President Donald Trump did not acknowledge the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by an ICE agent during a nonsensical rant about corruption in Minnesota on Truth Social.
VA nurse and U.S. citizen Pretti, 37, was shot and killed by at least one ICE agent in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
Trump, 79, posted multiple times in the hours after Pretti’s killing as part of a Saturday afternoon tear about “corrupt politicians and fraudsters."
He reposted the photo of the gun that the Department of Homeland Security claimed belonged to Pretti and called the ICU nurse for veterans a “gunman.” However, he did not make note of Pretti’s death, instead opting to rail against Minnesota Democrats.
He named Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Rep. Ilhan Omar and wrote at length about the ongoing federal fraud investigation in Minnesota.
“This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about?” Trump posted.
“Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do! Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 Million Dollars in her account? And where are the Tens of Billions of Dollars that have been stolen from the once Great State of Minnesota?” the post continued.
Multiple videos of the incident posted to social media showed Pretti struggling against a group of agents wrestling him to the ground, where he was then pepper-sprayed. Then, multiple gunshots can be heard as Pretti falls to the ground. More gunshots are fired as Pretti lies unmoving. Then, some federal agents are seen leaving the scene.
When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Trump’s original comments.
Trump’s Truth Social post called the incident a “cover up” for fraud in the state. On X, Vice President JD Vance reshared Trump’s Truth Social post and blamed local law enforcement for refusing to work with ICE.
“When I visited Minnesota, what the ICE agents wanted more than anything was to work with local law enforcement so that situations on the ground didn’t get out of hand,” Vance added to the president’s remarks. “The local leadership in Minnesota has so far refused to answer those requests.”
Vance also reposted Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s post calling Pretti an “assassin.” Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said during a Saturday press conference that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” before he was killed.
There has not been any evidence shared by the federal agencies to support that claim. Bovino admitted to a reporter that the investigation was “ongoing.”
While the president and vice president have bemoaned the lack of cooperation from local police, the aftermath of the fatal shooting shows a similar refusal from ICE.
Federal agents reportedly tried to order Minneapolis police away from the scene of the shooting, but police chief Brian O’Hara refused. State and local officials have called on the federal government to allow them to conduct their own investigation into the shooting.
