Trump official questioning if Alex Pretti 'protested peacefully' unites social media

As the US federal government continues to face widespread condemnation after a federal agent shot and killed 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota on Saturday (24 January), deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press to present the Trump administration’s stance on the incident.

President Donald Trump shared a photo of a pistol to Truth Social and claimed it belonged to Pretti and was “loaded” and “ready to go”, while homeland security secretary Kristi Noem claimed law enforcement officers “attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted”.

Pretti’s parents, however, said Alex was “clearly not holding a gun” and instead “had his phone in his right and hand and his empty left hand [was] raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down”.

In a statement, Michael and Susan Pretti accused the Trump administration of spreading “sickening lies” about their son which are “reprehensible and disgusting”.

During Blanche’s interview, host Kristen Walker asked him: “Everyone has now seen this video, across the country, of this man holding up a cell phone and part of the outrage that people are expressing is that they feel as though the federal government is asking them to believe something that they don’t see with their two eyes.

“Is that what the administration is asking of the American people, to believe that he was violent, when the video – based on what everyone has seen so far – does not show that?”

Blanche replied: “First of all, I did not say he was violent; I said he was not protesting peacefully. And you just described what every American is seeing, which is video – certainly ahead of the incident – where he was screaming in the face of ICE, he had a phone up right in ICE’s face.

“You tell me, is that protesting peacefully? I mean, we all see the same thing. You shouldn’t try to gaslight the administration about what happened. That was not a peaceful protest.”

Well, Blanche asked for people to tell him, and X/Twitter users certainly did.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan simply tweeted: “Yes”:

News outlet MeidasTouch commented: “Yes it is. The fact that this guy is number two at the DOJ should horrify you”:

“A phone and voice is not a weapon so yes he was protesting peacefully,” replied political commentator Vince Wilson:

Melanie D’Arrigo, of the Campaign for New York Health, said: “Yes. Yes it is. It’s literally the first amendment of our constitution”:

And former Bloomberg journalist Robert A. George sarcastically wrote: “iPhone – a handheld WMD [weapon of mass destruction]”:

In the same interview, Blanche said “we have nothing but sympathy for the family of him”, only to follow this with a “but” – something which X/Twitter users have said ‘negates’ any prior comment.

Related stories:

• SNL Cold Open: 'The Trumps' awards blast President's prize obsession
• Trump official says president gave ‘masterclass in diplomacy’ at Davos

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.