Wednesday, January 28, 2026

The Snapshot

Wednesday, January 28, 2026.  The murder of Alex Pretti continues to impact the national conversation.


On MEIDASTOUCH NEWS this morning, Ben explains the blame game various Republicans are playing:  Kristi Noem blames Stephen Miller blames Border Patrol and Greg Bovino while MAGA Republican state officials are attacking Stephen Miller's ugly wife Katie who is attacking Florida state senator Ileana Garcia who then attacks Stephen Miller and tells Katie how she's happy to come on Katie's podcast to discuss Stephen's racism and . . .



They're all trying to evade responsibility for the murder of Alex Pretti.



 





That's people talking about how wonderful Alex was.  How he helped them.  


It's a far cry from the lies this administration -- the killers -- have tried to smear him with.


J.D. Wolf (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reports:


White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was hit with community notes on two high-profile posts after repeatedly labeling Alex Pretti an “assassin,” claims that are false and not supported by available evidence. In both tweets, Miller asserted that Pretti had attempted to murder federal agents and framed Democratic criticism of ICE as siding with “terrorists.”
[. . .]
However, the community notes, added by X users, point to video footage and reporting that contradict those assertions. The notes state there is no evidence of an assassination attempt and that videos of the encounter show Pretti’s gun remained holstered until agents removed it, with shots fired only after he was disarmed and subdued.

Facts have never mattered to Stephen Miller.  Nor to anyone else in Chump's administration including Chump himself   Madeleine Ngo, Alexandra Berzon and Hamed Aleaziz (NEW YORK TIMES) report:


A preliminary review by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s internal watchdog office found that Alex Pretti was shot by two federal officers after resisting arrest, but did not indicate that he brandished a weapon during the encounter, according to an email sent to Congress and reviewed by The New York Times.

The review makes no mention of the Department of Homeland Security’s earlier claims that Mr. Pretti, a U.S. citizen, “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” Shortly after the shooting, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed that Mr. Pretti had been “brandishing” a gun.

Officials had provided no evidence to back up the claim, which was contradicted by witness videos.

The initial review by C.B.P., which deployed more than 1,000 officers and agents to support the enforcement operation in Minnesota, represents the first official written assessment of Saturday’s shooting since administration officials rushed to blame Mr. Pretti.





All of the administration's lies begin to fall apart.  The brutality of BP and ICE's actions, the murder of an American citizen has led to a new climate.  Carl Hulse (NYT) notes:

Demands for independent investigations. Scheduled oversight hearings. Overtures for proposed concessions to avert a government shutdown.

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis, Republicans in Congress have starkly shifted their tone on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, offering some of the strongest and most pointed criticism of the administration since the start of President Trump’s second term and conceding that something must change.

Mr. Pretti’s killing over the weekend had drawn notable pushback from a small but significant group of G.O.P. lawmakers even before Mr. Trump switched rhetorical gears, distancing himself from his administration’s smears of Mr. Pretti and installing a new commander to oversee his deportation push in Minnesota.

But for a much broader group of Republicans who have been reluctant to challenge Mr. Trump or even gently criticize him, the president’s messaging pivot appeared to have provided license to air grave concerns about what happened in Minneapolis and the backlash it had generated among much of the American public.

The outrage has multiplied and even some Republicans have had enough. While the bulk of Republicans in Congress try to figure out where they stand, Democratic leaders are already staking out their ground.   Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes:


House Democrats gave President Donald Trump an ultimatum to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for the "killing spree" she has overseen.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and his top deputies issued a warning Tuesday to the 79-year-old president to hold Noem accountable for the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis and other abuses in the administration's immigration enforcement surge, reported Axios.

"Taxpayer dollars are being weaponized by the Trump administration to kill American citizens, brutalize communities and violently target immigrant families," the letter to Trump read.

The Democrats told Trump that dramatic changes were necessary at DHS and threatened to impeach Noem if she was not fired.


 


 


Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's office issued the following yesterday:


Providence, RI – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today released the following statement opposing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill and calling on Senate Republicans to separate the DHS funding bill from the full appropriations package:

“The Trump administration has empowered masked goons who terrorize American citizens, undermine local law enforcement, and lie to the American people about constitutional violations.  Everyone knows the DHS funding bill needs work, and I will not vote for it as it’s currently written.  Senate Republicans should separate the DHS bill, like the House did, so we can pass all other appropriations and fund the government.”

