Trump tight-lipped on whether he backs agents’ shooting of Pretti
President Trump declined to say whether he supports the Border Patrol agents’ decision to shoot and kill 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a Minneapolis immigration operation, telling reporters his administration is “reviewing everything.” He said he dislikes shootings but criticized Pretti for reportedly open-carrying a “very powerful, fully-loaded” handgun, echoing the Department of Homeland Security’s initial account that Pretti posed a lethal threat. Bystander video, however, shows Pretti holding a cellphone, being pepper-sprayed and dragged to the ground, and an agent appearing to remove a weapon from his waistband before he was shot, casting doubt on the DHS narrative. The killing prompted bipartisan backlash and calls for examination and the removal of federal agents from Minneapolis; agents involved have been reassigned, and Trump said some agents will eventually leave the city while others may remain to pursue a separate fraud probe.
Trump tight-lipped on whether he backs agents’ decision to shoot Pretti
President Donald Trump dodged on whether he supported federal agents’ decision to shoot and kill 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday during an immigration operation.
Trump was pressed by Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey on whether Border Patrol agents responded appropriately when they killed Pretti, who briefly intervened when an agent pushed a woman to the ground during the operation. According to Dawsey, Trump twice did not answer the question, before saying his administration was “reviewing everything.”
“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” the president responded.
Trump did express displeasure with the shooting as a whole, while remaining critical of Pretti’s decision to open-carry a handgun while protesting.
“I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,” he said. “But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully-loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.”
The Department of Homeland Security said after the shooting that Pretti was armed with a “9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and likely “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Trump appeared to stand by that account on Sunday, fixating on the gun itself and calling it “dangerous and unpredictable” and suggesting it could have fired unexpectedly.
Bystander footage, however, has largely called that characterization into question. Pretti is seen holding just his cell phone during the entire encounter and only briefly steps between the agent and the woman, before being pepper-sprayed and later dragged to the ground by at least five agents. While he was armed, an agent appears to remove the weapon from Pretti’s waistband and away from the scene just before he is shot dead.
The shooting has led to backlash from both sides of the political spectrum, with multiple congressional Republicans calling for an investigation and the removal of federal immigration agents from Minneapolis.
BORDER PATROL AGENTS INVOLVED IN PRETTI SHOOTING REASSIGNED
Trump appeared open to that move in the Wall Street Journal interview, saying federal agents will leave the city “at some point.”
He did, however, maintain that some agents would be staying indefinitely to continue investigating the Minnesota fraud scandal, which he has attempted to tie to the shooting by alleging a “COVER UP” by state lawmakers.
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