Trump’s NATO warning pushes Europe to face the cost of defending itself
Speaking to global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a blunt warning to Europe about its self-defense. “Europe needs to know how to defend itself,” he said, arguing that the continent still isn’t ready to stand on its own without U.S. backing. Zelensky’s remarks reflected a growing anxiety across Europe — that decades of reliance on American protection left the continent ill-prepared for a more dangerous era. While European countries have contributed troops, weapons and money to conflicts from Afghanistan to Ukraine, the ultimate backstop for NATO’s security has remained Washington. President Donald Trump has openly challenged that assumption, repeatedly warning NATO allies that U.S. protection should not be taken for granted, and insisting the U.S. needed to take Greenland from Denmark Before he ruled out the use of force to wrest control of the island, European officials had worried about a military dust-up between Western powers would mean the end of NATO. “Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks,” Trump mused on Truth Social Thursday. Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. may not defend allies that fail to invest in their own security rattled the alliance and pushed European governments to pledge sharp increases in defense spending. Even so, European leaders continue to acknowledge how central U.S. power remains to NATO’s defense. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has pointed to the American nuclear umbrella as the alliance’s “ultimate guarantor,” alongside a strong U.S. conventional presence in Europe. “We are still having a strong, conventional U.S. presence in Europe,” Rutte said, “and, of course, the nuclear umbrella as our ultimate guarantor.” TRUMP: EUROPE WILL ‘TAKE A LOT OF THE BURDEN’ IN PROVIDING SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE Security analysts say that long-standing guarantee shaped Europe’s choices over time. “For much of the post–Cold War period, it is fair to say that Europeans underinvested in defense, partly because threats were low, and partly because a series of U.S. presidents did everything they could to convince Europeans that we would stay there forever,” Barry Posen, a professor of political science at MIT, told Fox News Digital. “Trump was right to argue that Europeans have been slow to fix up their forces as the situation changed — as Russia pulled itself back together and became more demanding and threatening, and as China also grew its power,” Posen said. But Posen warned that driving a wedge inside NATO carries risks. “The problem Trump faces is that ‘conditional commitments’ make challenges more likely,” he said. “And then we would still have to decide what to do. As a great power, in the event of an actual challenge, we might not wish to look weak.” Over time, those choices carried political consequences. With American power serving as the backstop, defense spending was easier to restrain than politically popular domestic subsidies such as healthcare, pensions and education, which became entrenched in European politics. As defense demands rise, governments are running into those constraints. In Italy, officials have warned that boosting military spending to meet NATO commitments would strain an already tight budget, where pensions and social benefits account for a large share of public spending. ZELENSKYY BLASTS GLOBAL INACTION ON IRAN, CLAIMS EUROPE STUCK IN ‘GREENLAND MODE’ Germany found a way to buy time. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Berlin created a €100 billion special defense fund — financed through new borrowing and kept outside the regular budget — to rebuild its military without immediately cutting other spending. The move jump-started rearmament while shielding popular social programs from near-term cuts. But the fund is temporary. Once it runs out, sustaining higher defense spending will require permanent budget decisions inside a system built around strict fiscal rules and expansive social commitments. John Byrne of Concerned Veterans for America said Europe’s dependence on the United States runs deeper than defense budgets. Even as European governments pledge more spending, Byrne said they still lack the senior-level experience needed to run NATO operations without U.S. leadership. “They don’t have the experience,” Byrne said, pointing to the fact that large, multinational military commands have overwhelmingly been led by American generals for decades. “That institutional knowledge still sits almost entirely with the United States.” Byrne said that gap matters in a crisis. Running complex, coalition military operations requires years of practice at the highest levels, he said — something that cannot be fixed quickly, even with higher spending. “You can buy equipment,” Byrne said. “You can’t instantly buy command experience.” During his address at Davos on Thursday, Zelenskyy questioned whether Europe has the power or the will to act independently if assumptions about U.S. protection change. “Europe still feels more like geography, history, tradition, not a real political force, not a great power,” Zelenskyy said. He warned that European leaders continue to plan around expectations that may no longer hold. “To believe that the United States will act, that it will not stand aside and will help,” Zelenskyy said. “But what if it doesn’t? This question is everywhere in the minds of European leaders.”
