With impeachment calls growing louder and public outrage boiling over the killing of Alex Pretti, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is no longer standing alone at the center of the storm. Instead, she’s beginning to point fingers—upward.
As backlash intensifies over the administration’s handling of the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, Noem has privately sought to distance herself from the controversial decisions and messaging that followed. According to a report relayed to Axios, Noem told an associate that “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,” a reference to Donald Trump and his chief immigration enforcer, Stephen Miller.
The remark lands as Noem faces mounting scrutiny over the administration’s response to Pretti’s death, including claims pushed by DHS officials that the 37-year-old intended to “massacre” federal agents. Miller labeled Pretti an “assassin,” while Noem and others leaned heavily on the assertion that Pretti was armed—an argument that has drawn fierce criticism, particularly after video evidence surfaced contradicting key elements of the official narrative.
The fallout has been swift. Pretti’s killing followed the earlier death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother shot and killed by an ICE agent in the same city earlier this month. The twin shootings have triggered protests, legal action by Minneapolis against the federal government, and renewed calls from critics for Noem’s resignation or impeachment.
Now, as the pressure escalates, Noem appears to be shifting responsibility away from herself and toward the White House power structure.
The Axios report paints a picture of internal chaos, with White House officials scrambling after DHS released a forceful public statement before all the facts were clear. Border Patrol officers told senior officials that Pretti brandished a weapon before he was shot, but that claim was later challenged by video evidence. Some officials reportedly attempted to soften or revise the statement before it went out—only to discover it had already been published.
“Others within the White House attempted to clean up the DHS statement prior to it being sent, but it had already been disseminated,” a source familiar with the situation told Axios.
As speculation grew about tension between Noem and Miller over the fallout, the White House rushed to tamp down any suggestion of a rift. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly reaffirmed Miller’s standing, calling him one of Trump’s most trusted aides and insisting the president “loves Stephen.”
But Noem’s private comments tell a different story—one of a cabinet secretary attempting to shield herself as the political costs mount. By explicitly tying her actions to Trump and Miller, Noem appears to be drawing a line of responsibility that runs well beyond her own office.
With public trust eroding and investigations looming, Noem’s sudden willingness to name names suggests a clear calculation: as the heat rises, she’s making sure her bosses feel it too.