Meet the Press NOW — January 26

Hi there, and welcome to Meet the Press Now, I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington, and we begin with breaking news in the investigation into the deadly shooting on Saturday by a federal Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security confirming exclusively to NBC News that there is body camera footage of the deadly shooting of Alex Predi, an ICU nurse for the VA who was shot and killed by federal authorities during a skirmish amid the protest. DHS officials say there are multiple angles of the killing captured on those body cameras and that they're currently under review. Video captured by bystanders, which you're seeing here in slow motion, appears to show that confrontation that officers disarmed Predi of a firearm we now know he was legally permitted to carry and then shot him, claiming he was a threat.

Amid mounting blowback over the incident in ISIS, tactics in Minnesota, new signs from the Trump administration that it may be looking for an off-ramp to de-escalate the tensions. First President Trump telling the Wall Street Journal that his administration is, quote, reviewing everything about the shooting and announcing on social media that there would be a shake-up in leadership on the ground, with borders our Tom Holman now managing ICE operations there. At the White House today, press secretary Caroline Levitt signaling that the president himself was distancing himself from allegations made by his top deputies about Predi. Regarding the Minnesota, on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security posted that Predi looks like he wanted to do maximum damage to the massacre law enforcement.

Stephen Miller on Saturday posted that, called Predi, would be assassin. Why did administration officials jump to conclusions before an investigation had even been conducted? 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.

Levitt's comments coming as I mentioned after top administration officials first responded to the shooting with unsubstantiated accusations that Predi was plotting to kill federal immigration officials. To perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism. This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed in active domestic terrorism, that's the facts. I'll meet to press yesterday, Minnesota's Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar accused the Trump administration of trying to gaslight the American people about what happened.

When I hear the officials from the Trump administration describe this video in ways that simply aren't true. I just keep thinking, your eyes don't lie. We're not sitting at it. The American people aren't sitting at a Trump cabinet meeting having to say everything to make him happy.

They're going to make their own judgments. ICE needs to leave our state. They are making us less safe, not more safe. Some Republicans now joining calls for a transparent investigation into what happened.

Republicans Senator Bill Cassidy tweeting the events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. President Trump meanwhile announcing today that he'd spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and what he described as a very good call. And a statement Governor Walz called the conversation productive.

We are covering this from all angles. NBC's Morgan Chesky will join us shortly from Minneapolis. NBC's Monica Alba is outside the White House. Also with us, NBC News' National Law Enforcement and Intelligence correspondent Tom Winter, NBC News' senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley, and NBC News' legal analyst, Missy Maris.

Let's start at the White House. Monica, what are they saying today about the shooting in Minneapolis? Does it seem like they're walking back any of their rhetoric from over the weekend? Well, there is a notable shift in tone and in some of the responses here, Ryan, just 48 hours since that fatal shooting on Saturday.

In those initial moments, those responses from DHS in particular and from other top officials are now being completely distanced by the White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt, to say that between the president and herself, they could not necessarily back or endorse some of those initial assessments of Alex Preti. Certainly those comments from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, labeling him a domestic terrorist, the things that Secretary Noam said about him as well. The White House today saying that there needs to be a complete investigation before conclusions like that could ever be drawn. I thought it was really specific and very notable today in that briefing that you did have Caroline Levitt, again, essentially saying that she couldn't endorse and she did essentially say that things had been uttered by the CBP commander, Greg Babino, by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, by others, were essentially not things that the president agreed with, that he didn't view that and that he didn't see Alex Preti in the same way.

Now, remember, it was the president about a week ago who did concede that he believes that ICE is going to make some mistakes sometimes, that that's something that can happen. Remember, he was asked about that in the wake of the shooting of Renee Nicole Goode. But what is obviously notable about that is that, again, the president telling the Wall Street Journal, he wants to see everything here reviewed before he can make any determination. And given those shifts sending Tom home and now to be the one to oversee ICE operations on the ground in Minneapolis and having a productive phone call with Governor Walls, who he was massively criticizing all weekend long, tells you that there is a shift in strategy here from the administration that we need to be paying attention to.

And part of that shift, Monica, appears to be a conversation that happened with the president and Governor Walls. When you take that in the context of the fact that President Trump has just been hammering Governor Walls, Governor Walls has returned fire throughout this entire process. What does it say that the two were able to have what appears to be somewhat of an amicable phone call? Yeah, they called it a good conversation.

They both said it was productive. Governor Walls and his readout essentially said that the president was open to reducing the number of federal agents on the ground. The White House confirming that, saying that if certain criteria are met, that that is a possibility that there could be a reduction of the record number of federal agents that were sent to Minneapolis in recent weeks. But it really, the fact they're having a conversation at all, Ryan, is very notable.