Press Contact

Meaghan McCabe, (202) 224-2921

And this is from Senator Maria Cantwell's office:

EDMONDS, WA – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released this statement regarding today’s fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis by federal agents.

“President Trump has crossed the line. Americans will not stand for masked, armed troops roaming their neighborhoods. ICE is not trained in this capacity and should not be on streets. This incident should be investigated immediately and not politicized by the President.”



But as Aaron Parnas reports, it's even Republicans calling for the departure of Kristi Noem.

 

Among the elected Republicans publicly questioning the false narratives from Kristi and other administration liars?  Stef W. Kight (AXIOS) notes:


"I am deeply troubled by the shootings in Minneapolis involving federal agents," Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) posted on Monday.

  • "Our Constitution provides citizens protection from the government. We have a right to free speech, to peaceably assemble and to bear arms," Moran continued.
  • "I would encourage the administration to be more measured, to recognize the tragedy, and to say, we don't want anyone's lives to be lost," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters.
  • "I support a full and transparent investigation into the tragic event in Minneapolis," Sen. Todd. Young (R-Ind.) said in a statement. "Congress has requested testimony from ICE, CBP, and USCIS leaders in an open hearing, and they should testify soon."
  • This builds on other GOP statements from over the weekend — such as from Sens. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.), Max Miller (R-Ohio) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas).


While politicians may be rethinking some of ICE's tactics, ICE itself continues to terrorize the American people.  Zach Buchanan (PHOENIX NEW TIMES) reports on ICE in Arizona this week:


Monday afternoon, federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations raided several Zipps Sports Grill locations across the Valley. Though it’s unknown what prompted the investigation — the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said only that agents were executing several warrants — the raids drew protests at several Zipps locations from residents fed up with Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Arizona. HSI is a division of ICE.

The raid at the Zipps at Park Central in midtown Phoenix drew roughly 200 protesters and observers, including Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari. And the raid at the Zipps at 32nd Street and Shea Boulevard attracted roughly 50 protesters. Video provided to Phoenix New Times by one of those observers — who asked not to be identified — showed the final minutes of the raid before federal agents left the restaurant. 

As agents left in a series of cars and trucks heading south down 32nd Street, the video shows, an agent doused the protesters in pepper-spray through the passenger window of a departing vehicle. Several protesters were hit by the spray, and at least one protester fell to the ground in pain as others rushed to find her water and a towel.

It’s not clear what justification, if any, the agent had for deploying a chemical irritant against the protesters. Video shows the protesters had confined themselves to the sidewalk and were not impeding the agents from departing in their vehicles, which were parked on 32nd Street. Though one protester appeared to toss an empty water bottle at one of the cars as they drove off, it harmlessly bounced off the vehicle in front one carrying the agent who maced the protesters.


And Hannah Broughton (THE MIRROR) reports:

New footage of ICE agents appearing to threaten journalists in Minneapolis has surfaced on social media, just as the reporters in question are driving down a street in their car.

In the footage the journalists seemingly subjected to the verbal attack are from the Italian news agency Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), Italy’s national public broadcasting company owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In the video, one of them says, “ICE is approaching our vehicle. No, I’m not rolling my window down. I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m just driving around my community.” “Press, we are press,” says the other journalist.

The ICE agents can be heard telling both women, “We’re going to break out your window and extract you from the vehicle,” before saying again, “This is the only warning, if you keep following us, we will break your window, and we will pull you out of the vehicle.” It comes as Kri


Also attacking female journalists is, once again, Donald Chump.  Lee Moran (HUFFINTON POST) reports: 

Donald Trump on Tuesday turned to his tried and trusted tactic of attacking a female reporter who’d just asked him an uncomfortable question.

ABC News’ Rachel Scott, during Trump’s visit to the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, tried to ask the president if he agreed with the “domestic terrorist” description that White House officials had disparagingly given to Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse who was killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis over the weekend.

But Trump cut her off.

“By the way, this is ABC fake news, this one,” said Trump, drawing laughs and whoops from those inside the eatery.

“She hasn’t asked me a good question in years. I think a nice woman, but I don’t really like her too much,” the president continued.

Scott tried to repeat the question but Trump ignored her, waved her away and turned to take a different query from another journalist.

He then quipped: “I’d say ABC is about as bad as they get.”

As they say, the fish rots from the head.


The following sites updated:






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