Trump Says He And Walz On ‘Similar Wavelength’ About Unrest In Minnesota

Topline

President Donald Trump said Monday he and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., “seemed to be on a similar wavelength” regarding unrest in Minnesota, easing up his rhetoric against the state’s governor as the two have traded insults amid weeks-long protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

Trump said he had a “very good call” with Walz.

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Key Facts

Trump said he had a “very good call” with Walz about next steps in Minnesota, where anti-ICE protests are continuing following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday.

Trump said he told Walz that White House border czar Tom Homan would call him, noting his administration is “looking for any and all criminals” Minnesota state law enforcement has detained, likely referring to detained immigrants lacking permanent legal status.

“The governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future,” Trump added.

Walz’s office said the call with Trump was “productive,” according to multiple outlets, saying Walz pushed for impartial investigations of the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents and made the case for a reduction in the number of agents in Minnesota.

The Trump administration has received backlash for preventing the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from investigating an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Good early this month, as well as denying state officials access to the scene of Pretti’s shooting.

Walz reminded Trump the Minnesota Department of Corrections “already honors federal retainers by notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen,” according to his office’s statement.

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Crucial Quote

“At some point we will leave. We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, though he did not provide a timeline for when federal agents would exit the state.

What To Watch For

Trump told the Journal his administration will “leave a different group of people there for the financial fraud,” once federal immigration agents are out of Minnesota. Part of the president’s criticism against Walz has revolved around an alleged $200 million welfare fraud scheme in Minnesota that resulted in the indictment of dozens of people including some members of the Somali community.

Tangent

Homan will be sent to Minnesota even though Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is already on the ground there The move to send Homan comes amid intense scrutiny over federal operations in the state, some of which has come from Trump allies.

Key Background

Protests against ICE in Minnesota exploded after the fatal shooting of Good early this month and have continued following Pretti’s death. The Trump administration has attempted to characterize Good and Pretti as agitators with the goal of harming ICE agents despite video evidence suggesting otherwise. Good, who was called a “domestic terrorist” by Noem before an investigation took place, was shot after attempting to drive her car away from agents, one of which was briefly positioned in front of the left side of her car and stepped to the side of it as Good steered to the right. Trump told reporters last week he “felt terribly” about Good being killed, acknowledging ICE is “going to make mistakes sometimes.” Trump initially alleged Good “violently, willfully and viciously” ran over an ICE officer. In Pretti’s case, the 37-year-old appeared to intervene in an altercation between ICE agents and a woman they pushed to the ground. The Trump administration has also characterized Pretti, who was legally carrying a holstered gun at the time of his death, as a domestic terrorist despite video evidence and sworn witness testimony indicating he was filming ICE agents and never drew his weapon in the incident that resulted in at least 10 shots being fired by federal agents.