These are two people who have been extremely critical. It has been an extremely acrimonious relationship. But today, they are saying that they're going to continue working together, that there could be future conversations on the horizon and pledging, I think, really, from both of their parts, to try to deescalate here in a clear, it seems, search for some kind of off-ramp after what we saw happen this weekend. And we talked about the fact that the president said that he's going to send the borders are Tom Holman to Minneapolis.

Does this tell us anything about DHS Secretary Noam's standing within the administration? Well, according to the White House, she still has a full trust and confidence of the president. But it certainly does raise some questions about how they view the overall leadership structure when it comes to massive immigration policy and how these real decisions are being made. Tom Holman is not somebody who has been involved in the day-to-day decision-making or operations, specifically when it comes to Minneapolis.

He's been key in some other aspects of creating and executing on immigration policy. So the fact that he's going to go there and certainly the press secretary was asked today whether this means that Greg Bovino will be departing. She said it will clearly be Tom Holman, who is the point of contact on the ground there as we work to figure out whether Bovino will be out, though Noam for now still seems to be in her capacity in her job. Okay, Monica, thank you for that.

Let's turn out of Tom Winter as we look closer at this video, Tom, and we should warn our viewers. It is pretty disturbing to watch. But the DHS Secretary Noam claimed that the individual approached border control with an automatic handgun. But when you actually look at this video, walk us through this, how does what we're actually seeing compare to what the secretary said?

Right, Ryan. And I think she mentioned it was a semi-automatic handgun. And I know shortly we're going to be able to show you some of that video from the scene and in some of the video that bystanders took his four specific videos and four specific angles that showed the interaction. And it does not seem to indicate that at any point in time Freddie's gun was out.

This is one of the videos that establishes kind of how this whole thing starts. And you can see there, his left hand is in the air. There appears to be nothing in that hand. And then in his right hand, we're going to look at it again.

It appears to be a cell phone, which later puts back in his pocket, not near where it appears that his gun was taken from, by CBP officers at the scene. So this video shows the moment leading up to it. There's a protester or somebody videoing who's pushed to the ground. Look, these are very volatile situations.

We have the advantage now of looking at these videos. You're looking at the point that I was referencing when the gun is taken out from his back waistband. And then after this, the shots, somebody yells outgun and then the shots are fired, including the fatal shots that hit Freddie. This is a very volatile situation.

We are watching this with the advantage of slow motion, with the advantage of pausing things. You can't pause things in real life. And the burden legally will come back to whether or not the person who fired the shots, the CBP officer initially fired the shots, whether or not they thought that they had reasonable threat to their life. But certainly, this individual appears to be on at the moment that that happens, that's what the video shows.

And there were a number of things that were stated about the motive and the background of this individual that frankly, people in law enforcement and even people, former people who used to work for DHS have raised is serious credibility and transparency concerns as far as the things that were said by this administration over the weekend. And even though the White House disappeared to be walking this back a bit, we've heard multiple administration officials repeatedly label Alex Preti as a domestic terrorist. Is there anything to back up that claim? What kind of evidence would you need to prove something like that?

Well, what they typically say is that if somebody uses violence or coercion to push forward their ideology, that's the definition of a domestic terrorist. And that's true. What we haven't seen here is any evidence, at least any evidence that we can publicly find. Of course, these videos that we've been looking at show just a specific moment in time that we don't, we have not yet seen any body worn camera video that our colleague Julie Ainsley reports does exist.

And so we don't have any sort of statements that may have been made by Preti or not, any sort of statements that were made by the CBP officers or not. And so we don't have anything here that goes to motive for him even being there. And what if anything he said? And so it's very difficult to get to the point of ideology if you don't know somebody's ideology going into an operation like this.

And so I think that's the reason why people have picked out the domestic terrorist line and said, how do you, on one hand, you're not saying you quite know the sequence of events and you're reviewing the footage. On the other hand, you're saying the motivations and the background of this individual who apparently has interactions with law enforcement in the form of for traffic tickets. So it's a bit incongruous. And that's something I think a lot of people are looking at.

All right, Tom, you mentioned Julia is great reporting. Let's bring Julia and now to talk about it. Julia, you're reporting that there actually is body camera footage, which is not always a guarantee when it comes to these interactions between ICE and CBP and folks on the ground. What kind of information could that potentially provide?

Well, and obviously if I had that, I'd be sharing it with you, but we understand this just got handed over to investigators and they are coming through it now because we'll be able to see the different angles and what exactly it was that the agent saw when they decided to fire those shots. Now a body wearing camera goes right in the center of the chest of the gear that the agent would be wearing. And it's rolling really from the time they start engaging. So it would have been rolling when they started that arrest that they were trying to do on a target right near the place of the shooting.

