U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to attend a New Year's Eve party with members and guests at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
An author who has written four books about Donald Trump revealed on Tuesday what caused the president to course-correct his deportation operations in Minneapolis.
Trump surged immigration officers into Minneapolis under the guise of combating social benefits fraud, a move that has been met with stiff pushback from local officials and community members alike. Immigration officers have been responsible for two high-profile killings in Minneapolis since they arrived. Experts have said the killings were legally dubious, and the administration decided to tell its own narrative about the circumstances despite evidence from eyewitnesses that contradicts their accounts.
All the hoopla in Minneapolis is also overshadowing an important event scheduled for this week, journalist Michael Wolff said on a new episode of "Inside Trump's Head," a podcast he co-hosts with Joana Coles. First lady Melania Trump's Amazon documentary is scheduled to premiere on Thursday at The Kennedy Center, an event that is getting almost no press coverage because of Trump's immigration forces.
"It is one of the things, and almost everyone within the White House acknowledges that this is a trip wire," Wolff said. "This is something that is not allowed to happen. You cannot alienate the first lady to the extent that she makes it an issue with the president."
Wolff added that Melania, whom he described as "America's most famous immigrant," was responsible for overturning the Trump administration's family separation policy during the first administration.
"So the president is not, as we've said so many times before, moved by normal political considerations, but he is moved by a pissed-off wife," he added.
On Monday, Trump said he spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats. Details of the call shared by all three parties suggested that the Trump administration would start reducing the number of immigration officers in the city.
During a town hall on Tuesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said there were about 5,000 agents in the city. About 800 have departed since last weekend, she added.