Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire for issuing misleading and incendiary information that claimed immigration agents killed an armed Minnesota protestor Saturday because he wanted to "massacre" them.

• That language has now become a source of controversy in the Trump administration.
• White House officials are blaming Customs and Border Patrol for furnishing inaccurate information, while others are targeting Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and top Trump adviser, sixsources with knowledge of the situation told Axios.

Why it matters: The episode illustrates the confusion that gripped the administration after the Saturday shooting death of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. And it shows the influence of Miller, Trump's close and longest-serving political adviser whose dominion in the White House far exceeds his title.

• Miller's power extends to de facto oversight of Noem, though she's a Cabinet secretary who technically outranks him.
• "Everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen," Noem told a person who relayed her remarks to Axios.

Zoom in: Immediately after Pretti was fatally shot in Minneapolis about 10:05am ET on Saturday, administration officials in Washington knew they had a potential disaster on their hands but had little information.

• The officers directly involved in the shooting "all shut up and got lawyers real quick so there wasn't a lot of information," one source briefed on the statement said.
• ...

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