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WASHINGTON — <\/span>Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/a> didn’t simply criticize the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n Following the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti<\/a> by a U.S. Border Patrol officer<\/a>, the Louisiana Republican warned of broader implications for the federal government. <\/p>\n \u201cThe credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,\u201d Cassidy wrote<\/a> in a social media post, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. \u201cThere must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Trust is one of a president’s most valuable currencies, especially in a time of crisis. During his second term, President Donald Trump<\/a> has persistently undermined the trust and credibility of major universities, national law firms and media and taken punitive actions against them. His supporters largely either endorsed those actions or stayed mum. <\/p>\n Now the credibility question is aimed at his administration. While the criticism is not directly aimed at the president by his supporters, it is a sign that trust is eroding over some of his most important policies. Administration officials gave one account<\/a> of the shooting in Minneapolis and contemporaneous video provided a decidedly different one.<\/p>\n In the hours after Pretti’s killing, top Trump officials including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> were quick to cast Pretti as an instigator who \u201capproached\u201d officers with a gun and acted violently. But videos<\/a> from the scene show Pretti being pushed by an officer before a half-dozen agents descend on him. <\/p>\n During the scuffle, he held a phone but is never seen brandishing the 9mm semiautomatic handgun police say he was licensed to carry. The administration has said investigations are ongoing, though information hasn’t yet emerged to support some of the provocative initial claims. <\/p>\n \u201cWe trust our national leaders to tell us accurately about the world that we don\u2019t experience directly but about which they have knowledge,\u201d said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. \u201cIf someone is credible in that role, then their description of reality should match your perception of reality if you\u2019re a dispassionate, fair individual.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House seemed to try to ease the conflict Monday. Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz<\/a> spoke and both suggested their conversation was productive. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who has been at the center of the administration\u2019s aggressive immigration enforcement surge nationwide, is expected to soon leave Minneapolis. <\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, sought to distance Trump from some of the initial claims about Pretti \u2014 including allegations that he was a domestic terrorist \u2014 noting they didn’t come from the president himself.<\/p>\n Still, lawmakers from both parties \u2014 including many Republicans \u2014 called for independent investigations and, perhaps most importantly, trust. <\/p>\n In calling for a \u201ctransparent, independent investigation,\u201d Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, wrote to constituents online that \u201cyou’ve trusted me, and maintaining that trust matters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI disagree with Secretary Noem\u2019s premature DHS response, which came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n Trump and his team have spent much of his second term studiously feeding content to social media platforms<\/a> to engage their most loyal supporters in ways that independent fact checkers have found to be distorted or baseless. During its immigration<\/a> crackdown, the administration’s accounts have posted unflattering images of people being taken into custody.<\/p>\n The extent of efforts to manipulate images<\/a> became clear last week when the White House posted a picture<\/a> on its X page of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying with her hands behind her back as she was escorted by a blurred person wearing a badge. The photo was captioned in all caps: \u201cArrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n A photo posted by Noem\u2019s account showed the same image with Levy Armstrong wearing a neutral expression.<\/p>\n During the 2024 campaign, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance<\/a>, fueled false claims online that Haitians in an Ohio community<\/a> were abducting and eating pets. Pressed on the issue, Vance said he was amplifying the claims to draw attention to immigration policies advocated by Democrats. <\/p>\n \u201cIf I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do,\u201d Vance said at the time, quickly clarifying that he \u201ccreated the focus that allowed the media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by policies.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump is hardly the first president to face questions about trust. <\/p>\n President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration was undone by his handling of the Vietnam War, which ushered in an era of broad skepticism about Washington. Just 38% of Americans said last year that they trusted the federal government’s ability to handle domestic problems at least a fair amount, according to Gallup polling. That’s down from 70% in 1972.<\/p>\n Once they leave the White House, presidents are often candid about mistakes that eroded their credibility. In his memoir, President George W. Bush<\/a> wrote about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was a predicate for launching a deadly and costly war there. <\/p>\n \u201cThat was a massive blow to our credibility \u2014 my credibility,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNo one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn’t find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n President Joe Biden’s<\/a> botched withdrawal from Afghanistan marked a turning point in his administration. And in her memoir of the 2024 campaign, his vice president, Kamala Harris<\/a>, wrote of rejecting the Biden campaign’s talking points after his dismal debate performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI was not about to tell the American people that their eyes had lied,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI would not jeopardize my own credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n But none of that compares to the credibility challenge facing Trump, according to Barbara Perry, the co-director of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia, who noted the sheer volume of lies and exaggerations that have emerged from his administration.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump is unique,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you count up all of the times he has prevaricated, it would have to outweigh all other presidencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n