‘Cynical, Sinister, and Un-American’: Bari Weiss’s Free Press Takes Wrecking Ball to ‘Kristi Noem’s Reckless Lies’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference at the headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to discuss a major winter storm affecting much of the country as well as the shooting death of a Minneapolis man by federal agents in Minnesota, in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2026. Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)

The Free Press, the right-leaning publication founded by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, excoriated Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Trump administration more generally in a new editorial.

Under the headline “Kristi Noem’s Reckless Lies,” The Free Press took a wrecking ball to the claims the secretary has made about the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.

“She [Noem] said on Saturday afternoon that Pretti was ‘brandishing’ his firearm and that he ‘impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them.’ Noem added, ‘The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.’ That’s Noem’s story and she appears to be sticking to it,” began the editorial. “The problem for her and the president she serves is that there are multiple videos of the attack that show something different.”

After smacking down additional claims about the incident made by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and the Department of Homeland Security, The Free Press posed a provocative question, “So why is Noem lying?” before offering an answer:

It’s not very hard for a senior official like Noem to simply say that the facts will be uncovered after an investigation. And then she could express remorse that an American citizen had been killed. This is what the president himself did last week when he called the killing of Good a “tragedy” and acknowledged that ICE officers will make mistakes, as all officers of the law do from time to time.

That is not what the Trump administration is doing. They appear to view the social divisions their policies and rhetoric has helped create as a feature and not a bug.

Perhaps Republican operatives consider the politics of division as a viable strategy for their party to survive the midterm elections. If the MAGA base feels threatened, they will enthusiastically vote for pro-Trump lawmakers in November.

Even if this were true, it would still be a cynical, sinister, and un-American gambit. As it happens, the evidence suggests it is bad politics, since the administration’s deportation tactics as well as the conduct of federal agents in Minneapolis are driving voters away from the president and his party.

“After Donald Trump’s improbable comeback in 2024, he had a chance to reset American politics,” concluded the editorial. “Instead, Trump and his administration too often govern like political opponents are mortal enemies and his supporters are easy to fool.”

A CBS News analysis of footage of the shooting also came to the conclusion that there is a “sharp contrast between what Trump officials say and what video shows.”

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