emptywheel: Days after Daily Mail Implicates Stephen Miller in Alex Pretti Murder, Daily Mail Responds with Boobies [View all]
The most important passage from the Daily Mail (archive link) you need to read this week are these paragraphs describing how, in advance of the Alex Pretti murder, Stephen Miller had ordered DHS goons to vanquish [protesters] through force of arms.
So we need to engage these protesters, and we need to vanquish them by force of arms. They need to be vanquished by any force necessary, Miller reportedly told immigration leaders, according to the source.
Mere hours after a Border Patrol and ICE agents fatally shot Pretti, an ICU nurse, Miller called the victim an assassin on social media.
This is why he f***ing needs to be fired. Its absolutely nuts, another senior DHS official familiar with the calls told the Daily Mail. Hes the architect of Renee Good and Alex Prettis deaths.
I already pointed out, the day that Renee Good was shot (after which Trump surged more goons into Minnesota) that there was circumstantial evidence that Miller was giving Greg Bovino orders to directly confront protestors
...
But even though, from the earliest
Josh Dawsey article recording Trump reacting against the bad PR, Millers role had come under scrutiny, it was Noem, along with Bovino, who were ousted. In fact, that Daily Mail article even notes the
Marc Caputo article where someone in Noems immediate vicinity (fairly) noted that Miller was the one giving the orders (on Xitter,
Caputo notes he was pitched the Boobies story, too, on February 13).
Daily Mail explains thats why she was fired.
Noem, facing her own pressures for mishandling the crisis, vented about Millers influence to others close in her circle, reportedly telling an anonymous Axios source: Everything Ive done, Ive done at the direction of the president and Stephen.
That comment about Miller ultimately contributed to her downfall, sources tell the Daily Mail.
https://emptywheel.net/2026/03/31/days-after-daily-mail-implicates-stephen-miller-in-alex-pretti-murder-daily-mail-responds-with-boobies/
(my bolding on the key Miller quote - that's his "it's OK to kill them" order)
So it looks like Miller (or supporters) pushed the "boobies" story as revenge on Noem (or supporters) putting the blame on Miller for the DHS murders, after having got Noem fired.