry. I don't understand your question. Did Secretary Noem make a mistake which led to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has she made any mistake that could lead the president to send Mr. Homan to Minneapolis?
[13:40:00]
LEAVITT: No, as I -- look, as I already mentioned, Mr. Homan has been working alongside Secretary Noem for the president over the course of the
last year. And again, he's uniquely positioned to hop on a flight to Minnesota today to continue this correspondence with state and local
authorities. And that's what he's going to be doing. Fran.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karoline, is it the White House's position that Americans have the right to show up to these ice operations and film,
document or protest the law enforcement actions?
LEAVITT: All Americans have a First Amendment constitutional rights, of course. But Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede and
obstruct lawful immigration enforcement operations. That is actually a crime. And it's something that we've seen taking place in the streets of
Minneapolis, which again, is leading to these dangerous circumstances that these federal law enforcement officers have been forced to work within.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the call with Governor Walz this morning, the president described it as respectful. He said we seem to be on a similar
wavelength. But you had strong criticism for the governor and the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, just now. So, could you explain the
difference in tone between what the president had said in his true social post and I think some of the criticisms that you just levied from the
podium?
LEAVITT: Fran, I think the criticisms that I laid out, I'm painting the picture for all of you in this room, are what led to the moment that we are
in today, where Governor Walz and President Trump are having a conversation, a constructive and productive conversation to end the chaos
and the lawlessness that is taking place in Governor Walz's state.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alayna. Thank you. I had a question. With Homan now going to Minnesota, is Gregory Bovino also going
to remain in Minnesota overseeing these operations?
LEAVITT: Mr. Bovino is a wonderful man and he's a great professional. He is going to very much continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol throughout
and across the country. Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis.
TREENE: And to follow up, given what we've heard from several Trump administration officials, people like Stephen Miller, as people are now
calling him a domestic terrorist, Bovino saying that Pretti was out to massacre law enforcement, why not require ICE agents to wear body cameras
to clear up some of the disputes that we are hearing from witnesses and video footage versus what the administration has been saying?
LEAVITT: Well, that's a policy question that I know the policy folks in the building are having with members on Capitol Hill, and I'll leave it to
them and the President to make that decision.
TREENE: And my final question is on -- you were talking about the level of cooperation that the President talked about with Governor Walz. Will the
administration commit to cooperating with local officials on this investigation into Alex Pretti?
LEAVITT: The president spoke about this with Governor Walz and said he would have a discussion about it. He did not make a commitment. And so,
therefore, I won't make that commitment here. I would just remind all of you in the media, because I've seen a lack of reporting on this fact, there
are investigations into what took place on Saturday.
The Homeland Security investigations and the FBI have teamed up for an investigation, and there's also an internal CBP investigation, an internal
review of what is happening on the ground in Minnesota. The President supports those investigations, and as I've said repeatedly, he wants to see
them move forward. Phil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Sunday interview, quote, "You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any
sort of protest." Does the president believe the Second Amendment rights remain in effect even when protested?
LEAVITT: The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely. There has been no greater supporter or
defender of the right to bear arms than President Donald J. Trump. So, while Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not
have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations.
And any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms, and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising
the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you. And again, that's unfortunately what took place on Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Homan is in Minneapolis. Will his mission continue to be focusing on illegal immigrants within criminal history, or will it be
on illegal immigration generally?
LEAVITT: Mr. Homan will continue to enforce our nation's immigration laws, especially deporting the worst of the worst criminals in Minnesota who have
committed violent offenses. And I would just remind all of you that this important work is continuing to be carried out. In just the last few days,
I'm happy to provide this packet to anyone in the room. ICE has arrested many, multiple violent criminals, illegal aliens within Minnesota. Many of
them have convictions for assault, driving under the influence, fraud.
This individual here I'm looking at was an aggravated felon with multiple convictions for larceny, fraud, and forgery of checks, vehicle theft, drug
possession, domestic assault, inflicting bodily harm on another. Criminal convictions of larceny, identity theft, again, charged with driving under
the influence.