That's when the women that Pratik was wearing their whistles and that's when Pratik got involved. So they would have already had their cameras rolling before that arrest even began and it's from different angles. And so we'll be able to see, hopefully our investigators will be able to see at least, that they, when they removed the gun from Pratik and whether or not it aligns with those first public statements on Saturday, when they said that Pratik was violently resisting being disarmed. And so if is it looks like from some of the videos I reviewed and Tom's reviewed that the gun was actually taken away before the shots were fired, that will all come to light and be part of this investigation.

And then that could be enough evidence to then refer this to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation into whether or not the agents criminally violated Pratik's civil rights. So let's talk about what's happening now on the ground. The president announcing that the borders are Tom Holman's going to Minneapolis. What do you make of this decision?

Is he someone who could potentially deescalate the situation there? Potentially. I mean, Tom Holman for a long time has really had it out for sanctuary cities. He makes no attempt to cover that up.

He thinks all cities should be cooperating with ICE and of course that's the situation we're walking into in Minneapolis where they are not cooperating with ICE and handing over immigrants that they may encounter to the federal law enforcement. But I will also say this has implications nationwide, because who Holman is replacing as point person there is Greg Bovino, who's been head of all the border patrol operations since Los Angeles this summer. If you think about all the times you've seen tear gas thrown into crowds, if you think about big surges in cities like Charlotte, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, that was all led by Greg Bovino. So Holman being there signifies the White House realizes there was some kind of line crossed in this incident or perhaps by the responses that they got from Secretary Noam Bovino over the weekend that were very quick to side with law enforcement after this incident before an investigation had been conducted and somewhere inside the White House and the president himself, they've now made the decision that they would rather have someone like Tom home in there who is much more concerned about getting who he calls the criminals worse on the streets in that position and taking out someone like Bovino who wants to do wide sweeps and often really profile people.

And that's been something they've talked about ever since the Supreme Court ruling determined that they could do that even without specific targeted names of people they're going after. So it's a huge switch really for the White House and a signal that maybe they think the strategy and the path they were on isn't working. Okay, we'll see if there'll be any sort of change. Of course, Julia, we appreciate that.

Let's go on a MISTI to talk about this from a legal perspective. So MISTI, there were two court hearings today related to the situation in Minneapolis. The first one on the state's efforts to declare the administration's deployment of federal agents as unlawful. What's not to you in that hearing today?

So this is interesting because the federal government's argument, the DOJ said that this is a federal law enforcement operation and therefore it falls under executive authority to execute it as they see fit. Now Minnesota's argument is that it is not a valid law enforcement action. It's actually something being taken to coerce Minnesota into agreeing with or implementing federal government and the administration's policy. So that's the crux of the argument.

What I found interesting, the judge came out the gate and said, I'm not here to make a decision on the merits of any immigration law enforcement operation, but did challenge the federal government on two points that squarely fit into Minnesota's argument. The first being skepticism about whether or not the amount of ICE officers being deployed use of border security is necessary to deal with issues with enforcing this law enforcement action. The second and very, very interestingly is a letter that Pam Bondi sent to Tim Walts over the weekend, which asks for the state to repeal sanctuary city policies, talks about turning over voter rules and registrations records regarding Medicaid that would be central to a fraud investigation. The judge saying, are you really, is the DOJ trying to circumvent what would be court related procedures by pressuring Minnesota with this law enforcement operation?

So she did not rule from the bench today. We'll have to wait and see what that decision is. She did say it will be coming imminently. She understands that if there's a front burner, this is on the front of that front burner as far as necessity to get clarity on this issue.

And then we have a second case where state officials are trying to prevent federal officials from destroying evidence in this shooting. What did the judge say about that? So that hearing just ended and the judge did not make a decision from the bench. But what Minnesota is asking is for preservation of evidence, the administration's Department of Justice saying they're preserving evidence as they would in any other case.

But the idea is Minnesota is raising what they say are anomalies, things that are not in accordance with typical policies and procedures in this investigation. They're not a part of the investigation on the state side. And therefore it's critical that they at some point have cooperation with the federal government and also have the ability to access that investigative material down the road. So we're still waiting on that decision as well.

Okay, Mr. Maris, thank you for that. We appreciate it coming up. We're sticking with the breaking news out of Minnesota as it echoes through Capitol Hill where a standoff over DHS funding and ice reforms could lead to another at least partial government shutdown by the end of the week.

