Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire for her actions in the aftermath of the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis- and it appears she is blaming White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
According to Axios, a “blame game” has erupted among Trump aides over the false claims that several of them made immediately after Pretti was killed, with Noem claiming the false statements she made were “directed” by Miller.
“That language has now become a source of controversy in the Trump administration,” Axios reported. “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.”
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,” Noem told someone who subsequently told Axios.
Noem auditioning her inevitable legal defense pic.twitter.com/OxHf955h2M
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 28, 2026
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The officers who were involved in the actual shooting, per the Axios report, “all shut up and got lawyers real quick so there wasn’t a lot of information,” one source told the outlet. But that didn’t stop Miller from declaring that Pretti had sought to “massacre” ICE agents, a claim not borne out by any of the videos or any other evidence whatsoever. Video evidence from multiple angles showed that Pretti had clearly been disarmed and on the ground before he was shot.
At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, seen here.
The officers attempted to… pic.twitter.com/5Y50mYONGH
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 24, 2026
“Any early comments made were based on information sent to the White House through CBP,” Miller later told Axios.
An assassin tried to murder federal agents and this is your response. https://t.co/4Gx5UPpc4X
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 24, 2026
Stephen Miller is one of the few advisers who has constantly worked for Trump throughout both of his White House terms, without any breaks or any hints of shaken loyalty. It’s been rare throughout for rival advisers or officials to as much as leak against him, so Noem doing so is notable.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
