Transcript of Minneapolis Shooting Spirals & U.S. Armada Approaches Iran | 1.26.26

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Shut it down. Riaters take over the streets of Minneapolis following the shooting death of an armed anti-ice protester.

I want to remind everybody that this situation and this tragedy did not have to happen. Our law enforcement are doing everything that they can to protect the public.

I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, January 26th. This is Morning Wire.

As the protests grow beyond Minnesota, the political and media battle over what's happening on the ground heats up.

It's a campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed another life.

And Trump sends more US forces to the Middle East as another showdown with Iran seems imminent.

Thanks for waking up with MorningWire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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Thousands engage in protests that often turned into violent riots in Minneapolis over the weekend, following a fatal shooting involving a federal immigration officer and an armed protester.

Here are the details. It's Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. Morning, Amanda. Let's start with this fatal shooting from Saturday. The victim has been identified as 37-year-old Alex Pretty. What have we learned now about the circumstances of this incident?

Well, we know that Pretty was armed while he was interacting with law enforcement and that he had magazines with ammo on him. It is unclear, however, if he had ever brandished that weapon. Also, we know that border patrol agents were trying to conduct an operation to detain an illegal with a violent criminal history when this all went down. That illegal is still at large. Pradee seems to have inserted himself in this situation while Border Patrol is dealing with an agitator. From DHS's perspective, Secretary Christie Noem described the incident as an avoidable tragedy. Here she is on Saturday.

The individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9-millimetre semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently, fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, and agent fired defensive shots. The suspect also had two magazines with ammunition in them that held dozens of rounds.

President Trump responded to the shooting just hours after the incident. He noted Pretty's handgun, but He really criticized Democrat leaders in the state for what he said was inciting insurrection. Obviously, that term insurrection is no accident and very much loaded. The President also questioned if these leaders called off local law enforcement so federal officers would be left unprotected and create this tragic situation.

A serious allegation. What about the video footage of the shooting that's been making the rounds? What can we see going on there?

The footage shows just a lot of chaos going on when Freddie is shot. You can hear agitators blowing whistles, for example. That's meant to distract and cause confusion for officers. While this scuffle is going on, pepper spray is deployed and an officer reportedly, yelled, Gun. That was right before you hear gunshots go off. There have been questions about when exactly Freddie was disarmed, if he was disarmed before the shooting. Analysis from the Wall Street Journal claims that Pretty's handgun was taken by an officer less than one second before you hear 10 shots ring out. Warning to listeners, we're going to play a bit of audio from the incidents, and it's obviously disturbing. What the fuck did you just do?

What the fuck did you just do?

Cpr was administered, but Pradee did die at the scene. We've also heard from the victim's family. They say that Freddie was a carrying ICU nurse at a VA hospital, and they're accusing the Trump administration of telling sickening lies.

In the aftermath of this, things got even more chaotic in Minneapolis. Thousands took to the streets. We've seen reports of a no ice zone being set up. What have we seen since the shooting in the city?

Yeah, I mean, the city was already a powder keg, John, and this fatal shooting really set things off. Yeah. Noam said riders, obstructed and assaulted law enforcement. One officer actually had his finger bit off. There were even direct calls from Farlef Antifa members to attack immigration officers. Here's one Minnesota Antifa member named Kyle Wagner in a video. This was posted by journalist Andy Nell.

They fucked up. It's time to suit up. Boots on the ground. Get your guns and stop these people.

Vice President JD Vance also waved in. He just recently visited ICE agents in Minnesota. He accused local authorities of working with far left agitators to, engage chaos in the city.

Yet another tragedy in Minneapolis, and the situation does feel like it's spiraling further out of control. Amanda, thank you so much for reporting.

You're welcome, John.

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The deadly encounter between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis man has ignited a fierce debate among political leaders that could impact all Americans.

Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Bascham, is here now to detail some of those responses and the fallout. So, Megan, what have the What's your reaction's been to what took place this weekend?

Well, predictably, this incident is having a ripple effect across Washington. One of the biggest is that Senate Democrats are now saying that they will no longer support a budget deal that had already been passed by the House because it includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement released Saturday, and I'll just quote it in full, What's happening in Minnesota is appalling and unacceptable in any American city. Democrats sought common reforms on the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans' refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS Funding Bill is included. Then you're hearing similar things from Dems like Mark Warner of Virginia and even Patty Murray of Washington, who was the one who negotiated this funding package. They say that they will not pass it if it includes that additional funding for DHS. While Republicans control the Senate, they only have 53 seats and will need 60 votes to get that budget passed. Polymarket is now putting the odds of a government shutdown at 80%.

That's in Washington. What about the political leaders in Minnesota? Have we seen any attempts to tone down some of the rhetoric that we heard last week?

No, actually. I would say just the opposite. Daily Wire political reporter, Cameron Archand, has been closely covering the situation for us over the weekend, and he points out that Walsh used extremely loaded terms in his response. Walsh called ICE deployment in the city a occupation.

Following the shooting, Governor Tim Walsh was quick to ask for state cooperation in the investigation, saying he, told the White House that the state must lead the investigation. Let state investigators secure justice as we process the scene, stay peaceful and give them space. Later on Saturday night, he wrote that they think they can provoke us into abandon abandoning our values, saying, We will keep the peace, and we will see this occupation end.

To Cameron's point there, Walls also held a press conference shortly after news of the shooting broke and used that time to denigrate ICE and attack the Trump administration.

