Donald Trump lashed out at Republican senators who have demanded that Kristi Noem be fired over her response to the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Speaking to ABC News, the 79-year-old rejected calls from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis for the Homeland Security secretary’s ouster, branding the pair “losers.”
“They’re terrible senators. One is gone, and the other should be gone,” Trump said. “What Murkowski says—she’s always against the Republicans anyway. And Tillis decided to drop out. So, you know, he lost his voice once he did that.”
Noem has faced widespread criticism for immediately attempting to portray Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” after he was shot and killed by federal immigration agents.
She also suggested the shooting was justified because the 37-year-old nurse wanted to attack federal officers and had brandished a firearm before he was killed, even as video evidence contradicted these claims.
Footage filmed by bystanders shows that Pretti never attempted to attack law enforcement and had been disarmed of a concealed handgun he was legally allowed to carry before he was shot multiple times.
A preliminary report from Customs and Border Protection’s internal investigation makes no mention of any claim that Pretti attacked officers or brandished a gun, in another blow to Noem’s narrative.
The report also found that a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer fired at Pretti as he was being wrestled to the ground, though it remains unclear whether bullets from both officers struck him, NBC News reported.
“I think what she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying,” Tillis, who is not seeking reelection, told reporters. “It’s just amateurish. It’s terrible. It’s making the president look bad.”
Murkowski, a moderate Republican who frequently sides with Democrats in Senate votes, also called for Noem to step down or be fired.
“I think the president needs to look at who he has in place as Secretary of Homeland Security. I would not support her again, and I think it probably is time for her to step down,” Murkowski told CNN.
Trump has repeatedly defended Noem amid questions about her future.
“I think she’s doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “The border is totally secure.”
Pressure is also mounting on White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for his inflammatory and misleading language in the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s killing. Miller, the architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policy, accused Pretti of being a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”
In a bid to save her job, Noem reportedly blamed her controversial remarks—including claiming Pretti wanted to “massacre” immigration agents—on having been approved by Miller.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,” Noem told a source, according to Axios.
The Trump administration’s effort to smear a victim killed by federal agents in Minneapolis echoes the response to the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good. Noem was widely condemned for suggesting the unarmed 37-year-old mother of three was committing an “act of domestic terrorism” before she was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in her car.
Video footage shows Good attempting to pull away from ICE agents who had surrounded her vehicle before Ross fired at point-blank range.
The Daily Beast has contacted Tillis’ and Murkowski’s offices for comment.
