White House Refuses to Back Stephen Miller’s Smear Against Alex Pretti
The White House appears to be distancing itself from comments deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller made about Alex Pretti, the Minnesota nurse shot and killed by Border Patrol agents over the weekend.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Monday about Miller’s comment on X immediately after the shooting, in which he summarized the incident as: “A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists.” Miller’s tweet was reposted by official administration accounts, including @TrumpWarRoom and @RapidResponse47.
NBC News’s Gabe Gutierrez asked Leavitt why Miller, a White House official, would jump to conclusions before an investigation.
“Well, look, this has obviously been a very fluid and fast-moving situation throughout the weekend. As for President Trump, whom I speak for, he has said that he wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case,” Leavitt replied.
Leavitt went on to avoid defending Miller’s comments two more times. Mary Bruce, the White House correspondent for ABC News, pointed out that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also called Pretti a domestic terrorist in addition to Miller, and asked if President Trump agreed with that assessment. Again, Leavitt deflected, saying that she hadn’t heard Trump describe Pretti “in that way.”
When Bruce asked if Trump was alarmed to hear top administration officials “describe Pretti in that way,” Leavitt ignored the question and moved on.
But the next reporter, Agence France-Presse’s Danny Kemp, then asked Leavitt, “Will Stephen Miller be apologizing to the family of Alex Pretti for calling him ‘an assassin’ trying to murder federal agents, despite the fact that, as you say, this is still under investigation?”
Leavitt pointedly didn’t answer his question.
“Again, this incident remains under investigation and nobody here at the White House, including the President of the United States, wants to see Americans hurt or killed and losing their lives in American streets,” the press secretary replied.
On three different occasions, Leavitt, a spokesperson for the president, refused to defend Miller, who has pushed for aggressive immigration enforcement and argued against backing down in the face of criticism, going against others in the administration according to The Wall Street Journal. Instead, as criticism begins to mount from Republicans both nationally and inside Minnesota, the president appears to be trying to avoid any negative labeling of Pretti. Miller’s perspective may be losing support from the White House as it inspires a national backlash.