President Donald Trump promised a “very honorable and honest investigation” into the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, but again cast blame on him for carrying the legally permitted weapon that was seized from him before he was fatally shot.

“You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a speech in Iowa on Tuesday. “You can’t do that,” he added before calling Pretti’s death “a very unfortunate incident.”

Trump did not describe in detail what would constitute an “honest investigation” — state officials have complained that federal agencies have refused to cooperate with their attempts to investigate the killing — but said he would be “watching over it.”

Trump and his top aides have faced sharp criticism since the killing Saturday of Pretti, a Veterans Affairs hospital nurse, both for the actions of the agents and for officials’ descriptions of Pretti. Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, described Pretti as an “assassin” — a characterization that Trump said Tuesday he disagreed with.

The outcry over the killing of Pretti has spanned the political spectrum, putting pressure on the White House. On Monday, Trump dispatched his border czar, Tom Homan, to directly oversee the operation in Minnesota. As part of the shake-up, he also planned to pull out its director of on-the-ground enforcement, Gregory Bovino, according to two federal officials.

Homan met Tuesday with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whose office said in a statement that they had “agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue.” The governor’s office added that Walz and Homan had agreed to continue working toward the state’s goals: a swift reduction in federal forces in the state and impartial investigations into the killings of Pretti and Renee Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot by an agent earlier this month.

The White House has sought to distance Trump from the most critical comments his aides have made about Pretti, as videos of the shooting contradicted the administration’s narrative. Aides have called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and suggested he intended to “massacre” federal agents. Shortly after the shooting, Trump had described Pretti — who never reached for his weapon and had it taken from its holster by an agent before he was killed — as a “gunman.”

In defending the actions of the agents, administration officials have repeatedly pointed out that Pretti was armed — as Trump did again Tuesday — but that argument has unnerved gun rights advocates, who have been some of the president’s staunchest political allies.

Here’s What We’re Covering:

— ICE chief summoned: Late Monday, the top federal judge in Minnesota said he was summoning the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him Friday and explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating court orders arising from the crackdown. Judge Patrick J. Schiltz acknowledged that his summons for ICE acting director Todd Lyons was “an extraordinary step” but also gave him an out: He said he would cancel the hearing if ICE quickly released an immigrant whom he said had been wrongly detained by agents.

— Operational leadership: Hours after he said Monday that he was dispatching Homan to Minnesota, Trump met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Corey Lewandowski, her top aide, in the Oval Office for more than two hours, according to two people briefed on the meeting. The president did not suggest in the meeting that Noem and Lewandowski were at risk of losing their jobs, those people said.

— State investigation: A federal judge didn’t immediately rule Monday on the request by Minnesota investigators to extend a temporary order barring the federal government from destroying evidence in the killing of Pretti. State officials want the judge to compel federal cooperation with a state investigation into Pretti’s death, after local law enforcement was initially denied access to the scene and evidence.

— The victim: Pretti’s friends, family and colleagues denounced what they said were “sickening lies” by the Trump administration. They described Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, as a happy and generous man who loved biking and walking his dog.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Hamed Aleaziz, Ernesto Londoño, David E. Sanger, Mitch Smith and Alan Feuer/Victor J. Blue
c. 2026 The New York Times Company