[13:45:00]
These are extremely dangerous people who Governor Walz and Mayor Frey have allowed to roam on their streets. And all the President is asking for is
cooperation to arrest individuals like this and deport them from the United States of America. I'll take a couple more. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So, this weekend, the President posted that this is a cover-up of the fraud in the state of Minnesota. He also posted
Minnesota is a cover-up. These both happened after the shooting. So, given that these came after the shooting, what is the this here? What is the
cover-up he's alleging?
LEAVITT: Yes, it's a good question. I spoke with the president about this at length. What the president is referring to is the fact that you have
Governor Walz and, again, the mayor, who have been encouraging these left- wing agitators to come out and to harass, and to dox, and to threaten ICE, and to make this conversation about and smear lies about federal law
enforcement, who, again, are just trying to do their jobs in an attempt to distract from the widespread, massive fraud that has taken place in their
state.
Billions and billions of dollars has been stolen from law-abiding taxpayers in Minnesota. And the administration continues to be very focused on
getting to the bottom of it, especially -- and the president raised a good question over the weekend, with respect to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who
now has a net worth within the millions. And one must ask themselves, why and how is that possible? Is she connected to the fraud rings that we have
seen taking place within her state and her own district? It's a question the American people are raising, and the President believes it's one worth
answering. Haley.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. I want to go back to some of the comments from Stephen Miller and Secretary Noem. You've made clear the
President wants to see the investigation played out when answering some of the questions on the specific details. Is he concerned that some of those
definitive statements made by other officials risks public's perception of the credibility of those investigations now playing out?
LEAVITT: Again, the president believes that these investigations are credible. They are continuing, they are active, and he wants to let them
play out. Alex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karoline, thank you. Is the administration willing to separate DHS funding from other funding bills in order to avoid a broader
shutdown?
LEAVITT: Look, at this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package, and we want
to see that passed. Policy discussions on immigration in Minnesota are happening. Look, the president is leading those discussions, as evidenced
by his correspondence with Governor Walz this morning. But that should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people, which
would include, as you know, Alex, FEMA funding.
And we are in the midst of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still being impacted by that. So, we absolutely do not
want to see that funding lapse, and we want the Senate to move forward with passing the bipartisan appropriations package that was negotiated on a
bipartisan basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And secondly, there's another round of Russia-Ukraine talks this weekend, Sunday. I wonder if you can walk us through with the
president how he will be involved in that, if at all. Will you be talking to President Putin, President Zelenskyy ahead of those meetings?
LEAVITT: I'm not tracking any scheduled calls at this point in time. However, the President remains deeply involved, and, of course, he's being
apprised by his advisers, namely Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Witkoff, on these talks. They had a multilateral meeting this past weekend, which
didn't get a ton of coverage, but that was historic in nature, where the president's team has really brought two sides of this war to the table
together to move the ball closer towards peace.
So, the president is not giving up on the peace process. He obviously just met with President Zelenskyy when we were in Davos, Switzerland, but I'm
not tracking any calls scheduled for this week. On one more foreign policy point I will point out, as you all saw, the last remaining body of the
hostages, Israeli hostages, in Gaza has been returned. This is a huge foreign policy feat for the president of the United States, for the state
of Israel, and, frankly, for the whole world. The president made the impossible possible, and so it's great news for the president, for the
United States, for our allies, and also for peace in the Middle East.
And I understand that more than 20 new additional countries have also signed up to join the newly established Board of Peace with respect to the
rebuilding of Gaza, which is another historic accomplishment for this president.
So, thank you all very much, and we'll see you in Iowa tomorrow.
GOLODRYGA: All right. You've been listening to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talk and give updates, really, as to the situation in
Minneapolis that's coming after President Trump had what was described by both President Trump and Governor Walz as a productive conversation, the
spokesperson really casting all of the blame on the escalation and now two murders of civilians who were protesting in the past three weeks on
Democratic officials, both the state and local, saying that they are impeding in these investigations, in some of these operations on the
ground, agitating.
[13:50:00]
She says that this is largely the Democratic opposition to blame, and then listed a demand for all of this to end, and that being, A, that the state
and local officials turn over all illegal, to quote her, "alien criminals," that the state and local officials must agree to turn over all who are
arrested who are here illegally and that they must end their sanctuary city status.