World Health Organization says US withdrawal makes the nation and the world ‘less safe’
The World Health Organization on Saturday warned that America’s withdrawal from the agency will make the country and the world “less safe.” The globalist body said in part of a January 24 statement that it “regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO – a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe.” “We hope that in the future, the United States will return to active participation in WHO,” the statement noted. US FORMALLY EXITS WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, LOCKING IN TRUMP’S BREAK FROM GLOBAL HEALTH BODY The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the WHO last week, after President Donald Trump got the ball rolling on his first day back in office last year. “Today, the United States withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO), freeing itself from its constraints, as President Trump promised on his first day in office by signing E.O. 14155,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in part of a January 22, 2026, joint statement. UN CHIEF ACCUSES US OF DITCHING INTERNATIONAL LAW AS TRUMP BLASTS GLOBAL BODIES “Going forward, U.S. engagement with the WHO will be limited strictly to effectuate our withdrawal and to safeguard the health and safety of the American people. All U.S. funding for, and staffing of, WHO initiatives has ceased,” their statement said. They claimed the WHO “pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda driven by nations hostile to American interests.” But the WHO pushed back. TRUMP FLOATS ‘BOARD OF PEACE’ TO REPLACE UN, SIGNALS MAJOR GLOBAL POWER SHIFT “This is untrue. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, governed by 194 Member States, WHO has always been and remains impartial and exists to serve all countries, with respect for their sovereignty, and without fear or favor,” the WHO said in its statement.
JD Vance shares ‘crazy’ story of ICE and CBP officers being mobbed in Minneapolis
Vice President JD Vance on Sunday shared what he called a “crazy” account underscoring the dangers federal immigration officers are facing in Minneapolis, amid a series of agent-involved shootings and escalating unrest. Recounting a recent visit to the city, Vance described an incident in which off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were doxxed while dining at a restaurant. According to Vance, their location was publicly revealed, the restaurant was mobbed, and the officers were effectively trapped inside. “When I was in Minneapolis, I heard a number of crazy stories. But near the top of the list: A couple of off duty ICE and CBP officers were going to dinner in Minneapolis,” Vance wrote on X. “They were doxed and their location revealed, and the restaurant was then mobbed. The officers were locked in the restaurant.” ALEX PRETTI, 37, IDENTIFIED AS MAN FATALLY SHOT BY BORDER PATROL AGENT IN MINNEAPOLIS Vance said local police refused to respond when the officers called for help. “The officers were locked in the restaurant, and local police refused to respond to their pleas for help (as they’ve been directed by local authorities),” he wrote. “Eventually, their fellow federal agents came to their aid.” BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA SLAM ICE AFTER MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING, URGE ACCOUNTABILITY “This is just a taste of what’s happening in Minneapolis because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement,” Vance wrote. “They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border.” Vance urged Minneapolis officials to change course. “The solution is staring everyone in the face. I hope authorities in Minneapolis stop this madness.” A day earlier, Vance described the unrest in Minnesota as “engineered chaos” following another fatal federal agent-involved shooting. NOEM SAYS MINNEAPOLIS SUSPECT COMMITTED ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISM,’ ACCUSES WALZ, FREY OF INCITING VIOLENCE On Saturday, 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse who was carrying a licensed handgun while protesting a federal immigration enforcement operation, was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Authorities say Pretti resisted arrest after trying to intervene in the operation. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
Federal immigration officials privately fume over DHS claims after deadly Minnesota shooting
Deep internal divisions have emerged within federal immigration enforcement over how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is handling the public fallout and messaging after a deadly Border Patrol shooting in Minneapolis, Fox News has learned. More than half a dozen federal law enforcement officials involved in immigration enforcement tell Fox News there is growing frustration with how senior officials have framed the incident publicly, fueling internal debates about tone, strategy and credibility as scrutiny intensifies. The shooting happened during a morning immigration enforcement operation Saturday, when a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident and Veterans Affairs intensive care unit nurse. Authorities say Pretti was armed with a handgun and two magazines. In the hours and days that followed, DHS officials publicly described Pretti as a domestic terrorist and said he was attempting to “inflict maximum damage” on federal agents or carry out a “massacre,” language that has drawn internal criticism from within the department, Fox News is told. VANCE CALLS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST ‘ENGINEERED CHAOS’ AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING Officials say multiple videos that later emerged have called into question the DHS narrative, fueling frustration among agents who believe senior officials moved too quickly to characterize the incident before all facts were known. The internal disputes, officials say, have been damaging from a public relations and morale standpoint, eroding trust and credibility and intensifying broader debates within the administration over how DHS leadership handles high-profile, politically charged incidents. The officials who spoke with Fox News said they support the mass deportation agenda, though they have serious hesitations about the messaging and how the agenda is being carried out. GOP LAWMAKER RENEWS OVERSIGHT HEARING REQUEST OF DHS AGENCIES FOLLOWING FATAL SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS Some also expressed frustration that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is routinely blamed for the actions of the Border Patrol, which is a separate agency. Some officials described DHS’ response to the shooting as “a case study on how not to do crisis PR,” with one saying they are so “fed up” that they wish they could retire, another saying “DHS is making the situation worse,” and another adding that “DHS is wrong” and “we are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative.” Fox News reached out to DHS for comment on concerns that its rhetoric and communications may have damaged the agency’s credibility. BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING REPORTED IN MINNEAPOLIS “We have seen a highly coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement,” DHS said in a statement to Fox News. “This individual committed a federal crime while armed as he obstructed an active law enforcement operation. As with any situation that is evolving, we work to give swift, accurate information to the American people as more information becomes available.” Officials say those internal frictions have now escalated, with widespread criticism that the aggressive tactics pushed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are eroding public support for the mass deportation agenda and putting federal agents at risk. Fox News previously reported in October that deep internal friction had emerged within the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, with competing camps inside DHS divided over enforcement priorities, tactics and how aggressively to carry out deportations.
Trump confirms federal review of Minneapolis shooting that killed nurse: ‘Reviewing everything’
President Trump confirmed his administration is “reviewing everything” in the wake of the Minneapolis shooting that left 37-year-old nurse Alex J. Pretti dead. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Trump stopped short of confirming whether the federal agent who fired the fatal shots on Jan. 24 acted appropriately. “We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” Trump told the outlet as questions mounted over the incident and the broader immigration operation in the city. Pretti, an ICU nurse, was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent while filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street. GOP SEN. CASSIDY BREAKS WITH TRUMP OVER DEADLY SHOOTING BY BORDER PATROL AGENT IN MINNEAPOLIS The officer’s operation was targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant with a criminal history including domestic assault for intentional conflict bodily harm, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid license. Federal officials initially claimed Pretti approached agents with a 9 mm handgun and resisted disarmament. Bystander video and eyewitness accounts circulating online raised questions about that version of events and whether Pretti was threatening officers when he was shot. TIM WALZ COMPARES MINNESOTA ICE ACTIONS TO HOLOCAUST AND ANNE FRANK: ‘HIDING IN THEIR HOUSES’ “I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,” Trump said, adding that Pretti carried “a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines… That doesn’t play good either.” Trump also tied the federal presence in Minnesota to what he described as a sprawling welfare-fraud scandal in the state, arguing that immigration enforcement was necessary to address broader abuses. “It’s the biggest fraud anyone has seen,” the president said. The fraud claims in the state have been a central part of the administration’s need to ramp up federal operations there. VANCE CALLS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST ‘ENGINEERED CHAOS’ AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING The Minneapolis shooting of Pretti also marked the second death that happened in a confrontation between federal immigration officers and civilians in the city. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a different operation. That incident fueled protests and spotlighted the role of ICE in domestic law enforcement actions. “At some point we will leave. We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job,” Trump said without offering a time frame for when agents might depart. “We’ll leave a different group of people there for the financial fraud,” he told the outlet. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also stressed cooperation among law enforcement as essential. “Nobody, including President Trump, wants to see people get shot or hurt,” Leavitt said, urging officials to work more closely with the administration in addressing undocumented individuals living in the country illegally.
