President Donald Trump is headed to Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House's midterm-year pivot toward affordability, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.
The trip comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in the neighboring state of Minnesota. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, the White House said Monday that Trump was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.
The chief federal judge in Minnesota, Patrick J. Schiltz says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered Todd Lyons, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.
Trump's sudden shift Monday toward a more conciliatory approach with Democratic leaders in Minnesota is just the latest in a string of moments where Trump has first taken a maximalist position only to appear to later retreat. Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit the White House turnabout after objecting to the claim that Pretti as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon. The dynamic complicates the GOP's problems with voters growing skeptical of his overall immigration approach.
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ICE agents will have a security role at Milan Cortina Olympics
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to information shared with local media by sources at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The Associated Press independently confirmed the information with two sources at the embassy.
The sources who confirmed ICE participation on Tuesday said that federal ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations.
During previous Olympics, several federal agencies have supported security for U.S. diplomats, including the investigative component of ICE called Homeland Security Investigations, the sources said. They could not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting most ice sports during the Feb. 6-22 Winter Games.
▶ Read more about the ICE agents' planned role in Milan
—- By Trisha Thomas and David Biller
Bovino is set to leave Minneapolis as Trump reshuffles the leadership of his immigration crackdown
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration reshuffles leadership of its immigration enforcement operation and scales back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by federal officers.
Trump said he was placing his border czar, Tom Homan, in charge of the mission, with Homan reporting directly to the White House, after Bovino drew condemnation for claiming the man who was killed, Alex Pretti, had been planning to "massacre" law enforcement officers, a characterization that authorities had not substantiated.
Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Bovino is among the federal agents leaving Minneapolis. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
▶ Read more about Trump's ICE enforcement leadership reshuffle
Trump administration’s trust and credibility tested in wake of Pretti’s death in Minneapolis
Trust is one of a president’s most valuable currencies, especially in a time of crisis. During his second term, Trump has persistently undermined the trust and credibility of major universities, national law firms and media and taken punitive actions against them. His supporters largely either endorsed those actions or stayed mum.
Now the credibility question is aimed at his administration. While the criticism is not directly aimed at the president by his supporters, it is a sign that trust is eroding over some of his most important policies.
The White House seemed to try to ease the conflict Monday. Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke and both suggested their conversation was productive. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who has been at the center of the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement surge nationwide, is expected to soon leave Minneapolis.
Still, lawmakers from both parties — including many Republicans — called for independent investigations and, perhaps most importantly, trust after administration officials gave one account of the shooting in Minneapolis, while contemporaneous video provided a decidedly different one.
▶ Read more about how Trump's credibility is increasingly being questioned
Trump will visit Iowa in a bid to focus on affordability during fallout from Minneapolis shooting
Trump is headed to Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House's midterm-year pivot toward affordability while his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Alex Pretti, the White House said Monday that Trump was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.
While in Iowa, the Republican president will make a stop at a local business and then deliver a speech on affordability, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The remarks will be at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.
The trip will also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It's part of the White House's strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.
Minnesota killing produces backlash against Trump administration from Second Amendment advocates
Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterization of Alex Prettibas responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.
The death produced no clear shifts in U.S. gun politics or policies, even Trump shuffles the lieutenants in charge of his militarized immigration crackdown. But important voices in Trump's coalition have called for a thorough investigation of Pretti's death while also criticizing inconsistencies in some Republicans' Second Amendment stances.
If the dynamic persists, it could give Republicans problems as Trump heads into a midterm election year with voters already growing skeptical of his overall immigration approach. The concern is acute enough that Trump's top spokeswoman sought Monday to reassert his brand as a staunch gun rights supporter.
“The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Leavitt qualified that “when you are bearing arms and confronted by law enforcement, you are raising … the risk of force being used against you.”
▶ Read more about the backlash among gun rights advocates
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