2026 01 26 Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Jan. 26, 2026

Good afternoon, Jackie. Thank you for that. Thanks for coming in on a snow day for the rest of the government in the country. And as much of the country feels the impacts of that winter storm, President Trump continues to monitor the situation closely and he has remained in constant contact with FEMA and emergency responders. President Trump also quickly approved 12 federal emergency disaster declarations within 24 hours for the states of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, enabling these states to access critical federal resources to supplement their response efforts if needed. These declarations will help state-led efforts of turning power back on, clearing roads for emergency services and keeping communities safe. The White House will continue to correspond directly with governors and local officials in the coming days, especially in those states that were harshly impacted by this storm. I would also like to address the chaotic scenes in Minnesota over the weekend. Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Prety, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals. Saturday shooting remains under active investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. The Customs and Border Protection is also conducting their own internal review. As President Trump said yesterday, the administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting and we will let that investigation play out. But let's be clear about the circumstances which led to that moment on Saturday. This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota. For weeks, Governor Walts and the Mayor Jacob Fry and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, human traffickers, and gang members. Governor Walts and Mayor Fry have shamefully blocked local and state police from cooperating with ICE, actively inhibiting efforts to arrest violent criminals. They have also used their platforms to encourage left-wing agitators to stock, record, confront and obstruct federal officers who are just trying to lawfully perform their duties, which has created dangerous situations threatening both these officers and the general public and Minnesotans alike. This is precisely what unfolded in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Abstructing federal law enforcement and inciting violence against officers is wrong and illegal. This used to be a universally accepted position in the United States. Amid the hysteria, we must remember how we got here to this moment today and what this Democrat opposition is about. Former President Joe Biden and the Democrats opened America's borders for four years, inviting tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the world to flood into our country. Among them, violent criminals who terrorized American communities and have inflicted devastating, permanent pain and harm on law-biting Americans and their families. Yet we never saw outrage from Democrats or their allies in the liberal media over these horrifying crimes against U.S. citizens. The pain of American angel families was ignored and dismissed because it undermined the Democrat narrative. Innocent Americans like Jocelyn Nungray, Laken Riley and Rachel Moran are just a few of the many victims savagely murdered by illegal alien criminals. Earlier this month, an illegal alien from Mexico with a long criminal history who came into our country under Joe Biden's administration through a baseball-sized stone at a school bus carrying children in New Jersey and fractured the skull of an eight-year-old innocent child. President Trump promised accountability to these American families by securing the border, deporting every illegal alien who has committed crimes, especially and most importantly, violent crimes. Nearly 80 million Americans voted for him to deliver on that very promise, and he is. As the duly elected president, the president is fulfilling the will of the people by arresting and removing these threats from our country and cities from Los Angeles to New York and, yes, Minneapolis. Yet Democrat leaders in Minnesota with sanctuary city policies have actively defied federal immigration law and the will of the people. And as a result of that defiance, two Minnesotans have now tragically lost their lives on the streets of Tim Waltz's state. It is President Trump's hope and wish and demand for the resistance in chaos to end today. That's why President Trump spoke with Governor Waltz directly this morning, and he has outlined a clear and simple path to restoring law and order in Minnesota. Number one, Governor Waltz's mayor-fri in all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation. Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes. If Governor Waltz and mayor-fri implement these common-sense cooperative measures that I will add have already been implemented in nearly every single other state across the country, Customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota. ICE and local law enforcement can peacefully work together as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions. Additionally, President Trump is calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass legislation ending sanctuary cities once and for all. American cities should be safe sanctuaries for law-abiding citizens only, not for dangerous illegal alien criminals who broke our nation's laws and do not belong here. We hope Governor Waltz will do the right thing and continue to work with President Trump to keep the American people safe following their call this morning. Americans overwhelmingly want exactly what President Trump is delivering, strong borders, and strict immigration enforcement against the worst illegal aliens, of which there are still hundreds of thousands to deport from the interior of our country. The most peaceful way to carry out this vital public safety mission is for Republicans and Democrats to do it together and for state and local law enforcement to work together with federal law enforcement. We want to let cops be cops. You wouldn't know this continues to be a very popular policy position from the biased media coverage over the course of the last few days, but polling shows huge support for this exact thing President Trump is calling for. More than 80 percent of Americans favor deporting illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes. A country unable to deport criminals who enter it illegally is no country at all. The open borders agenda of Kamala Harris, Tim Walls, and the Democrats was already on the ballot on November 5th, 2024, and it was resoundingly rejected. President Trump will never back down from his promise to deport violent criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again, and he welcomes all cooperation in that effort. With that, I will answer your questions and Jordan Conradson, why don't you kick us off today. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Caroline. Jordan Conradson, we have a few questions. First, with respect to the shooting and Minneapolis, we're seeing massive outrage from the mainstream media in the left, but I'm just wondering where was that outrage when Ashley Babid and Air Force veteran was executed by Capitol police officer Michael Perred, who she posed to go to the Red Sea and the U.S. Capitol? Well, you raised a very important point, which I also believed I just raised as well in those opening remarks in that there has no doubt been selective outrage by the liberal biased media and picking and choosing victims and highlighting their stories. And as I've said, President Trump does not want any Americans to lose their lives in the streets of America and in American communities across the country. He believes what happened on Saturday is a tragedy, but every life is equal to President Trump. And that's why the lives of Lincoln Riley and Jocelyn Nungray continue to matter to him and be an utmost priority to him to this very day. And it's unfortunate that we did not see the same type of sensationalist media coverage over the tragic deaths of those innocent American women and girls across the country as we are in the wake of this tragedy that took place on Saturday. I want to get your response to this. The Arizona Attorney General just days before this shooting in Minneapolis. She seemingly encouraged riders to go out shooting kill ICE agents and all quote her here. She said, if you reasonably believe your life's in danger and you're in the house or in your car or on your property, you can defend yourself with legal force if she said that you can't tell if ICE agents are law enforcement or postures. And it becomes an issue of whether you treason or believe they belong enforcement. Your response to that and does the White House believe that she should be held accountable for such dangerous rhetoric, as I pointed out, is exactly what has brought us to this position today, where you have elected Democrat officials across the country who are encouraging left-wing agitators and crazy people to go out and unlawfully obstruct lawful immigration enforcement. Again, these brave men and women of ICE and border patrol and the federal enforcement are just trying to do their jobs to enforce our nation's immigration laws. And to go after the worst of the worst in this country, I would encourage everyone in this room and I would encourage the Arizona Attorney General to look at the video of an ICE agent in Minneapolis. He was approached by left-wing agitators who were honking their horns and were screaming slurs at him and he rolled down his window and he said, what are you doing? I am out here trying to catch a child predator, somebody who has convicted crimes against an innocent child and you are trying to obstruct me from doing my job. This rhetoric against ICE comparing them to Nazi Gestapo Donald Trump's police force is despicable, it is shameful, and it is precisely what has led to the escalation of tensions in Minneapolis and in other places across the country. Gabe, go ahead. I would defer you to the Department of Justice on that. Thank you, Caroline. Regarding Minnesota, on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security posted that predied looks like he wanted to do maximum damage and massacred law enforcement. Stephen Miller on Saturday posted that or called predied would be assassin. Why did administration officials jump to conclusions before an investigation and even been done? Well, look, this has obviously been a very fluid and fast-moving situation throughout the weekend. As for President Trump, whom I speak for, he has said that he wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case. With regards to deployment of Tom Holman to Minneapolis, should the deployment of Mr. Holman to Minneapolis be seen as a sign that the President is dissatisfied with how the officials on the ground had handled the incident? No, Mr. Holman is doing an exceptional job, and he has been working with Secretary Noham and President Trump over the course of the last year. Secretary Noham still has the utmost confidence and trust of the President of the United States, and she's continuing to oversee the entire Department of Homeland Security and all of the immigration enforcement that's taking place across the whole entire country. Of course, Secretary Noham is also in charge of FEMA, and we are in the wake of a brutal winter storm, where hundreds of thousands of Americans have been impacted by that. So, Secretary, borders are home and is in a unique position to drop everything and go to Minnesota to continue having these productive conversations with state and local officials. And I know that he's catching a plane in just a few hours to do just that at the request of the President. Jennifer. On the base shooting, as the President has been briefed and you've been briefed on specific details of the shooting, how many shots were fired, how many guns discharged, and I mean, did the protesters gun go off or only the officers guns do you have any of those details? Again, the investigation is continuing, Jennifer, and we will let the facts lead and we will let the facts play out. In this investigation, I do know that HSI and FBI are conducting interviews with those that were involved in the agents who were involved in this unfortunate tragedy