The Trump administration is grappling with the fallout over its handling of the shooting death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy at a rally Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Clive, Iowa. CLIVE, Iowa — President Donald Trump on Tuesday made his first big pitch ahead of this year’s midterm elections on his administration’s economic performance, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.
Trump gave a speech in a suburb of Des Moines where he talked up the tax cuts he signed into law last year and took credit for the soaring performance of the stock market, saying that he “made a lot of people rich,” including those “that I don’t even like.” The president also slipped into the third person to tell Iowans, who are expected to reflect their feelings on his presidency when they vote in two highly competitive congressional races this year, that, “Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming.”The trip for the Republican president was part of a White House push to focus more on affordability ahead of elections in November that will determine control of Congress. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on economic issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis. On the ground in Iowa, Trump first made a stop at a local restaurant, where he met some locals and sat for an interview with Fox News Channel — in which he said he was attempting to “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota.The latest effort comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in Iowa’s northern neighbor. Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, Trump said he was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Iowa. As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about Pretti’s killing. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post.When asked if he thought Pretti’s killing was justified, Trump called it “a very sad situation” and said a “big investigation” was underway.“I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said. He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was quick to cast Pretti as a violent instigator, would not be resigning. Later, as he greeted diners at an Iowa restaurant, Trump weighed in further with comments that were likely to exacerbate frustration among some of his backers who are also strong Second Amendment proponents.He called it a “very, very unfortunate incident but said, “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”Trump was last in Iowa ahead of the July 4 holiday to kick off the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary, which morphed largely into a celebration of his major spending and tax cut package hours after Congress had approved it. Trump, speaking on Tuesday in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines, talked up the wide-ranging tariffs he imposed on nearly all U.S. trading partners. He also promoted the deals he’s struck with drug makers to get them to lower costs on some prescription drugs.Republicans are hoping that Trump’s visit to the state on Tuesday draws focus back to that tax bill, which will be a key part of their pitch as they ask voters to keep them in power in November. “I invited President Trump back to Iowa to highlight the real progress we’ve made: delivering tax relief for working families, securing the border, and growing our economy,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said in a statement in advance of his trip. “Now we’ve got to keep that momentum going and pass my affordable housing bill, deliver for Iowa’s energy producers, and bring down costs for working families.” Trump’s affordability tour has taken him to Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as the White House tries to marshal the president’s political power to appeal to voters in key swing states. But Trump’s penchant for going off-script has sometimes taken the focus off cost-of-living issues and his administration’s plans for how to combat it. In Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump insisted that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats were using the term affordability as a “hoax” to hurt him. At that event, Trump also griped that immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation.Although it was a swing state just a little more than a decade ago, Iowa in recent years has been reliably Republican in national and statewide elections. Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024 against Democrat Kamala Harris. Still, two of Iowa’s four congressional districts have been among the most competitive in the country and are expected to be again in this year’s midterm elections. Trump already has endorsed Republican Reps. Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Democrats, who landed three of Iowa’s four House seats in the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, see a prime opportunity to unseat Iowa incumbents. This election will be the first since 1968 with open seats for both governor and U.S. senator at the top of the ticket after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst opted out of reelection bids. The political shake-ups have rippled throughout the state, with Republican Reps. Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson seeking new offices for governor and for U.S. senator, respectively. Democrats hope Rob Sand, the lone Democrat in statewide office who is running for governor, will make the entire state more competitive with his appeal to moderate and conservative voters and his $13 million in cash on hand.Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Maya Sweedler in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report. Canadian prime minister rolls his eyes at US Treasury secretary, telling Trump administration he meant what he said at DavosLetter: Spectral evidence in Minneapolis
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