Trump, Walz discuss scaling back agents, probe in MN (Full Transcript)
[00:00:00] Speaker 1: If you've been paying attention to what's happening in Minnesota, there's a really notable phone call that just happened this morning between President Trump and Governor Tim Walz. President Trump first alerted us to it, saying that they had a good call, and he described that the two leaders were on the same wavelength, which obviously is a notable comment given all the criticisms coming from the White House of Governor Tim Walz. And according to the readout that I just got from Governor Walz's office, they say that during this conversation between President Trump and Governor Walz, that the President agreed to consider reducing the number of federal agents who were in his state. That would be a huge change, if so, given we've seen this massive surge of agents that have been on the ground in Minnesota, something that actually only increased after the fatal shooting of Rene Good by an ICE agent, and now with the second shooting of Alex Pretty over the weekend. And in this call, Governor Walz says the President also agreed to consider having the Department of Homeland Security allow an independent investigation. Governor Walz said that the President said he would talk to DHS about ensuring that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct that independent investigation, which so far, state officials have said they've not been able to do. Now, that doesn't mean these two things will happen, but the idea that the President is considering it and also sending in his own border czar, Tom Homan, into Minnesota, seems to suggest to us that the President may be looking for an off-ramp as his administration has been facing major backlash over what officials said immediately after the death of Alex Pretty over the weekend, including claims by some top officials calling him a domestic terrorist and an assassin.
- Trump and Walz held a reportedly positive phone call, described as being on the same wavelength.
- Walz’s office says Trump will consider reducing the federal agent presence in Minnesota.
- Trump will consider engaging DHS to allow an independent investigation by Minnesota’s BCA.
- The federal presence reportedly increased after two fatal shootings involving ICE agents.
- Backlash over officials’ characterizations of Alex Pretty may be prompting the administration to seek an off-ramp.
- Trump is sending border official Tom Homan to Minnesota as part of the response.