on Saturday. Are they keeping the President up to date on all those details? The President is obviously very much on the ball with respect to this investigation. I think he's made that quite clear with the various statements that you've seen him put out, and also the four points that the President has outlined as well to Governor Walls and to encourage him to cooperate with ICE and with the administration. Mary. Thanks, Caroline. To follow on Gabe's question, Secretary Nome said Alex Prede committed an act of domestic terrorism. Stephen Miller labeled Prede a domestic terrorist. Does the President agree with that? Look, as I've said, I have not heard the President characterize Mr. Prede in that way. However, I have heard the President say he wants to let the facts and the investigation lead itself. Was he alarmed, Steve? He was taught officials referring to him in that way, rushing to that judgment. Danny, go ahead. Thanks, Caroline. On Stephen Miller's comments, will Stephen Miller be apologizing to the family of Alex Prede for calling him, quote, an assassin who tried to murder federal agents, despite the fact that, as you say, this is still under investigation? Look, again, this incident remains under investigation. And nobody here at the White House, including the President of the United States, wants to see Americans hurt or killed and losing their lives in American streets. And we mourn for the parents as a mother myself. Of course, I cannot imagine the loss of life, especially losing one's child. And that same empathy from the President goes for the parents of angel families, parents of victims of illegal alien crime across our country as well. And that's exactly why the President continues to be wholeheartedly committed to deporting the worst of the worst criminals from our country. Why don't we go to the back, Kelly? Caroline, does the President believe that the killing note was a mistake? Has he expressed that at all? Again, the President has said, we have to review it, and this investigation needs to continue. And he's letting the facts and the investigation lead itself. Do you want the body camera footage to be released to the public? Now, that's not something I've heard the President commit to, so I won't do that from the podium. Sure. Caroline, how serious is the administration taking allegations that local and state officials and ministers that are active and coordinating with demonstrators to put in or non-imcriptive communications as well as providing government resources to achieve immigration enforcement operations? I'm sorry, Carrie, could you repeat your question? How serious is the administration taking allegations at local and state Minnesota officials are communicating with demonstrators to basically repeat immigration officials? Well, we've definitely seen active organization amongst these left-wing groups, Carrie, and it is something that I know the FBI and the Department of Justice are looking into. Again, it is illegal to unlawfully obstruct lawful immigration enforcement in this country. And these agitators are making it nearly impossible for ICE to do their jobs and for federal law enforcement to carry out the will of the American people to deport the worst of the worst. I would just encourage everyone to please imagine in this room all of you come to the White House every day to report on the President of United States and the administration. You come into this briefing room. You walk through the gates of the White House. Just imagine if there were left-wing agitators or agitators of any kind who were in your face, who were doxing you, who were harassing you, who were physically threatening you, who were biting off your fingers. In the case of a two-boarder patrol agent, we saw this past weekend in Minneapolis. That would make it very difficult for you to show up and do your job here at the White House every single day. That's what these officers in Minneapolis are facing. That's why the President is calling on Governor Waltson-Marie Fry for these three very simple and common sense points of cooperation so that ICE and local law enforcement can work together. Again, we are just asking for police to be police. And if you ask any law enforcement agent or official, they want to be able to work with their federal counterparts at the state and local level in vice versa. How are we around? Thanks a lot, Caroline. Two questions. One is looking forward. The role of Mr. Holman is he being sent by the President to diffuse the situation that exists right now on the ground. Is he the point person essentially for the White House in terms of trying to tamp down the tensions that exist right now in Minnesota? Mr. Holman is the point person for cooperating with state and local authorities and corresponding with them, again, to achieve this level of cooperation to subdue the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis. And I would just point out that Mr. Holman is someone who has been lauded for many, many decades for his experience working in law enforcement. In fact, this is a Washington Post headline from nine years ago, 2016, Meet the Man the White House has honored for deporting illegal immigrants. And I would remind everyone in this room that it was former President Barack Hussein Obama who awarded a medal to Mr. Holman. So he's obviously very qualified. He has the full trust and faith of the President. He will continue to have these meetings in the hopes that weak ice and local law enforcement can cooperate and work together to have successful immigration enforcement, as we've seen, in almost every other state across the country. Thank you, Caroline. And secondly, Caroline. Talk a little bit about tomorrow's trip by the President to Iowa with the purpose of that trip is what the roles of that trip are. Sure, yes. Tomorrow, President Trump will be traveling to Des Moines, Iowa. He will be making a local visit at a local business. And then he will be giving a speech on affordability and on the economy. And I know he very much looks forward to being there, to meeting with the great people of Iowa, but also lawmakers as well. Caroline, a couple of quick questions. First, does