A former top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, who helped create the agency after the September 11 attacks, is urging Congress to impeach and remove President Donald Trump. This call comes after the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis.
John Mitnick served as DHS general counsel during Trump’s first term and was involved in the department’s early formation in 2002 and 2003. He made his statement in a social media post on Saturday after videos emerged showing federal officers wrestling Pretti to the ground during a protest.
“I helped to establish DHS in 2002 and 2003 and later had the homeland security role as a White House Counsel and served as General Counsel of the Department,” Mitnick wrote. “I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, cruelty, and authoritarian behavior. Impeach and remove Trump, now.”
Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse and was killed Saturday morning during an operation involving federal agents in Minneapolis, according to local and national reports. Multiple videos recorded by bystanders captured parts of the encounter, drawing renewed attention to DHS tactics in the city.
DHS initially claimed Pretti posed an imminent threat and approached officers with a handgun. However, video reviewed by news organizations seemed to show him holding a phone when officers moved in, according to People. The Washington Post reported that an agent took a handgun from Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, but he was not seen holding a gun when officers took him down.
I helped to establish DHS in 2002 and 2003 and later had the homeland security portfolio as a White House Counsel and served as General Counsel of the Department.
I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty.
Impeach and remove Trump—now. https://t.co/4yWbZK2JOo
— John Mitnick (@JohnMitnick) January 24, 2026
Mitnick’s post highlighted a separate message from conservative attorney George Conway, a longtime critic of Trump, who wrote, “The deadly shooting in Minneapolis today was a straight-up execution of a protester by Trump’s federal forces.”
“The thugs wrestled him to the ground. They pistol-whipped him, then shot him multiple times. They murdered him. The videos don’t lie. A man is dead, killed in cold blood,” Conway wrote. “There is no justification for this intentional killing. And make no mistake, that killing was done on behalf of Donald J. Trump.”
Conway also stated, “Trump’s militarization of Minneapolis and other parts of our nation isn’t about illegal immigration,” arguing that the operation aimed to intimidate political opponents and punish dissent. “It’s about a corrupt, out-of-control regime’s effort to provoke citizens in order to justify the violence it wants to commit against them so that it can maintain its power. That is tyranny. It is a crime by the government,” he wrote.
Mitnick’s statement adds to a growing political backlash against federal enforcement actions in Minnesota following two fatal shootings this month related to immigration operations, including the January 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, by an ICE agent, according to CBS Minnesota and other reports.
Mitnick served as DHS general counsel from 2018 to 2019 after being confirmed by the Senate during Trump’s first term, according to DHS and biographical records. Newsweek reported his call for impeachment as Democrats and civil liberties groups pushed for investigations into the Minneapolis shooting and the federal use of force.