Plus a House Democrat on the committee with direct oversight among over federal investigation authorities responds to this weekend's deadly border patrol shooting. And what Congress does next, you're watching Meet the Press Now. Welcome back Saturday's deadly shooting of Alex Freddie has sparked a major change in the strategy for Senate Democrats who are now effectively threatening a partial government shutdown unless funding for ice has taken out of the spending bill, which is said to be voted on this week. Senator Chuck Schumer discussing Democrat strategy and a Sunday conference call telling us caucus that the message has to be restrained reform and restrict ice, according to two sources on the call.

As others Democrats made similar arguments on the airwaves yesterday. Democrats are not going to vote to fund this version of the Department of Homeland Security. But if we can get some serious reforms that saves and protects lives in our cities, then we'll come to the table. I hate shutdowns.

I'm one of the people that help negotiate the solution to the last the end of the last shutdown. But I can't vote for a bill that includes ice funding out of these circumstances. Now Democrats want to see the DH funding bill stripped from the House pass the package of six appropriation bills so that changes can be made to it. If Senate Republicans reject that request, Congress is likely headed for a partial government shutdown starting Friday night, just mutton's after the longest shutdown in US history joining me now from Capitol Hill is NBC's Melanie's in on it.

So Mel, how united are Democrats in this moment, especially with a partial government shutdown on the horizon? Yeah, well, Democrats are actually completely united almost entirely united. It's not just the Democratic leadership that's on board, but almost the majority of the eight Democrats who voted to reopen the government after the last shutdown have come out and said that they will not vote for a DH funding bill that doesn't include significant reforms. Seven out of eight of those Democrats, the only exception being John Federman, who's often an outlier in his party anyway.

And the reason why that's significant is because what that means, Ryan, is the universal Democrats who could potentially give the Republicans the necessary votes is extremely, extremely small. And what's also remarkable about this unity among Democrats is just how quickly it came together. Last week, I don't think anyone really anticipated that this funding package was going to run into issues before the Friday deadline. It even passed the House with some Democratic support.

But now we are looking at an entirely different dynamic here. And how are Republicans responding to this? Is there any chance that they may do something like break the DHS portion of the appropriations package out of the vote so that it could be voted on its own? Or that changes can be made?

Well, I will say that there has been a significant number of Republicans and surprising the type of Republicans who have come out and said they are uncomfortable with what happened on Saturday in Minnesota. However, there is no indication at this point that they are going to break apart that DHS bill from the rest of the package. Part of it though is a timing issue. As I said, the deadline is Friday.

The House is out of session. So if they vote on these bills separately, because the House did them together, that means the House would have to come back in order to vote on these things in a separate manner. So there's there's a timing logistical issue here. But also on the policy, there is a deep disagreement even among Republicans who say they're uncomfortable with what happened.

They had these negotiations already on the DHS funding bill. Republicans rejected some of the things and the demands that Democrats were seeking, like mandating, body-worn cameras, prohibiting masks. That being said, given that even the President as our White House colleagues have covered seems to be changing his tone. There is some hope that perhaps there could be some something, some sort of off-front that perhaps the White House could give some assurances they could give to Democrats.

But if that does not happen Ryan, we are certainly looking at a partial government shutdown starting Friday. Seems very unlikely that that sort of deal could come together before the Friday deadline. So the shutdown meter, once again off the charts, Melz and Hona, thank you for that. We appreciate it.

Joining me now is Virginia Democratic Congressmen and member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman James Walkinshaw. Congressman, thanks for being here. Let's talk about how Senate Democrats are reacting to this situation. They're signaling they will block this bill.

Senate Republicans seem unlikely to separate the funding for DHS from the rest of the bills that the House passed. Do you want to see your colleagues in the Senate block the entire package, even if that means a partial shutdown? I want to see the Senate take a strong stand to protect the American people from this lawless Department of Homeland Security. And there's a simple solution with respect to the other bills for the Republican leadership to separate the DHS funding bill for Speaker Johnson to call the House back.

There's no reason we couldn't return on Thursday or Friday past the other bills and negotiate a solution to protect the American people from the Department of Homeland Security. That's what I want to see happen. If it doesn't happen, this will be the second Trump shutdown in this Congress. And I hope it doesn't last as long as the first.

Obviously, there's been somewhat of a change in tone from your Republican colleagues around this particular shooting by ICE, different than what we saw in the Renee Good situation. Do you feel as though the fact that you're seeing Republicans call for an investigation, is this a turning point? I hope it's a turning point. I wish it hadn't taken this, but I hope it's a turning point.

I think, look, some Republicans are responding to the American people who immediately and wholesale rejected the lies that came from the Trump administration after Alex Prentis killing the ball face nature of their lives. I think made this situation even worse for them. But look, we have a situation now where the Department of Homeland Security has killed guns down to Americans in the streets of Minneapolis in a short period of time. And even for Republicans in Congress who have supported the Trump administration, in my view, reckless, mass deportation machine, this machine that they've put together, they're starting to get nervous right now.

