Noem Says Her Response To Pretti Shooting May Have Been Wrong

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has conceded she may have gotten some information wrong in her initial response to Border Patrol's killing of Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis ICU nurse she labeled a domestic terrorist.

Noem also dodged questions about her leadership of DHS amid widespread outrage, even among some Republicans, about the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good during an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.

Noem, who said Pretti committed an “act of domestic terrorism” against immigration agents despite videos showing otherwise, told Fox News on Thursday that the situation immediately following the killing was “very chaotic,” and the details she presented to reporters came from initial reports from Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis.

“We were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there,” Noem said. “We were using the best information we had at the time.”

Following the killing of the 37-year-old U.S. citizen, lawmakers from both parties, including Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Thom Tillis, have called for President Donald Trump to remove Noem from her position.

The scrutiny comes as the Trump administration seeks to soften its messaging around Pretti’s death following Noem’s antagonistic response. The president sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, where he vowed on Thursday to oversee a more targeted campaign than the strategy that has been pursued in the city and elsewhere.

Noem attended a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, but the president did not invite her to speak and she did not take any questions.

Asked about Democrats calling for her removal, Noem dismissed the “radicals” seeking to force her out of her role while aligning herself closely with the president.

“These radicals are attacking me, but I'm just doing my job. I'm following the law, enforcing the laws like President Trump promised he would do, to keep people safe in this country,” she said.