Trump Dodges Question on Whether Border Patrol Agent Did ‘Right Thing’ in Alex Pretti Shooting: Admin Is ‘Reviewing Everything’

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

President Donald Trump declined to answer two times when a Wall Street Journal reporter asked him if the Border Patrol agent who shot and killed Alex Pretti did the “right thing” during a brief phone interview on Sunday.

The president said his administration was looking into the shooting before commenting further.

“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” Trump told The Journal.

The report came out soon after President Trump called on Democratic leaders like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to work with federal immigration agents on the “rapid removal of all Criminal Illegal Aliens in our Country.”

Trump shared a four-point plan for Dem leaders to follow, saying it was critical they work with ICE and Border Patrol and not encourage “Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct” immigration raids.

The president referred to the shooting death of Pretti and Renee Good, saying they both “tragically” died in recent weeks. Trump said in his Truth Social post that Democrat-backed “chaos” laid the foundation for them to be killed.

Earlier on Sunday, Walz urged the Trump administration to withdraw immigration agents from his state. He also compared Trump’s immigration raids to Anne Frank being captured by Nazi stormtroopers.

“Allow our children to go back to school. We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” Walz said. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”

Their comments followed Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino telling reporters that Pretti intended to “massacre” agents because he was carrying a 9 mm handgun. And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the agents “fired defensive shots” at Pretti because they feared for their lives.

Critics promptly accused Noem of delivering an account of the incident that differed from the footage. CNN anchor Jake Tapper, responding to Noem on X, posted the video of the shooting and asked “Is that what you see?”

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin on Sunday reported a number of immigrant agents were “increasingly uneasy” and “frustrated” with how Bovino and Noem have characterized the shooting.

“These sources say this messaging from DHS officials has been catastrophic from a PR and morale perspective, as it is eroding trust and credibility, Melugin posted, “comparing it to when Democrats falsely claimed the border was closed or that Haitians were being whipped at the border.”

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