the President remain fully confident in his ability to lead the DHS? And then, just secondly, just on that Wall Street Journal reporting that we saw yesterday, the President said at some point that the immigration enforcement officers would leave Minneapolis to the Saturday killing of Alex Pretty, expedite that withdrawal at all? To your first question, the answer is yes. He still has confidence and trust in Secretary Nome. To the second question, I would point you back to what I said earlier. If Governor Walls and Mayor Fry implement these common-sense cooperative measures, CBP will no longer be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota. ICE and local law enforcement will peacefully work together as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions to remove violent criminals from American neighborhoods across the country. The President did all to ask the President to remove the immigration enforcement officers. He asked the President to scale down and the President reiterated what the President put out in his statement yesterday and what I'm sharing with all of you as well. I would just add on this level of cooperation, a few statistics that I think are very important. Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE. And we've seen historic turnaround in safety and cities that have chosen to cooperate with ICE that are not just led by Republicans, but also look right here in Washington, D.C. We had a great level of cooperation with Mayor Bowser and the local government. And we have been able to remove thousands of illegal aliens from the District of Columbia where you all live, so you can thank President Trump for that. The murder rate in Washington, D.C. has plummeted as a result. There were no riots, there were no protests, nobody was tragically killed as a result of that level of cooperation between federal and local authorities. And again, that's all the President is asking for in Minnesota. It's totally common sense. Jared, go ahead. Thank you, Caroline. In this process, you continue to describe the situation in Minneapolis as chaos. Was there any mistake made by Secretary knowing that led the President to send Mr. Homan there? I'm sorry, I don't understand your question. Did Secretary Nome make a mistake which led to? She made any mistake that could lead the President to send Mr. Homan to Minneapolis. No, as I look, as I already mentioned, Mr. Homan has been working alongside Secretary Nome and for the President over the course of the last year. And again, he's uniquely positioned to hop on a flight to Minnesota today to continue this correspondence with state and local authorities and that's what he's going to be doing. Caroline. Caroline, is it the White House's position that Americans have the right to show up to these ICE operations and film, document, or protest the law enforcement actions? All Americans have a First Amendment constitutional right, of course, but Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede and obstruct lawful immigration enforcement operations. That is actually a crime. And it's something that we've seen taking place in the streets of Minneapolis, which, again, is leading to these dangerous circumstances that these federal law enforcement officers have been forced to work within. I'd like to recall with Governor Walls this morning, the President described it as respectful. He said, we seem to be on a similar wavelength, but you had strong criticism for the Governor and the Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey just now. So could you explain the difference in tone between what the President had said in his two social posts? And I think some of the criticisms that you just love you through the podium. The President, I think the criticisms that I laid out, I'm painting the picture for all of you in this room, are what led to the moment that we are in today, where Governor Walls and President Trump are having a conversation, a constructive and productive conversation, to end the chaos and the lawlessness that has taken place in Governor Walls' state. Thank you. I had a question with, home and now going to Minnesota, is Gregory Bovino also going to remain in Minnesota overseeing his ice operations? Mr. Bovino is a wonderful man, and he's a great professional. He is going to very much continue to lead customs and border patrol throughout and across the country. Mr. Holman will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis. Oh, well, given what we've heard from several Trump administration officials, people like Stephen Miller, as people point out calling him a domestic terrorist, Bovino saying that Freddie was out to massacre law enforcement. Why not require ice agents to wear body cameras to clear up some of the disputes that we are hearing from witnesses and video footage versus what the administration has been saying? Well, that's a policy question that I know the policy folks in the building are having with members on Capitol Hill, and I'll leave it to them and the President to make that decision. And my final question is on, you were talking about the level of cooperation that the President talked about with Governor Walls. Will the administration commit to cooperating with local officials on this investigation into Alex Freddie? The President spoke about this with Governor Walls and said he would have a discussion about it. He did not make a commitment. And so therefore, I won't make that commitment here. I would just remind all of you in the media because I've seen a lack of reporting on this fact there are investigations into what took place on Saturday. The Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI have teamed up for an investigation. And there's also an internal CBP investigation and internal review of what is happening on the ground in Minnesota. The President supports those investigations. And as I've said repeatedly, he wants to see them move forward. Phil. The FBI Director of the Capitol said in a Sunday interview, well, you cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to ensure the protest. Does the President believe the Second Amendment rights remain in effect even when