And I hope more of them will speak out. So in your conversations that you've had with your Republican colleagues on Homeland Security, or in the House more broadly, do you feel as though there's any kind of openness to the kinds of reforms to ICE that Democrats are calling for? The honest answer to that is no, I haven't seen a demonstrated openness to the kind of reforms. And by the way, these are reforms that Americans are calling for.

Whether you look at the polls, whether you listen to your constituents, I know Republicans are hearing similar things from their constituents. American people want a secure border. They want immigration laws in force, but they don't want mass secret police gutting people down in the streets. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a lot of openness to tangible reforms, but I hope that will change over the coming days and weeks.

And what kind of reforms are you specifically looking for? We know that Senator Schumer told his conference today, their messages were strained, reformed, and restrict ICE. We've heard some of your other Democrats go further, actually calling for an outright abolition of ICE. Where do you stand?

Where do you think the reforms should come? Well, Juan, long term, I think we have to take down and rebuild the entire infrastructure. It's not just ICE. Alex Pretti wasn't killed by ICE.

He was killed by CBP. We have other federal law enforcement agencies now engaged in a lot of this brutality. All of it has to be reformed and rebuilt from the ground up in a way that's consistent with our constitution and our values immediately in this funding bill. I think there should be a ban on masks.

There should be a requirement that officers identify themselves just as our local police do across the country. There should be a requirement for warrants, for detentions, and arrests. There should be real use of force standards that aren't just written down on paper, but are enforced, and officers who violate them should be disciplined and pulled off the streets and fired. Those are basic, simple things that every responsible law enforcement agency at the local and state level in the country does.

There's no reason federal agencies shouldn't do them as well. So just to clarify though, do you feel as though ICE can continue on as long as it gets the needed reforms you're not in favor of abolishing ICE? I want to change all of it. ICE, CBP, the entire immigration enforcement structure should be reorganized.

ICE under Donald Trump is completely broken. It all has to be reformed. But again, it's not just ICE. It's CBP and other agencies as well that have been involved in this brutality.

All of it has to be taken down, new leadership, new policies restructured and reformed. That's not going to happen under this administration realistically. So right now we have to fight for the protections that the American people are demanding. If we go back to the conversation around government funding and the possibility, even as you suggested, the DHS budget is pulled out and everything else gets passed.

That would still mean the DHS would go a period of time without funding. Right now, they oversee really important agencies like FEMA. I mean, you're right smack dab in the middle of this massive winter storm that grips much of the East Coast. Are you concerned that these agencies that have nothing to do with these border enforcement policies could be in trouble and could face hardship if this DHS package is not passed?

Well, you mentioned FEMA. We have to point out that as we speak, the Trump administration is effectively dismantling FEMA, but set that aside. Yes, I'm concerned about that. But the situation that we are in right now is unsustainable.

We cannot allow federal agents to brutalize the American people, to kill them in the streets. There have been 2300 documented instances where courts have found that ICE, CBP and others have illegally detained people, including hundreds of American citizens in Minnesota. They're detaining people, not able to charge them because they violated no laws, detaining them for hours or days, and then dropping them off in remote locations when it's 20 degrees below zero. This kind of behavior cannot continue.

And then finally, you visited Minnesota in the wake of the death of Rene Goode. You and your other House Democrats also spoke to Governor Walz about what's next. What can you tell us about that conversation? And how do you feel like Democrats on the ground should be responding?

Well, look, one of the things Governor Walz has said privately and publicly is that this is a hugely challenging moment for Minnesota, and Minnesotans are rising to the challenge. We have seen thousands of Minnesotans by and large, peacefully protesting, observing, recording the actions of ICE, CBP, and others. When I went to Minnesota, I thank them for their patriotism. I think the folks involved in that work who are doing it peacefully, unfortunately, great risk to themselves are doing incredible service to our republic right now.

And Governor Walz has shared that and communicated that as well. He also sees this as political retribution. You know, Donald Trump lost Minnesota three times in his own adult mind. He believes that he won the election in Minnesota three times, and he's taking that frustration out on the people of Minnesota.

That's clearly a motivation here. Okay, Congressman James Walker, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

Thank you, right? Up next, at least 18 people have died more than 700,000 U.S. households or without power with even more severe weather and bitter cold expected in the days ahead. Keep it right here.

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Welcome back. Let's go now to Minneapolis. And that's where NBC News correspondent Morgan Chesky is standing by just outside the memorial where Alex Prady was killed. Morgan, thank you for being there.

