As part of the fallout over the Saturday shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Donald Trump held a two-hour Monday night meeting with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski and other key members of his administration.
According to MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire, who was not invited was as notable as who participated.
With the White House reeling and the Department of Homeland Security facing heightened scrutiny after two killings of innocent bystanders in less than three weeks, the president is reportedly “recalibrating” how his administration is managing its anti-immigrant roundups and media strategy.
According to the New York Times, “The meeting came after Ms. Noem requested to see the president, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.”
Invited to hear Noem and Lewandowski was White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director.
With the future direction of DHS being under discussion, Lemire raised an eyebrow that Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration purge, was excluded.
Addressing the Trump ICE turmoil, Lemire told the “Morning Joe” panel, “We saw [Border Patrol Commander Gregory] Bovino being moved out — The Atlantic is reporting that even he's soon to retire. And then we had Secretary Noem and Corey Lewandowski in this meeting at the White House yesterday — Stephen Miller, not part of it, interestingly enough.”
“And we're told that their job is safe for now, but it's very clear there's at least a little bit of a de-escalation from Minnesota as the president and his team see poll numbers and realize this is not going well for them,” he added.