Top White House aide Stephen Miller acknowledges possible breach of protocol before Alex Pretti's shooting

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Jan 27, 2026, 7:20 PM ET


Top White House aide Stephen Miller said Tuesday that officials were evaluating why Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis “may not have been following” proper protocol before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti — a remarkable acknowledgment of possible wrongdoing from one of the Trump administration’s most influential and hardline operators on immigration enforcement.

In a statement to CNN, Miller said the White House had “provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.”

“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” he said.

The statement marked perhaps one of the most notable shifts in messaging to date on Pretti’s shooting, from one of the administration’s most hawkish messengers. In the aftermath of the shooting, Miller labeled the Veterans Affairs ICU nurse a “would-be assassin,” while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed he “committed an act of domestic terrorism.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/politics/stephen-miller-alex-pretti-trump