How are people reacting to the events that took place over the weekend? Yeah, Ryan, there's an understandable sense of tension here, a fear, and a somber since as well following this shooting death of Alex Prady Saturday morning just across the street from where I'm standing and really just hours after his passing, people have started to arrive here and create this memorial honoring the life of the 37 year old ICU nurse who worked at a local veterans hospital. When I arrived here in the city and I had a chance to speak to some of the people who live here who called this very place home, there was a sense, Ryan, that with the shooting death of Renee Good almost three weeks ago that that was as bad as things could get. And then seeing the videos circulate of Alex being taken to the ground by federal agents and then his that fatal shooting happened shortly thereafter has just elevated things to an entirely new level.

I want you to hear what one woman who heard the gunshots from a very own apartment said following what took place. Take a listen. When you look at that video, what do you see? Sorry, an execution.

He was just trying to help some women that have been shocked. How can anybody ever look at that and say that that isn't just all right murder. From any angle, all the angles. They all show the same thing.

His body was lifeless as they continued to shoot him. No, I should add that NBC News has independently verified multiple angles of that fatal encounter with federal agents, Ryan, and that in none of those videos, does it appear that he was brandishing a firearm as claimed by DHS officials, right? And Morgan, what more are we learning about Alex Prady, who is the victim of course in this tragic shooting? Well, we know that he was well known within his medical circles.

In fact, I had a chance to speak to a doctor who hired Alex for his very first job back in 2013. And she described him as being a warm-hearted friend who wanted to essentially dedicate his life to serving others through the role of being a nurse. She wrote the very recommendation letter that helped him get into nursing school. And that is why when she saw the video of what took place Saturday, she just reacted with just utter horror because she knew she believes that Alex was trying to help the woman that was shoved down by federal agents.

And she says that it's heartbreaking that his last act on Earth was trying to help someone else. But she also says that she wasn't surprised because that's who Alex was, right? All right, Morgan Chesky on the ground there in Minneapolis for us. Morgan, thank you so much.

And we're going to turn now to the weather and the worst of the deadly winter storm that swept across the country this weekend is now moving offshore. But snow and freezing rain are continuing in parts of the northeast and mid-Atlantic. 200 million people remain under severe cold alerts right now. And as many as 700,000 customers are still without power.

The storm is being blamed for at least 18 deaths from Kansas to Massachusetts. According to the National Weather Service, over a foot of snow fell in at least 20 states east of the Rockies, with some places getting over two feet. Thankfully, we're going to get that much here in Washington, D.C. The White House said today that the president has approved emergency declarations in 12 states and is in quote, constant contact with FEMA and emergency responders.

In addition to the treacherous driving conditions, the storm is also snarling air travel as well. Over 12,000 flights were canceled yesterday, the largest number since March of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit more than 4,000 flights, I should say over 4,000 flights today have been canceled. And I just found out when kids don't have school again tomorrow. My wife, I'm sure is thrilled.

After the break, the Trump administration's response to the killing of Alex Freddie and Minneapolis draws pushback from gun rights groups. As the White House suggests, gun owning protesters could be targeted. Stay with us on the press now. Welcome back.

The killing of Alex Freddie and Minneapolis is turning America's gun debate on its head and further exposing the polarization over the administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota. As we noted earlier, federal officials said that Freddie was carrying a gun claiming he was brandishing the weapon, but video show that it was holstered when the confrontation began and was taken by officers right before Freddie was shot and killed. The local police chief said that Freddie had to had a permit to carry the gun. Some administration officials though say that the mere fact that Freddie was carrying a weapon amid the protests justified ICE's deadly response.

Have a listen. I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign. This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons. You cannot bring a fire on loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want.

It's that simple. Well, that kind of rhetoric marks a dramatic 180 for conservatives who've long defended the second amendment right to bear arms, including for protesters. Joining me now is senior national politics reporter, Jonathan Allen. Jonathan, you and I both have covered a lot of protests in which people openly carry weapons or sometimes are carrying weapons privately in a concealed carry with a legal permit.

This has long been part of an effort for people to protest. And it's usually Republicans and second amendment defenders that are the first ones to stand up and say, this is okay, right? Right, absolutely. I mean, if the law is in a state in Minnesota, it's an open carry state.

If the laws are that you can walk around in public with a gun, then you can walk around in public with a gun. This is not a difficult thing. And to your point, this is something conservatives have really been strong on. It's an issue that they've not only have favored, but it's favored down.

Single issue gun voters, people who are most concerned about gun rights and what comes with those guns rights and their belief that those gun rights protect their other rights have been a huge part of the Republican coalition for at least my lifetime. Yeah, right. So we saw Casper Tell, we saw Christine Ohm suggested there was something wrong about this. But there are pro gun rights groups that are singing a much different tune.