I can't imagine that happening anytime soon. But this was a very defensive posturing, quite different, I would say, from what we heard from the
president, at least in that truth social post, where it did seem as if he was trying to de-escalate the situation, saying that he was working with
Governor Walz.
ASHER: Yes, and she also really pivoted the narrative and really focused on the number of Americans who had been killed by undocumented migrants,
instead of squarely focusing on what we had seen in terms of Alex Pretti being killed over the weekend.
I do want to bring in Stephen Collinson, who also listened to that press briefing as well. So, Stephen, as Bianna and I were just saying, a lot of
the narrative there really focused on shifting the blame to Democrats. She focused a lot on really making sure the public focused on this idea of the
number of Americans who had been killed by undocumented migrants, obviously referring to them as illegal aliens deliberately. Just walk us through what
stood out to you in that press briefing by Karoline Leavitt.
COLLINSON: Yes, I think that the attacks on the Democrats in Minnesota, to some extent, were offering political cover and to deflect from the fact
that the administration appears to have made a political shift on this issue this morning by sending the Border Czar, Tom Homan, to take over the
face of this operation and this call with Minnesota Governor Walz, who the White House has spent weeks lambasting. People remember he was the running
mate of Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket in the election.
So, I think that explains that. What the White House is trying to do is to shift this back to all these agents are doing is trying to legally arrest
criminal aliens, as they call them, people who have committed crimes and deport them.
The problem with that is that the vast majority of people who have been swept up in this deportation drive from the government, the undocumented
migrants, are not criminal aliens, have not committed any criminal offenses. There's various surveys and studies of last year's statistics
which suggest that the percentage of those who are violent criminals is very tiny, less than 10 percent.
So, what Americans are seeing are people they know, undocumented migrants, getting taken away, separated from their families, and that, along with the
aggressive policing here, is what is making this unpopular.
The American people were in favor of tougher border enforcement. That was one of the reasons why Donald Trump got re-elected in 2024. But
increasingly there's this gap in public perception, and it's now showing through in the politics, is that people don't necessarily want what they're
seeing unfolding on the streets of Minnesota, both from a humanitarian aspect. And then there's this idea that the federal government can just
bring in forces into a state and impose its writ, that's something that runs against a lot of the political DNA of America going back decades.
So, while she's talking about going after criminals, a lot of this operation isn't doing that, and I think that's one of the reasons why it's
unpopular. In many ways this deportation drive is not just about immigration, it's about proving that President Trump is tough, and it's his
desire to impose untamed power, federal power, and personal power to bolster his strongman image. So, you know, the politics of this are
beginning to turn against the administration, I think, for those reasons.
GOLODRYGA: So, Stephen, just to get your thoughts on this three-point path that we heard from Karoline Levitt to restore order in Minnesota, does that
suggest that the White House is open to an off-ramp here? Because it does seem like checking the boxes, and especially the ultimate demand, ending
sanctuary city status, is something that I can't imagine Democratic officials in this state would say that they are open to doing in order for
ICE agents to leave.
COLLINSON: Yes, and that is something that would not be sustainable politically. We're talking about the politics for Trump here. That is not
something that would be sustainable politically in what is a Democratic, overwhelmingly-run state in Minnesota. A lot of people believe that the
administration specifically singled out Minnesota because it is such a progressive state, and they believe that it could help them going forward
in elections.
[13:55:00]
So, no, the steps they're asking -- you could see, I think, some agreement to go after specifically criminal elements who are undocumented migrants
between a Democratic state and the federal government. The problem is that the ambitions in deportation numbers from the Trump administration go far
beyond that. They're trying to deport any undocumented migrant that they find on the streets or anywhere else. That is the issue. It's hard to see
the administration changing that path. It's almost impossible to see a progressive state agreeing to go along with that, so you've got this big
political divide.
That doesn't mean, though, that the president might decide that, for now, this is not politically sustainable, and he might move back. You've seen in
other states, California, for example, where he sent in National Guard troops last year that he did eventually pull back there when it became
damaging. So, I think the politics of this are going to drive a lot of it.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, we'll see what happens when Tom Homan arrives in the state as well later today. Thank you so much, Stephen Collins, and we appreciate
the time. That does it for One World Today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Isa Soares Tonight is up next.
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[14:00:00]
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