Will Trump “de-escalate” Minneapolis tensions after Alex Pretti killing?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does Donald Trump actually mean when he says his administration plans to “de-escalate a little” in Minneapolis? On Tuesday Democratic Rep Ihan Omar was attacked at a local event in the city and protests are continuing following Saturday’s shooting of US citizen Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents. Video evidence contradicts claims by Trump administration officials immediately after Pretti’s killing that he was a “domestic terrorist”, planning a “massacre” and “brandishing” a weapon. In this episode, Sarah, Anthony and Marianna discuss the president’s controversial response to the attack on Democrat Ihan Omar, and whether Trump can actually de-escalate tensions when thousands of ICE agents remain in Minnesota.
HOSTS:
- Sarah Smith, North America Editor - Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent - Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent
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This episode was made by Purvee Pattni, Kris Jalowiecki and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | President Trump is saying he wants to de-escalate tensions in Minnesota after the killing of |
| 0:11.3 | the US citizen Alex Preti by federal immigration agents at the weekend. |
| 0:15.8 | And Donald Trump has sent the very controversial Border Patrol chief out of the state. But there are still thousands |
| 0:22.9 | of ICE immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minnesota and the protests are carrying on. |
| 0:28.5 | So how much of a de-escalation can we really expect? And if we do, what does that mean for Donald |
| 0:34.8 | Trump's deportation policy? Welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 0:40.5 | AmeriCast. |
| 0:41.3 | AmeriCast from BBC News. When Donald Trump calls, they say, yes, sir. Right away, sir. Happy to lick |
| 0:47.8 | your boot, sir. We are the sickest country in the world. Oh dear. Are you worried that |
| 0:53.0 | billionaires are going to go hungry? Of course the president supports peaceful protest. What a Oh dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry? |
| 0:55.0 | Of course the president supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question. Are you still talking about |
| 0:59.1 | Jeffrey Epstein? |
| 1:05.1 | Hello, it's Sarah here in the BBC's Washington Bureau. |
| 1:14.2 | And it is Marianna in the worldwide headquarters of America's in London. |
| 1:18.5 | And it's Anthony, still up to my neck and snow here in my home in Arlington, Virginia. |
| 1:23.3 | Right. So a lot has happened since we last talked about Minneapolis on Monday's podcast when we were answering your various questions about it. |
| 1:26.6 | We've had this preliminary report, haven't we, into what happened? |
| 1:29.9 | And the president has been talking about Alex Preti's killing. |
| 1:33.4 | Sarah, if you were going to sort of get us up to speed with where we're at now, |
| 1:37.0 | what would be your sort of summary of it? |
| 1:39.0 | Well, so to briefly run through what happened for anybody who's not caught up, |
... |
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