A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Morning Memo Live!
A small number of tickets are still available for tomorrow night’s event in D.C. I’ll be talking about DOJ weaponization with a stellar panel:
- Stacey Young, a DOJ veteran who is the founder and executive director at Justice Connection;
- Kyle R. Freeny, a former DOJer who was a member of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and is now senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group; and
- Anna Bower, senior editor at Lawfare
Ticket information here (TPM members should look out for a special discount code in your inboxes to get 2-for-1 tickets. Reach out to allegra@talkingpointsmemo.com if you didn’t receive or can’t find it.) Hope to see you there!
Authoritarian Trickery
Since the Trump administration abandoned its initial false claims about Alex Pretti — reportedly authored by Stephen Miller — it has repeatedly fallen back on the position that it cannot comment on the fatal shooting by two Customs and Border Protection agents because there is an ongoing investigation.
As I pieced together in yesterday’s Morning Memo by reviewing a cluster of newly filed declarations from federal law enforcement officials, their investigation is limited to an administrative review of the use of force by the officers who shot Pretti, not a DOJ criminal probe under civil rights laws. That is to say, the inquiry is focused on whether officers broke CBP’s internal rules, not the law.
As MSNow has since confirmed, the Trump DOJ has decided not to open a civil rights investigation into the Pretti shooting, the same decision it made in the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good:
A Justice Department official confirmed that there is no current DOJ investigation but said, “We are not going to prejudge the facts. At some later point, if the evidence presents itself, we may investigate.”
As in the Good shooting, the focus of at least one federal investigation is not on the use of deadly force but on the victim:
A Customs and Border Protection office will investigate whether its own officers followed agency policy in the shooting, according to the people. Another DHS unit, Homeland Security Investigations, will investigate whether Pretti broke any laws, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Re-read that last sentence: “whether Pretti broke any laws.”
MSNow also reports that federal agencies are still not sharing information about the fatal shootings with Minnesota law enforcement or giving them access to evidence.
You wouldn’t think the clumsy rhetorical trick of hiding behind a pending investigation to avoid immediate accountability would work, but the number of news stories citing the federal investigation as if it’s a real thing over the past 48 hours suggests the trickery is more effective than it should be.
It’s not a new trick:
This Was Not DHS’ First Rodeo
In all 16 incidents since July in which DHS officers have fired shots, the Trump administration has publicly declared their actions justified before waiting for investigations to be completed, the WaPo reports.
As Aaron Blake notes: “This kind of maximalist, factually challenged approach isn’t just commensurate with who Trump is; it’s who the top Department of Homeland Security officials involved have shown themselves to be. This was very much par for the course. And to the extent the name of the game was sobriety, steadiness and credibility, these might not have been the people for the job.”
It Wasn’t Alex Pretti’s First Rodeo Either
About a week before his death, Alex Pretti suffered a broken rib at the hands of federal officers, who tackled him when while he was protesting a detention operation, CNN reports:
The earlier incident started when he stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot, and began shouting and blowing his whistle, according to a source who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution.
Pretti later told the source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – an encounter that left him with a broken rib. The agents quickly released him at the scene.
“That day, he thought he was going to die,” the source told CNN.
The Public Meaning of Masculinity
Brian Beutler contrasts the thuggish masculinity extolled by MAGA with the bravery of Alex Pretti:
Pretti was unafraid. His last act was to help a woman who had been tackled to the ground by a masked invader—to place himself between her and him. He died in a heroic way, but if he’d survived, he’d have been welcomed home by a grateful community. Strangers, who would have wanted to get to know him, learn from him, and see him safely through the rest of his life. He would have lived the life of fulfillment that MAGA wants you to believe is only possible if you behave like a thug.
‘Demented Shit’
Mass Deportation Watch: Minnesota Edition
- After threat from the chief federal judge in Minnesota that he would haul the acting ICE director into court for contempt of court proceedings unless it complied with his previous order to release an ICE detainee, the Trump administration released the man, his lawyer said.
- The government of Ecuador filed a protest with the U.S. embassy after an ICE agent attempted to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis without permission but was rebuffed by consular staff. “One ICE officer can be heard responding by threatening to ‘grab’ the staffer if he touched the agent before agreeing to leave,” the AP reports.
- A very informative NYT analysis uses one AP photo of federal agents conducting a warrantless raid in Minneapolis to illustrate the militarization of U.S. law enforcement
Fuck Around and Find Out
Nine state prosecutors from big blue cities have launched a coalition to assist in prosecuting federal law enforcement officers who violate state laws. The pungent name of the organization — Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach — left the NYT struggling to to convey the word play: “Its acronym, F.A.F.O., references a slang term for negative consequences”
Quote of the Day
“It’s not like the SS are coming.”—Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani trying to tamp down domestic concerns that ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations will be helping with security at next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy
Man Arrested in Assault on Rep. Omar
Anthony James Kazmierczak, 55, was arrested for the assault on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a town hall in Minneapolis last evening after he disrupted the meeting by spraying an unknown foul-smelling substance on her:
Omar declined to end her appearance after the assault. “We will continue,” she said. “These fucking assholes are not going to get away with this.”
For the Record …
We know exactly who Trump is at this point, but yesterday offered a couple of especially pointed examples of the curdled soul of the man:
- On the assault on Rep. Omar …
Just spoke to Pres. Trump. I asked him if he had seen the video of Rep. Omar being attacked and sprayed by a substance.
— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) January 28, 2026
“No. I don't think about her. I think she's a fraud. I really don't think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,” the president said.
I…
In related news, Trump — in a move that would have been a standalone scandal in any other administration — revealed on social media before the Omar assault that she is the subject of Justice Department criminal investigation that apparently dates back to the Biden administration.
- On the two fatal shootings in Minneapolis …
Erasing American History
The U.S. Park Service has undertaken a new wave of removals of exhibits, signs, and interpretative aids that whitewash U.S. history to conform to a sanitized MAGA revisionism embodied in President Trump’s March executive order.
The changes have hit 17 additional parks mostly in the West, including Grand Canyon, Glacier, Big Bend, and Zion, the WaPo reports: “The removal orders include descriptions of how climate change is driving the disappearance of the glaciers at Glacier National Park and a wayside display at the Grand Canyon referring to the forced removal of Native Americans.”
When White Supremacy Is Official Gov’t Policy
The NYT catalogues dozens of social media posts by government agencies over the past month that include iconography associated with far-right extremist groups.
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FRIST!
Um…you sure about that? It’s pretty bad here right now.
I was sitting in a classroom my senior year in college.