By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
The White Housewould not commit to releasing the body camera footage showing the final moments of Alex Pretti’s life after he was shot by federal agents in Minnesota.
The 37-year-old, an intensive care unit nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs living in Minneapolis, was shot multiple times by Border Patrol officials on Saturday after filming the agents and involving himself in a scuffle with another protester.
Horrific video of the incident shows Pretti pushed to the ground and surrounded by close to half a dozen agents before one agent disarms the nurse. After Pretti was disarmed, he was shot multiple times in the back.
The VA nurse died on the scene.
‘Will the bodycamera footage be released to the public now?’ a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday, days after the Saturday morning shooting.
‘Thats not something Ive heard the president commit to, so I wont do that here,’ she answered.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has labeled Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist,’ and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller went even further, calling the nurse ‘a would-be assassin [who] tried to murder federal law enforcement.’
When pressed on whether the President agrees with the comments from Miller and Noem, Leavitt said she has not heard Trump’characterize Mr Pretti in that way,’ indicating a schism in how the top border officials view the shooting.
The moment multiple federal agents apprehended Alex Pretti, disarmed him and shot and killed him in a Minneapolis street
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration has not decided whether or not it would release the Border Patrol agent’s body camera footage of Alex Pretti’s shooting
President Donald Trump said in a recent interview that he wants all of the footage reviewed. He has not labeled Pretti as a domestic terrorist
When pressed on whether Miller – one of Trump’s closest aides for the past decade – should apologize to the family of Pretti for calling the nurse a ‘would-be assassin’ before an investigation has concluded such a lofty accusation, Leavitt pivoted.
‘Look, again, this incident remains under investigation,’ she responded.
Still, neither the White House nor DHS has published additional angles of the tragedy.
That stands in stark contrast with how the Trump administration dealt with the federal agent shooting of Renee Good just over two weeks ago.
When Good was shot in the face and killed on January 7 after driving into the middle of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, multiple top officials blasted out clips of the tragedy on social media.
Vice President JD Vance spoke at the White House briefing the following day condemning Good’s actions and noting how multiple different videos show her car speeding towards the agent who shot and killed her.
By January 9, DHS and other Trump administration officials reposted a video taken by the agent who shot Good – many of the posts included commentary about how the angles vindicate the ICE agent shooter.
That has not been the case following Pretti’s death.
Pretti was armed with a pistol and multiple fully loaded magazines while protesting. However, he was also legally permitted to carry his weapon, according to reports
The White House did not explain why the two similar tragedies elicited meaningfully different responses when asked by the Daily Mail.
‘There is body camera footage from multiple angles which investigators are currently reviewing,’ a DHS official told the Daily Mail.
That official did not answer whether it would be published.
Turbulence has rocked the administration’s deportation operations in Minnesota following the two shootings of US citizens by federal officers.
Early on Monday morning, Trump announced that Border Czar Tom Homan would be taking operational control of the deportation program and some 3,000 federal officers stationed there.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino had previously been the face of the Trump-inspired operation. He frequently walked by protestors in Minneapolis and made appearances on TV from the city roiling from the recent number of deaths.
However, sources have told CNN that Bovino and some of his deputies are expected to leave Minneapolis soon and return to their respective sectors.