Trump’s immigration footing comes unstuck as Minnesota shooting turns into ‘Operation Cluster****’

Administration officials initially described Pretti as violently hostile, but video from the incident has cast doubt on those assertions, prompting a noticeably more cautious tone from President Donald Trump and his aides by Monday. Complicating matters, Republicans on Capitol Hill are demanding an investigation into Pretti’s death, while Democrats are threatening a partial government shutdown.

The episode comes as Trump’s standing on immigration shows signs of slipping. Polls from the New York Times and Politico show approval of Trump’s immigration policies declining, while Rasmussen pegged his overall approval at 39% — a 14-point drop since last summer.

Multiple Trumpworld insiders sounded the alarm on the issue while speaking with the Washington Examiner on Monday.

“Operation Metro Surge? More like Operation Damage Control,” one Trump administration official said sarcastically. “I was gonna say Operation Cluster****, but I doubt they’d let you put that in a headline.”

A former Trump White House aide predicted to the Washington Examiner that, despite the White House’s insistence that Trump maintains confidence in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, she’s “definitely on the chopping block.”

That person additionally took a shot at White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, whom they blamed for giving Trump poor counsel “for weeks” about the operation in Minnesota and public perceptions of the president’s overall deportation agenda.

“He’s not going anywhere,” that person assessed. “But I think it’s safe to say that his days of playing shadow president are over.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Trump has lost any faith in Miller, the overall architect of the president’s immigration platform dating back to the 2016 campaign.

“Stephen Miller is one of President Trump’s most trusted and longest-serving aides,” she told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “The president loves Stephen.”

Trump’s first order of business on Monday was to dispatch Tom Homan, the White House’s border czar, to Minneapolis to take over federal operations and communications with state and local officials. One Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner that Homan’s deployment indicated that the president “needs an adult in the room” and was displeased with comments and decisions made by Noem and U.S. Border Patrol head Greg Bovino. A DHS official confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Bovino and some other Border Patrol assets were being sent back to Texas Monday afternoon.

Later in the day, Trump spoke with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both of whom the administration had suggested shared blame for the unrest, based on their calls for Minnesotans to actively resist deportation proceedings. But on Truth Social, Trump referred to his conversation with Walz as a “very good call,” suggesting the two leaders discussed a potential de-escalation of “Operation Metro Surge.” 

“We, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump wrote.

Walz’s office referred to the call as “productive” and added that the governor pressured Trump to allow independent investigations into the killings of Pretti and Good.

An aide for Walz said the president “also agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals.”

Frey, according to the president, will meet with Homan Tuesday in Minneapolis, with Trump adding that “lots of progress is being made” following their call.

And during her Monday afternoon briefing, Leavitt declined to echo comments made by Noem and Miller on Saturday that Pretti “attacked” federal law enforcement and was a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder” federal agents.

TRUMP SAYS HE AND WALZ ARE ON ‘SIMILAR WAVELENGTH’ AFTER PHONE CALL OVER ICE OPERATIONS IN MINNESOTA

Asked about those statements, Leavitt said that she had not heard the president “characterize” Pretti in that way but declined to comment on potential wrongdoing of federal officials until the investigations into Pretti’s killing are finished.

“I have heard the president say he wants to let the facts and the investigation lead itself,” she added.