What do they say? Yeah, the pro gun rights groups, the NRA, for example, has been critical of this argument that you can and it was made by, I think succinctly by Bill of Saley, who is a federal prosecutor in California, said you can't go to a protest with a gun. If you walk up to law enforcement with a gun, you can expect that things to happen. And these gun rights groups have said this is ridiculous.

This is a terrible argument. I think you've got something we've got something on the screen from the NRA. But basically they're saying, your rights aren't suspended. Your second amendment rights aren't suspended because you're exercising your first amendment right to protest or to seek or address a grievances from the government.

And it has been such a strong backlash that I think is clear that it has affected a change in administration policy. They really had a problem here where this big part of their coalition was very angry at the rhetoric coming out of the administration, the stuff we heard right there from Casper Tell and Christine Ohm. Yeah. And then what is perhaps even more bizarre about this is that we're actually seeing some liberal leaning groups coming to the defense of being able to carry a weapon under the second Yeah, I thought Dean Phillips, the former Congressman from Minnesota, who ran for president, probably had the most easy to absorb chunk where he basically said he used to go around and make fun of the Second Amendment defenders.

And now he realizes what they mean that you need to be able to exercise your rights. It has turned politics on its head as Donald Trump often does. But in this case, he seems to have gotten caught in his own sort of box pitting the sort of heavy-handed tactics that we've seen on the ground in Minnesota against the freedoms that a lot of people in the Republican Party truly hold dear. Okay, John Allen, thanks for that.

We appreciate it. Thank you. And we'll be right back with more news and politics with our panel, which is next on Meet the Press Now. Welcome back.

Joining me now on a very busy news day is our panel, Julia Manchester, White House correspondent for The Hill, Chuck Rocha, host of the Substack show, The Roadshow Revolution, and co-host of the Latino Vote Podcast, and Rob Blue, the president and executive editor of The Daily Signal, who's still stuck in the snow somewhere in suburban Washington DC. I should have picked you up on my way in, Rob, so that you could be here on set with us. But we'll find a way to make this work. Julia, let's start with you.

Out of the gate, we saw an aggressive response from the White House and DHS. This is how they tend to respond to every crisis, but already we're starting to see them back away from how they initially responded to this. I want to play for you what the White House secretary Caroline Levitt said earlier today. Take a listen.

Again, the president has, sorry, you know, we have to review it and their investigative investigation needs to continue. And he's letting the facts on the investigation lead itself. Letting the facts on the investigation lead to the conclusion also said that she wouldn't characterize or the president wouldn't characterize Alex Freddie the way some others in the administration did. I mean, this is a pretty remarkable change of tune for the White House, isn't it?

The shift over the last 24 hours has been striking. And when we say some others in the administration, you know, they're not necessarily going along with what DHS Secretary Christine Homestead or Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller said, they are trying to distance President Trump from those comments and saying, let's have an investigation play out. I think President Trump previewed this a little last night with his interview with the Wall Street Journal saying they're looking into everything, but the transition or the shift over the last 24 hours hasn't all it's not only been striking, but it's also very much in contrast with how the administration responded to the shooting death of Renee Good just a few weeks ago. And Rob, let's bring you in on that.

I mean, what should we take from the different sounds that the White House is making over this issue? Did they get over their skis a little bit? Did the video from the bystanders seem to contradict those initial statements? And now we're learning there's body camera footage to be reviewed?

Is it smart for the White House maybe to take a breath here before they make these declarations? Right. I think that you're absolutely right. Every time you have a criminal situation like this, we've seen in the past where the FBI has perhaps prematurely said things that it came to regret in the days that elapsed as the investigation proceeded.

And so I think, yes, everybody from those Internet sleuths who are quick to evaluate the video footage to the White House itself, let's make sure that we have the proper facts before we make a decision. I am encouraged to see that Tom Holman is going to Minnesota, though, and that the White House and the Governor of Minnesota seem to be finally on the same page when it comes to some level of cooperation. But should the White House Rob do more to rein in some of these administration officials from making these declarations so early on in the wake of something so tragic? Right.

It's difficult. I mean, we live in an age right now where the social media platforms, images, videos that are distributed not by any official channels or even news organizations make their way into the public and the atmosphere. And so I think the administration officials probably feel a need to get in front of the cameras to talk and press conferences and to try to answer questions to the best of their ability. And sometimes they will say things that they may come to regret.

But ultimately, I don't think that now is the time to shy away from the spotlight. I think they probably need to lean in and be more transparent. Okay, Chuck, it's been two weeks since Renee Good's death. Obviously, there would seem to be a, you know, two people could look at the video and have a completely different opinion as to what happened there.