The far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm’s way, then made him a martyr
The skirmish that led to Saturday’s fatal shooting of an agitator by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis and the response that followed were driven by a complex network of far-left organizations with a wide range of causes, a Fox News Digital investigation found. A coordinated web of encrypted chats, street alerts and tracking of ICE “Abductors” in a sophisticated database reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that agitators were already mobilized at the scene where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed minutes before any shots were fired. ICE and Border Patrol agents were there to arrest an illegal immigrant criminal, and Pretti and others were there, outside a donut shop, to meet them as part of a strategic pattern of organized interference with law enforcement operations. Over the following hours, a national network of socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist cells in the United States leveraged the tragic fatality into a nationwide protest operation. While grief and outrage over Pretti’s death is genuine, the network’s real-time rapid response, using short sensational video clips and emojis as weapons of propaganda, offers a window into the disciplined logistics, messaging and coordination of far-left warriors fomenting insurgency-like confrontation with authorities. VANCE CALLS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST ‘ENGINEERED CHAOS’ AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING “This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities,” Vice President JD Vance observed in a Sunday post on X. The encrypted Signal messages obtained by Fox News Digital in real time show that anti-ICE “rapid responders” were actively tracking, broadcasting and summoning “backup” around federal agents outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue, where the shooting occurred. Local “rapid responders” made at least 26 entries into a database called “MN ICE Plates” in the critical hours before and after the killing, documenting the license plate numbers and details of alleged ICE vehicles they claimed to see around Nicollet Avenue. The entry at row 344 read, “At the nicollet [sic] murder,” chronicling a black Jeep Wagoneer at the location with agents allegedly “involved in shooting.” Row 338 had a “Glam Doll Donuts” entry, tracking a black Ford Taurus. BONDI BLAMES MINNEAPOLIS LEADERS AFTER ARMED SUSPECT KILLED, UNREST ERUPTS DURING ICE OPERATION At 9:50 a.m. ET, just before the killing, a user identified as “Willow” shared a 22-second video on an encrypted Signal chat for anti-ICE “rapid responders.” “26and 3rd,” wrote “Willow,” quickly following up with, “Outside Glam Doll.” The video showed two agents, one wearing a vest marked “POLICE,” studying the front door of Glam Doll before walking away, past a sign in the window that read, “ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA.” As the camera rolled, the person filming yelled, “No!” The camera followed the agents as they returned to a maroon Dodge Durango, passing another sign in the window that read, “ALL WELCOME HERE.” In the video, someone shouted, “Get out of here!” Just three minutes later, at 9:53 a.m. ET, a second Signal user, “Salacious B. Crumb,” escalated the alert, summoning additional responders and citing the same vehicle and agents. “Backup needed at the Black Forest Inn parking lot on Nicollet Ave just south of 26th Street,” the message read. DHS SAYS ICE AGENTS RAMMED BY VEHICLES AMID MINNEAPOLIS ENFORCEMENT SURGE: ‘AGGRESSIVELY ASSAULTED’ “Multiple vehicles with many agents appear to be staging there,” the alert continued. “One confirmed ICE vehicle seen was a maroon Dodge Durango [plate number], but it has driven away northbound on Nicollet.” Fox News Digital has redacted the Florida license plate number included in the original message. ICE Assistant Director Marcos Charles said Sunday that the violence on the streets was “not a coincidence,” considering the “chaos and mayhem” that agitators are fomenting in Minneapolis. At the same press conference, Customs and Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino confirmed that Pretti was “on the scene several minutes” before the fatal shooting. Video of the scene shows that as Pretti stepped into the middle of Nicolle Street to direct traffic, fellow agitators could be heard blowing whistles to alert locals