Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) ripped Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for trying to “gaslight” Americans about the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
Noem has faced intense backlash for days after a Border Patrol officer shot and killed Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, marking the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen there this month. Walz criticized President Donald Trump for reiterating his support for Noem despite her response to Pretti’s death.
“I didn’t take well tonight when he was asked about Kristi Noem. He said, ‘She’s doing a fantastic job,’” Walz said on “Pod Save America.”
“No, she lied and slandered Alex, and she blamed everyone else, and she tried to gaslight all of America,” he added, referring to Noem baselessly suggesting Pretti planned to engage in “domestic terrorism.”
He went on to blame her for ongoing situation in Minneapolis, which has been the site of Trump’s latest immigration crackdown.
“I think she is the most unqualified, ineffective and loathsome of all of the Cabinet positions that we’ve never seen in any administration, and yet the President wouldn’t call that out,” he said. “Look, she’s behind this.”
He explained that his is a “little more hopeful” that Pretti’s death is a wake-up call for the Trump administration.
“I am a little more hopeful, perhaps, that this shook them up enough that maybe they’re going to get tired of this. But if Stephen Miller is still there, I just think they hope that you guys go away and they just go right back to what they were doing,” Walz said, referring to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“If they do that, they’ll lose the whole thing,” he added. “This thing’s a powder keg here, you’re feeling it.”
A growing number of Democrats—and at least two Senate Republicans—have called for Noem to step down from her position in the wake of Pretti’s death. Despite growing demands for her resignation, Trump reiterated his support for Noem in comments to reporters on Tuesday.
He also said that Noem will not be stepping down from her position.
“I think she’s doing a very good job,” he told reporters.