‘Is Kristi Noem going to step down?’ a reporter asked. The president directly responded by saying no.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday rebuffed calls for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step down from her position in the midst of criticism of immigration officials in the wake of a protester-involved shooting in Minneapolis over the past weekend.
Some Democratic lawmakers called for Noem’s ouster after an agent shot and killed a protester, Alex Pretti, during an altercation in Minneapolis on Saturday. Noem had described Pretti as someone engaging in domestic terrorism, although a top Justice Department official said that administration officials don’t believe Pretti’s actions reach the legal standard for terrorism.
Trump was asked about Noem’s job status while he was speaking with reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. He told reporters he believes Noem is doing a “very good job” and a “great job” as the head of the sprawling federal department, and he cited her work in shutting down the United States–Mexico border.
“Is Kristi Noem going to step down?” a reporter asked him. Trump directly responded by saying no.
Speaking about the border, Trump said that people “forget” that the prior administration had allowed “millions of people” to come through. Border authorities now allow “no one” to come through, and people are only coming into the United States legally, he said.
The Biden administration and the Democratic Party willfully “had allowed tens of millions of people” to enter the United States, with many being murderers, drug dealers, addicts, and people who were removed from mental institutions, Trump said.
On Monday, Trump said that private conversations with both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were productive, while the two Democratic leaders offered similarly positive comments.
Walz’s office said Trump had agreed to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure state authorities could conduct their own investigation into the Pretti shooting, while Frey said in a post on X that his understanding was that some federal agents would begin leaving the city on Tuesday.