protesting? The President supports the Second Amendment rights of law abiding American citizens absolutely. There has been no greater supporter or defender of the right to bear arms than President Donald J. Trump. So while Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations. And any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you and that's unfortunately what took place on Saturday. The Caroline isn't many out. Let's with his mission be continued to be focusing on illegal immigrants with a criminal history or a well-being on illegal immigration, generally. Mr. Holman will continue to enforce our nation's immigration laws, especially deporting the worst of the worst criminals in Minnesota who have committed violent offenses. And I would just remind all of you that this important work is continuing to be carried out in just the last few days. I'm happy to provide this packet to anyone in the room. ICE has arrested many multiple violent criminals, illegal aliens within Minnesota. Many of them have convictions for assault driving under the influence. Fraud, this individual here I'm looking at was an aggravated felon with multiple convictions for larceny, fraud, and forgery of checks, vehicle theft, drug possession, domestic assault, inflicting bodily harm on another criminal convictions of larceny, identity theft, again, charged with driving under the influence. These are extremely dangerous people who Governor Walls and Mayor Fry have allowed to roam on their streets and all the President is asking for is cooperation to arrest individuals like this and deport them from the United States of America. I'll take a couple more. Go ahead. The President posted that this is a cover-up of the fraud in the state of Minnesota. He also posted that Minnesota is a cover-up. He's both happened after the shooting. So given these came after the shooting, what is this here? What is the cover-up? He's a legend. Yes, it's a good question. I spoke with the President about this at length. What the President is referring to is the fact that you have Governor Walls and, again, the mayor who have been encouraging these left-wing agitators to come out and to harass and to dox and to threaten ICE and to make this conversation about and smear lies about federal law enforcement who, again, are just trying to do their jobs and an attempt to distract from the widespread massive fraud that has taken place in their state. Billions and billions of dollars has been stolen from law-biting taxpayers in Minnesota. And the administration continues to be very focused on getting to the bottom of it, especially and the President raised a good question over the weekend with respect to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who now has a net worth within the millions. And one must ask themselves, why and how is that possible? Is she connected to the fraud rings that we have seen taking place within her state and her own district? It's a question the American people are raising and the President believes it's one worth answering. Hey, what's up, please, Caroline. I wish you a back to some of the comments, Park Steven and all our secretary know. You may hear the President wants to see the investigation play out of what answers to the question of the specific details. Is he concerned that some of those definitive statements made by other officials with public perception of the credibility of those investigations now play out? Again, the President believes that these investigations are credible, they are continuing, they are active, and he wants to let them play out. Alex. Is the administration willing to separate DHS funding from other funding bills in order to avoid a broader shutdown? Look, at this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package and we want to see that passed. Policy discussions on immigration in Minnesota are happening. Look, the President is leading those discussions as evidenced by his correspondence with Governor Walls this morning, but that should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people, which would include, as you know, Alex FEMA funding. And we are in the midst of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still being impacted by that. So we absolutely do not want to see that funding lapse and we want the Senate to move forward with passing the bipartisan appropriations package that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis. Secondly, there's another round of Russia, Ukraine talks this weekend, Sunday, when if you can walk us through with the President, how it would be involved in that at all, we'll be talking of President Putin, the President Zelensky ahead of those meetings. I'm not tracking any scheduled calls at this point in time. However, the President remains deeply involved in, of course, he's being apprised by his advisors, namely Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy Widkov on these talks. They had a multilateral meeting this past weekend, which didn't get a ton of coverage, but that was a historic in nature where the President's team has really brought two sides of this war to the table together to move the ball closer towards peace. So the President is not giving up on the peace process. He obviously just met with President Zelensky when we were in Davos, Switzerland, but I'm not tracking any calls scheduled for this week. On one more foreign policy point, I will point out, as you all saw, the last remaining body of the hostages in Israeli hostages in Gaza has been returned. This is a huge foreign policy feat for the President of United States, for the state of Israel, and, frankly, for the whole world. The President made the impossible possible, and so it's great news for the President, for the United States, for our allies, and also for peace in the Middle East. And I understand that more than 20 new additional countries have also signed up to join the newly established Board of Peace with respect to the rebuilding of Gaza, which is another historic accomplishment for this President. So thank you all very much, and we'll see you in Iowa tomorrow. Thank you, President. I hope to see you again tomorrow. Thank you very much.