This one seems to be a little bit different. We're starting to see Republicans call for an active investigation. We obviously the president responding differently. Is this just a matter of pressure building over a certain period of time?

Okay, don't take a rose scar to figure out what was on that video. I'm no internet sleuth, but I can tell you what my eyes are. I think it's pretty clear what most people have seen from every angle. Sure, there's lots of things out there on the internet that you can see at any given time, but it's just not the instance here.

I think it's really important when we talk about these investigations to know that local law enforcement were kept away from the scene by federal agents. That's very troublesome to an American citizen who we watch getting murdered in the street. I think it's also important to say that our government administration representatives call this guy an assassin already and a domestic terrorist. And we all saw the video with our eyes.

There was no either one of those things in front of us. That's why I think you see the administration backpedaling now. And how significant do you think the Second Amendment issue is as part of this? Are you surprised how quickly Second Amendment defenders are rushing to criticize the administration's Look, I grew up in rural East Texas in a trailer park around lots of guns and I've been dealing with Republicans coming after me with God, gun, gays in the government since I was 20 years old.

This is a bedrock of what Republicans have always believed in no matter what the instance is that you should be able to carry a law about a citizen, have a right to have a gun, no matter what they're doing. And Rob, do you think conservatives and Republicans in general could be messing with an issue that is very important to their base if they go too far leaning into this idea that he should not have had a weapon in this situation? All right. I think that that is the word there.

Should he have? I mean, yes, he can have a weapon as a concealed carryholder, but should you bring a gun to a protest and be in a situation where, you know, maybe law enforcement makes a mistake? I mean, that is the question that is really central to this particular incident. I don't ultimately think conservatives are shifting their position when it comes to the Second Amendment as a strong defender or the first against Second Amendment myself.

I think ultimately, it's right that Second Amendment groups are probably coming out and defending the right of individuals to carry arms. Okay, Julia, we just got some news that I want to share with you and have you respond to a White White House and one administration official telling us NBC News that Border Control Commander Greg Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis tomorrow. The administration official and one law enforcement official says that CBP is planning to reduce the number of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis sometime this week. How significant is that?

And is this an effort by the administration to de-escalate? It's significant, but I don't think it's particularly surprising. Like I said, just yesterday, Greg Bovino was really on the front lines for the administration defending the handling of what happened in the Friday shooting and now he's on his way out seemingly out of Minneapolis today at the White House Press Briefing Caroline Levitt did note that, you know, he would still continue on in Border Patrol across the country. So I think that was our first clue.

And what does it tell us maybe about just President Trump's overall confidence and the people that are executing his mass deportation plan? Does it show that maybe there's some concern there? I think it shows that there are questions, maybe some concerns. I think it's notable that you've heard people like Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, Senator Ted Cruz, for example, a lot of these Republicans were normally staunchly with the president saying that he needs to recalibrate his strategy when it comes to ICE and Border Patrol, particularly in Minnesota.

So I think this is part of that. So we also saw that Governor Tim Walz had a conversation with President Trump both described it as productive. Now we see this action with bringing Bovino out and reducing the number of CBP officers there. Do you think that this is a sign that they're trying to find some common ground?

People in politics and in public policy know that this is horrible for every person out there American citizens and politics as a whole. I make TV commercials for a living. I run campaigns for a living. I'm going to run an ad to say that money was taken from our US government for Medicaid and Medicare and funding an organization called ICE.

This is your taxpayer's used to kill our own citizens. That's the ad that Republicans are worried about being one against them. Okay, and then Rob will finish with you here. This immigration issue was something that was a net positive for President Trump in the White House.

I'm sure there were a number of House Republicans in particular that were planning on being a net positive for them heading into the midterm elections. Polls are showing us that that's heading in the other direction. Is it important for the administration to figure this out now or is it going to become an issue that weighs on these candidates in the upcoming election? Sure, Ryan, and as you know, I mean, it was the animating issue of the 2024 presidential campaign, maybe only second to the cost of living.

And so I think you have to separate the two issues. There's there's the issue at the border, which the president continues to be very strong on. I think even Democrats acknowledge that he's had wins there. And then there's the issue of immigration enforcement enforcement.

And I think that's what they're trying to recalibrate right now. Okay, we're not talking about we're not talking about the border. We're talking about killing us. This is in our streets.

That's the problem. Okay. And that's where we're going to have to leave it. Chuck gets the last word in Julia Chuck and Rob.

We appreciate you all being here. We thank you so much for your time. And of course, as always, we'll be back tomorrow with more meat to press now. As always, there's more news ahead NBC night.

Thanks for watching. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together.

Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Maykowitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all-new podcast from Bigline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.