that ICE officers were around. Soon after, Pretti ended up in a street confrontation with Customs and Border Patrol agents, across the street from Glam Doll Donuts outside a worn storefront marked “NEW AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER,” a nonprofit focused on immigration entry programs for Somalis. Within minutes, at about 10:05 a.m. ET, at least one Customs and Border Patrol agent shot Pretti, killing him. MINNESOTA ICE OFFICIAL URGES PROTESTS TO REMAIN PEACEFUL AMID TENSIONS ‘LIKE NOTHING I’VE EVER SEEN BEFORE’ At 10:18 a.m. ET, the Signal network erupted. Using a red phone emoji to signal an all-points alert, a message blasted out: “☎️ easy. URGENT: observers urgently requested at glam doll donuts @ 26th & nicollet [sic],” the alert continued. “an observer has been shot by ice, unknown condition, emts [emergency medical technicians] present, please be safe. EDIT: medics requested to join perimeter in case agents start gassing. be aware there are many agents and mpd [Minneapolis Police Department] officers present.” Within minutes, far-left activists descended on Nicollet Avenue. Soon after, a video showed corrugated boxes of supplies apparently lined up on a Minneapolis sidewalk for protesters, including boxes marked “DESINER MASKS” [sic] and “FREE WINTER HATS,” next to piles of bottled water. MINNESOTA AGITATORS STALK, PELT BORDER PATROL AGENTS WITH FOOD AND SPIT AT GAS STATIONS, DHS SAYS Within hours, socialist leaders turbocharged their “rapid responders” in Minneapolis and mobilized street protesters from New York City to Los Angeles. Media outlets, including CNN and MSNOW, described “angry protesters” but failed to identify the ideological networks behind the mobilization, even as protesters flashed their signs with their logos and names, touting socialism, communism and Marxism, on camera. The Minneapolis activation marked the beginning of an almost instantaneous weekend surge by far-left organizations, including hardened socialist and communist groups operating in an ecosystem that national security experts describe as an insurgent-style operation designed to exploit tragedy to wage a domestic political war. The strategy mirrors past mobilizations, including the aftermath of
Bill Clinton says Trump admin ‘told us not to believe what we’ve seen’ after latest Minnesota shooting
Former President Bill Clinton said on Sunday, after another fatal shooting in Minneapolis involving federal immigration agents, that agents are engaging in “increasingly aggressive and antagonistic tactics” and that the Trump administration told Americans not to believe what they can see for themselves. Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by Border Patrol agents while recording federal immigration operations in Minneapolis. An ICU nurse, Pretti appeared to be attempting to attend to a woman agents knocked down when he was sprayed with an irritant, pushed to the ground and beaten. An agent was seen pulling Pretti’s gun from his waistband before other agents fired several shots and killed him. The shooting follows recent unrest over the ICE-involved killing of Renee Nicole Good in the same city earlier this month. “In recent weeks, we’ve watched horrible scenes play out in Minneapolis and other communities that I never thought would take place in America. People, including children, have been seized from their homes, workplaces, and the street by masked federal agents,” Clinton said in a statement. BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA SLAM ICE AFTER MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING, URGE ACCOUNTABILITY “Peaceful protesters and citizens exercising their constitutional right to observe and document law enforcement have been arrested, beaten, teargassed, and most searingly, in the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot and killed,” he continued. Clinton said “this is unacceptable” and “should have been avoided.” “To make matters even worse, at every turn, the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes, and pushed increasingly aggressive and antagonistic tactics, including impeding investigations by local authorities,” he said. BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING REPORTED IN MINNEAPOLIS “Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come,” the former president added. “This is one of them. If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back. It is up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People.”
