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The comments by Mr. Miller, the influential White House deputy chief of staff, came after days of blaming Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents.
Jan. 28, 2026Updated 9:46 a.m. ET
Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, has suggested that federal agents “may not have been following” protocol before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, after days in which he and other Trump administration officials portrayed the shooting as justified.
Mr. Miller said in a statement that the White House had provided “clear guidance” to the Department of Homeland Security that federal agents deployed to Minnesota as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown be used to protect “arrest teams” from people he described as “disruptors.”
“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Mr. Miller said in the statement, referring to agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a law enforcement agency under the department. The statement was provided to The New York Times on Wednesday by a White House spokesperson and was reported earlier by CNN.
While Mr. Miller did not elaborate, his comments came as the Trump administration faces escalating blowback for Mr. Pretti’s killing.
Shortly after the shooting, Mr. Miller, the highly influential deputy White House chief of staff, characterized the 37-year-old Minneapolis resident in a social media post as a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin” who had “tried to murder federal agents,” without providing evidence. He accused Democratic leaders who had condemned the killing of inciting insurrection.
Other Trump administration officials offered similar accounts. The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, claimed that Mr. Pretti had brandished a gun and appeared intent on inflicting “maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
