Trump claims Alex Pretti’s “stock has gone way down” after new video
President Donald Trump repeated claims that Alexi Pretti, a nurse killed by ICE officers in Minnesota, was an “agitator” and “perhaps insurrectionist.” Trump has repeatedly referred to protestors in Minnesota as paid agitators with no evidence.
Trump posted his comments on the Veteran’s Affairs hospital ICU nurse early Friday. “Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer,” he wrote.
A video of Pretti being pushed to the ground by ICE officers in a protest 11 days before his fatal shooting was released earlier this week. He was filmed yelling at officers as they entered their vehicles and kicking the car’s taillight twice, breaking it. Officers then left the car and wrestled Pretti to the ground, holding him for around 20 seconds before leaving.
As officers held him down, other protestors yelled and jeered. When Pretti got up, there appeared to be a gun tucked into his waistband. He also had a gun, holstered on his hip, the day he was killed — but an officer removed the gun before Pretti was shot by two other officers as he was held down.
“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!” Trump said.
Trump disagreed with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s comments calling Pretti a “would-be assassin” on Tuesday at a press conference. “With that being said, you know, you can’t have guns,” he followed up. “But it’s just a very unfortunate incident.”
Since Pretti’s killing, Trump has ousted former Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, the face of the mass deportation effort in Minneapolis, and sent in border czar Tom Homan.
“I do not want to hear everything that has been done here has been perfect,” Homan said Thursday.
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