Do I have any confidence Donald Trump will do the right thing? No, I don't have a lot of confidence Donald Trump will do the right thing. I do have a lot of confidence that the majority of the American people will do the right thing. I think there cannot be very many people across this country right now after all the reporting that's been done, after everything that's been said under the pretense that they are here about immigration reform, and quit referring to these people as law enforcement. They are not law enforcement.

The police chief of Minneapolis, Brian O'Hara, seemed to follow his boss's lead there and said on CBS that even if an investigation determines that agents did lawfully shoot Alex Pretty, ICE should still stop its efforts to enforce immigration law in his city.

I don't think that even matters at this point because there is so much outrage and concern around what is happening in the city.

Then on the other side of the aisle, DHS is out urging Minnesota residents not to interfere with ICE operations. They're pointing out that these kinds of tragedies are not occurring in other cities where ICE has been deployed because in other cities, local law enforcement are working with ICE and are not encouraging organized protesters to obstruct their operations. This was DHS Secretary Christie Noem on Fox.

We do We know that he came to that scene and impeded a law enforcement operation, which is against federal law.

It's a felony.

When he did that, interacting with those agents, when they tried to get him to disengage, he became aggressive and resisted them. That's how this tragedy unfolded, and we hope we never see it again. It grieves me to think about what his family is going through, but it also grieves me what's happening to these law enforcement officers every day out on the streets with the violence that they face.

That was something that was echoed by Deputy AG Todd Blanch.

Why? In one city, in one place, do we have these problems? We deport 10 times the number of illegal aliens out of Texas than we do out of Minneapolis. Why do we hear nothing out of Texas about any of the same problems that we have in Minneapolis.

I'll tell you why.

Because in Texas, we have the cooperation and support of local law enforcement so that we can do these operations safely, keeping US citizens and others protected and safe.

Now, as Amanda noted, we have heard from President Trump. Is there any indication from him or other White House officials that they'll actually order ICE to pull back from Minnesota?

Yeah, no, not right now there isn't. The President's response so far is to point the finger ultimately at Minnesota officials. He's asking where the local police have been, and he also continues to highlight what's driving this heightened federal presence in the state. He said on Truth Social, quoting here, Minnesota is a criminal cover-up the massive financial fraud that has gone on. It doesn't sound right now like the administration plans on backing down, but we will have to see if the budget battle changes that calculation.

It sounds like both sides are digging in at this point. Megan, thanks for reporting.

Yeah, my Pleasure.

President Trump says he's dispatched an armada to Iran as the death toll in the country continues to climb amid anti-government protests.

Daily Wire reporter Tim pierce is here to talk about the latest in Iran and what Washington's next steps could be. Morning, Tim. Let's start with President Trump's announcement. He said last week that US forces are on their way to Iran. How many forces are we talking about?

Yeah, President Trump didn't give specifics last week. He only said the forces on their way to the Middle East are massive. Here was Trump on Thursday. We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we'll see what happens. The armada he spoke about then is the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which was last stationed in the South China Sea and reportedly reached the Middle East yesterday. The strike group includes, of course, the Lincoln, as well as three guided missile destroyers. The Lincoln itself is carrying five fighter squadrons. More cargo jets and aerial refueling tankers have also been sent to the region, too.

When Trump says just in case, what does that mean? What exactly is he watching for? What might actually trigger action?

It's a good question. The President drew a red line for Iran a few weeks ago, and it was the mass slaughter of protesters speaking out against the regime. Trump said, If Iran cracks down and kills protesters like it has done in the past, we will step in with force and stop it. Now, although reliable information has been tough to get out of Iran, All reports indicate that that mass slaughter that Trump warned against has happened and likely continues to happen. The only real question is how many people have died. Officially, the number of deaths from the protests are already in the thousands, but unofficial numbers given by human rights groups, opposition groups, even reports from officials inside the regime, suggests that the number of deaths are well into the tens of thousands. According to time, two senior officials in the country's Ministry of Health told the outlet that the death toll over just two days on January eighth and ninth could reach 30,000. But the President last week was still hesitant to accuse the regime of forcing our hand. Yet, here's Trump again. I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely.

I saw 837 hangings on Thursday, and I said, If you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit. It'll make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts. And an hour before this horrible thing was going to take place. They canceled it. So that was a good sign. But we have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it. We'll see. Now, as we've come to expect about Trump, things can escalate really fast all at once. And whatever he says about what the regime is doing, the fact is he has dispatched a lot more military hardware to the region. So the possibility of a strike is still very much on the table.

Right. Trump's strikes have been swift and caught the enemy off guard so far. Now, on another foreign policy issue, Trump has been very critical of a number of our allies recently over what he says are actions that undermine our national security. Greenland was a major focus, but what's the latest on that front?

Well, now that Trump's concerns over Greenland appear to be addressed for now, he has turned his attention to Canada over its move to strengthen ties with China. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carny said that Canada has reached a preliminary agreement to lower trade barriers with Beijing. But Trump said that if that were to happen, the US would increase tariffs on Canadian imports by 100 %. Trump said, quote, If Governor Carny thinks he is going to make Canada a drop off port for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.

Well, Trump certainly knows how to escalate things when it meets his purposes. Tim, thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

Another story we're tracking, the massive snowstorm that swept half the country and left more than 800,000 homes without electricity and has forced the cancelation of over 10,000 flights. The mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, with the promise of extremely low temperatures in the coming days, has prompted declarations of federal emergency disasters. President Trump approved the status for several states this this weekend, including Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Stay warm and stay safe.

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.