Trump Team Demands Right to Destroy Evidence in Alex Pretti Shooting

Donald Trump’s administration is asking for permission to destroy evidence in its so-called investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Patrol agents.

The Trump administration filed a legal motion Monday opposing a federal judge’s order preventing it from tampering with evidence related to Pretti’s death, The New York Times reported. While it’s not uncommon for the Trump administration to oppose judges’ orders against it, this case seems particularly unnecessary—and suspicious.

U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud issued an order Saturday barring federal agents from “destroying or altering evidence,” in response to a request from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, or BCA. This order referred to evidence “removed from the scene” or evidence “taken into [the government’s] exclusive custody.”

In a signed declaration, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said the Minneapolis Police Department had requested his agency’s presence at the scene but that when his agents arrived, Department of Homeland Security officers turned them away. DHS also did not respond to subsequent requests to access the scene.

“After the FBI cleared the scene without providing the BCA access, local and state law enforcement officers were unable to hold the scene, and it was overrun by individuals in the area,” Evans said. “The BCA was thus unable to examine the scene.”

The BCA has historically handled investigations into shootings involving federal law enforcement, and has typically done so without federal involvement, according to Evans.

Clearly, DHS is taking unprecedented actions to control the investigation into the second broad daylight killing of a civilian by its agents in just the past month. When coupled with Customs and Border Patrol’s efforts to shield its officers from accountability, and Trump officials’ desperation to change the subject, it seems we may be looking at a bona fide cover-up.

Meanwhile, what we know about Pretti’s senseless killing is limited to the footage captured by multiple eyewitnesses. Video from several angles of the incident showed that Pretti was tackled by multiple federal agents after he approached a protester who’d been pepper-sprayed. When the agents realized the man they’d beaten and pinned to the ground was armed, they took his gun, and two of the agents shot him roughly 10 times.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Monday that the deadly incident was captured by body cameras worn by multiple DHS agents involved in the shooting. It’s not clear whether this footage will be released to the public.