Late Breaking: Trump Admin Says Bovino 'Very Much' Still Leading CBP, Despite Reported Firing in Notoriously Anti-Trump 'Atlantic' Mag
Media accounts claiming the Border Patrol leader Greg Bovino has been fired are wrong, according to the White House.
Speculation that Bovino was being fired ran rampant after The Atlantic posted an article saying that in the aftermath of the second fatal shooting of a civilian by federal agents in Minnesota, Bovino was being fired.
As noted by Newsweek, the media echo chamber quickly picked up the allegation, with ran in CNN and was published by the Associated Press.
The Atlantic’s report said Bovino will return to his former position in El Centro, California, and then retire.
The allegations brought a surge of denials from the Trump administration.
“Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“As Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated from the White House podium, Greg Bovino is a key part of the President’s team and a great American,” she said.
Leavitt had called Bovino “a wonderful man and he’s a great professional.”
“He is very much going to continue CBP throughout and across the country. Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis,” she said.
Speculation about Bovino was linked to President Donald Trump’s decision to send border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to oversee the operations of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting criminal illegal immigrants.
A report from NBC said that the president is shifting pieces and adapting his tactics in response to the reaction to videos coming out of Minnesota concerning the death of Alex Pretti, but was still committed to rounding up illegal immigrants.
“The visuals were not playing well. He understands TV. … He saw it for himself,” NBC quoted a GOP lawmaker it did not name as saying.
“Our supporters will continue to support a crackdown” on immigration, the source said. “But there is an understanding that this weekend changed some things.”
NBC said that vast numbers of agents are needed even for small operations.
“The problem is, in order to get the felons out it takes a massive team of federal agents,” the source NBC said was “close to the White House” said.
“So you see 10, 12 or 60 people to get a guy. Then the crowd gets incited and the rhetoric heats up and people are blowing whistles and then you see the tear gas. And it’s like, ‘What are we doing?’” the source said.
“I think the public perception is we need to make sure what we’re doing is done well and with excellence and get back to [focusing on] the worst of the worst,” the person said.
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