Barack and Michelle Obama slam ICE after Minneapolis shooting, urge accountability
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama said the killing of Alex Pretti was a national wake-up call, arguing that federal immigration agents in Minnesota are using tactics that intimidate and endanger residents while operating without sufficient accountability. In their joint Sunday statement, the Obamas tied Pretti’s death to weeks of escalating federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota that has sparked protests, controversy and clashes between local residents and agents, saying the broader response to his shooting illustrates how the tactics being used have widened divisions and heightened tensions nationwide. Federal officials said Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident and Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent during an early-morning immigration enforcement operation targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant with a criminal history. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said Pretti approached agents while armed with a 9mm pistol and “violently resisted” when officers attempted to disarm him. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and state officials said he had a valid permit to carry a firearm. BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING REPORTED IN MINNEAPOLIS Framing the shooting as a broader warning, the Obamas urged Americans to consider what they described as the wider implications of the incident and its aftermath. “The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” the Obamas said. “Federal law enforcement and immigration agents have a tough job. But Americans expect them to carry out their duties in a lawful, accountable way, and to work with, rather than against, state and local officials to ensure public safety.” The Obamas said that is not what they are witnessing in Minnesota, arguing they are seeing the opposite. NARRATIVES CLASH AFTER TRUMP AND VICTIM’S FAMILY REACT TO SECOND MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING “For weeks now, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” they said. “These unprecedented tactics – which even the former top lawyer of the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration has characterized as embarrassing, lawless and cruel – have now resulted in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.” The statement continued, accusing the Trump administration and DHS officials of failing to impose “some semblance of discipline and accountability” over agents deployed to Minnesota, and instead appearing “eager to escalate the situation.” The Obamas also took aim at the Trump administration’s public explanations for both Pretti’s and Renee Good’s deaths – the latter a Minneapolis mother of three shot and killed on Jan. 7 by an ICE agent during a federal enforcement action – suggesting officials were drawing conclusions without thorough investigations and before all the evidence had been fully reviewed. FREY, KLOBUCHAR CALL FOR ICE TO LEAVE MINNEAPOLIS FOLLOWING DEADLY CBP SHOOTING IN CITY “This has to stop,” the Obamas said. “I would hope that after this most recent tragedy, administration officials will reconsider their approach, and start finding ways to work constructively with Governor [Tim] Walz and Mayor [Jacob] Frey as well as state and local police to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals.” They also encouraged Americans to support protests in Minneapolis and across the country. “In the meantime, every American should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country,” the statement added. “They are a timely reminder that ultimately it’s up to each of us as citizens to speak out against injustice, protect our basic freedoms, and hold our government accountable.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Obamas for further comment.
Tim Walz compares Minnesota ICE actions to Holocaust and Anne Frank: ‘Hiding in their houses’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday likened federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to the Holocaust and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank following the second fatal shooting involving federal officers in Minneapolis. The incident on Saturday left 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ICU nurse, dead during an encounter with immigration agents. Federal officials initially stated that Pretti was armed and resisted agents, while local accounts indicate Pretti was disarmed before he was fatally shot. During a press briefing, Walz claimed that some children in Minnesota now feel fear or uncertainty about going outside due to aggressive federal immigration operations. “We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” Walz said, referring to the German-Jewish teenager who documented her life in hiding during the Nazi persecution in World War II. NARRATIVES CLASH AFTER TRUMP AND VICTIM’S FAMILY REACT TO SECOND MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING “Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota, and there’s one person who can end this now,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump. Walz further criticized Trump, saying the president smeared the victim, gaslit the entire country and sought to conceal evidence related to the killing. “This family has gone through enough,” Walz said of Pretti’s relatives. “And to have the most powerful man in the world drag their dead son with absolutely no evidence and gaslight the entire country.” “Sitting behind a keyboard at 2 a.m. and besmirching a VA nurse and a son and a coworker and a friend is despicable beyond all description,” he added. TODD BLANCHE WARNS AMERICANS ‘SHOULD BE WORRIED’ ABOUT MINNESOTA PROTESTS AFTER CHURCH DISRUPTION Trump and senior White House officials defended the federal response after Saturday’s fatal shooting. Trump previously noted that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines during the confrontation, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “would-be assassin” and “domestic terrorist” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement.” Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem also noted that the victim “violently resisted” arrest, saying that the federal agent fired his weapon “fearing for his life.” Following Walz’s remarks, Trump urged the governor in a post on Truth Social to stop “encouraging Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct their operations,” warning that sanctuary city rhetoric has “created dangerous circumstances for EVERYONE involved.” “Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos,” he wrote. DHS SLAMS DEMS FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT IMMIGRATION LAW: ‘IT IS QUITE LITERALLY THEIR JOB TO CHANGE IT’ Walz continued to describe Pretti as a modest American, emphasizing that he held a legally licensed concealed-carry permit, and blasted federal officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, for unfairly portraying Pretti as a “crazed domestic terrorist.” “Beloved by his family, accomplished ICU nurse, skillful in ability to work with veterans, someone who is beloved by the community, no criminal record, lawful firearms owner,” Walz said. “And then you heard the most powerful people in the world, certainly in this country — president, vice president, Gregory Bovino, Kristi Noem — narrate to you what you were looking at, that this was a domestic terrorist, crazed, running at law enforcement with the intent to kill massive numbers of that, sullying his name within minutes of this event happening.” ANTI-ICE AGITATOR ALLEGEDLY BITES OFF FEDERAL OFFICER’S FINGER DURING MINNEAPOLIS ATTACK Walz also alleged that federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing the scene and sought to destroy or alter evidence related to the shooting. “Then closing the crime scene, sweeping away the evidence, defying a court order and not allowing anyone to look at it,” he said. “I don’t care if you are conservative and you are flying a Donald Trump flag… If we cannot all agree that the smearing of an American citizen and besmirching everything they stood for and asking us not to believe what we saw, I don’t know what else to tell you.” The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence related to the shooting. The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants. Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Dems silent on Minnesota church disruption after pressing Bondi to use FACE Act on pro-lifers
The Democratic headliners of a letter sent just months ago that demanded Attorney General Pam Bondi “fully enforce” the FACE Act against pro-life demonstrators were silent when asked by Fox News Digital if the same emphasis should be put toward prosecuting the Minnesota church disruptors. With Bondi now bringing FACE Act charges against the agitators disrupting a Baptist service Jan. 18, those Democrats who signed the letter may face a narrowing decision, publicly back the prosecutions under the FACE Act, break with the same attorney general they pressured in 2025, or remain silent as Republicans demand prosecutions in this aspect. In March 2025, Democratic Reps. Sean Casten and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Jerrold Nadler of New York headlined the 75-member letter demanding that Bondi “fully enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and ensure women and health care providers are not threatened, harassed, or abused while trying to enter reproductive health care facilities.” Fox News Digital reached out by email and phone to the offices of Casten, Schakowsky and Nadler to ask whether they would similarly agree to have the law — originally spearheaded by “liberal lion” Ted Kennedy — be used in earnest as well against left-wing agitators who disrupted a Twin Cities church service in mid-January. MAGISTRATE JUDGE REJECTS CHARGES AGAINST DON LEMON IN CONNECTION WITH ANTI-ICE CHURCH PROTEST One of the reverends at the Baptist church was reportedly connected with local Immigration and Customs Enforcemet (ICE) operations. The three lawmakers did not respond when asked whether Bondi should similarly pursue federal FACE Act charges against the agitators or whether they had any further comment on the heckling of the minister by people like former CNN host Don Lemon. Fox News Digital also reached out to as many of the other 72 Democrats listed as possible — including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Bonnie Watson-Coleman, D-N.J., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. — but received a response from only one. A representative for Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., acknowledged the inquiry and said they were “looking into” the matter. MINNESOTA PASTOR CONDEMNS ANTI-ICE AGITATORS WHO INTERRUPTED SERVICE: ‘SHAMEFUL AND UNLAWFUL’ In their letter, the Democrats wrote that limiting the Department of Justice from enforcing “bipartisan law will put at risk the well-being and security of patients, providers, and others at reproductive health care facilities.” “Individuals have the right to freedom of speech and the right to peacefully gather to protest, ” they wrote. “However, individuals do not have the right to use physical force or intimidation as these acts pose a threat to those attempting to access a range of health care services — from abortion care to breast cancer screenings, prenatal care, reproductive counseling, and in-vitro fertilization.” The FACE Act has provisions for both abortion clinics and public exercise of First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. Nonetheless, Bondi’s office has already pursued charges against alleged disruptors, including Chauntyll Louisa Allen — a St. Paul, Minnesota,school board member — and Nekima Levy Armstrong, who authorities said played a “key role” in organizing the “coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul.” “Listen loud and clear, we do not tolerate attacks on places of worship,” Bondi tweeted after the incident. Fox News’ Jake Gibson and Charlie Horan contributed to this report.