The pressure from the public appears to have caused the White House to row back on comments made about Pretti in the aftermath of his killing, including those of Noem and Bovino calling him a ‘domestic terrorist’ who had attacked officers.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that she had ‘not heard the president characterize Mr Pretti in that way.’
She said that Trump would await an investigation before commenting, adding: “However, I have heard the president say he wants to let the facts and the investigation lead itself.”
Witnesses who saw the moment that agents fatally shot ICE protestor Alex Pretti have weighed in on whether the 37-year-old was brandishing a gun or not in the moments leading up to his death.
On Saturday (January 24), Pretti, who was an intensive care nurse at Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was killed by federal agents after intervening during a protest.
Footage is believed to show Pretti coming to the aid of a woman whom officers pushed over before he was violently pepper-sprayed.
He was then tackled to the ground by multiple agents, and a few moments later, several shots rang out, killing him. Pretti’s death comes after the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent on January 7.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has since alleged that the officers fired in defense as Pretti had a gun.
The 37-year-old was ‘a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry’, said Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara.
It’s thought that Pretti may have had his gun on him at the time of the ordeal, but he was not pointing it at law enforcement – something which witnesses have now backed up.
Two witnesses said they did not see Pretti brandish a weapon in a sworn testimony, The Guardian reports. Their names were redacted in the publicly available filings.
One of the witnesses’ harrowing statements read: “The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up.
“I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times… I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.”
“The man did not approach the agents with a gun,” she went on to say.
The second witness, a physician, echoed similar sentiments and stated that they ‘did not see [Pretti] attack the agents or brandish a weapon of any kind’.
The physician also said that they tried to get to Pretti to render medical aid after he’d been shot, but initially, they wouldn’t let her through.
When she was eventually allowed through, she claimed that officers were not checking for Pretti’s pulse but ‘appeared to be counting his bullet wounds’ instead.
When she checked him for a pulse, she sadly found none.
If you or someone you know has been affected by gun violence, please find more information and support via Survivors Empowered on their website.
President Donald Trump publicly scorned Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Thursday for the cost of an extensive building renovation as the two officials began a tour of the unfinished project.
Trump said the project cost $3.1 billion, much higher than the Fed’s $2.5 billion figure, while Powell, standing next to him, silently shook his head, before telling the president that he wasn’t ‘aware of that’, adding: “I haven’t heard that from anybody at the Fed.”
The president then pulled out a document from his pocket and handed it to Powell to read.
“This came from us?” Powell said. He then realized that Trump was referring to the renovation of the Martin Building, which had been completed five years prior.
“Do you expect any more additional cost overruns?” Trump asked, to which Powell replied: “Don’t expect them.”
The very awkward encounter has since got people talking online, with one person even comparing it to a scene from The Office.
Sharing a snippet of the heated exchange, someone said on Twitter: “This could literally pass as a scene straight from The Office.”
“INCREDIBLE,” a different person replied to the post. “I AM LITERALLY DYING OF LAUGHTER.”
Meanwhile, somebody else pointed out that it’s ‘so rare to see someone tell him he’s wrong’.”The entire video is so odd from when he walks in.” another added.
Doubling down on the The Office reference, someone commented: “Donald Trump makes Michael Scott look like a genius.”
The pair’s recent exchange comes after Trump branded Powell a ‘numbskull’ on Truth Social amid the ongoing pressure Powell’s facing from the president to lower interest rates.
While Trump berated Powell in the post, he says he doesn’t plan on firing him from his position as Chair.
Following his visit to the Fed renovation site yesterday (July 24), Trump told a reporter who questioned if Powell’s at risk of being let go, as per USA Today: “To do that is a big move and I just don’t think it’s necessary.
“And I believe he’s going to do the right thing… It may be a little too late, as the expression goes, but I believe he’s going to do the right thing.”
