Trump Labels Man Killed by Federal Agents an 'Agitator' and 'Perhaps, Insurrectionist'

[highplainsdem]

Source: Time

President Donald Trump has labeled Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist,” in a post on Truth Social early Friday.

“Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Trump continued in his post. “It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!”

The President appeared to be referring to footage published by digital news outlet the News Movement and analyzed by BBC News. In the video, a man who appears to be Pretti is seen on Jan. 13 screaming at federal immigration agents and then spitting at and kicking in the taillight of their vehicle as they drove away, after which the agents in tactical gear exited their vehicle and tackled the man to the ground and sprayed chemical irritants at surrounding onlookers. Moments later, the agents released the man and retreated.

-snip-

About video of Pretti’s earlier encounter with federal agents, a lawyer representing Pretti’s family told the Associated Press in a statement: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street—despite posing no threat to anyone—he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” and “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”

Read more: https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/

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Trump: “Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent.”

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-30T06:28:57.176Z

[choie]

1. I hope they have a fantastic lawyer

Because he needs to make the case that his murder could have retribution and thus premeditated.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. A defense to murder is "HEAT OF THE MOMENT"

The "heat of passion" or "heat of the moment" defense is a legal strategy used in criminal cases, particularly murder, to argue that a defendant acted in an uncontrollable rage, fear, or terror due to extreme provocation, rather than with premeditation. This defense reduces the charge from murder to voluntary manslaughter by negating the element of "malice aforethought".

You can't effectively plead a HOTM affirmative defense when there has been sufficient time passage, to allow you to "calm down". The two events must occur within a short period of time.

Example: You come home and find your spouse in the embrace of your neighbor. You pick up a gun and murder both. That's Heat of Passion/The Moment. OTOH, same scenario, but you go into the kitchen, make a sandwich, eat that sandwich, return to where your spouse is and shoot him/her, you can't make Heat of the Moment appear credible.

Here, there was a couple of weeks between the two events where Alex Pretti appeared.

I can't see ICE agents consistently quaking with anger and outrage for that long a time.

[wolfie001]

3. fat orange imbecile lies again and again

A good chunk of the electorate are racist jackasses.

[twodogsbarking]

4. Just wait MF. Just wait. We are.

[Aussie105]

5. There he goes again with the name calling.

If you wonder why Trump bothers to do that, why Noem is 'adjusting' how she sees the situation . . .

If you are wondering why they have a tinge of panic in their utterings, the reason is simple.

This act of government instigated and sanctioned ICE murder oversteps the mark, it breaks the frozen in fear bunny-in-the-headlights response to everything Trump does bad by the public, and it will now be active resistance rather than placid compliance.

And they know it.

[orangecrush]

6. Shut up, Piggy

[travelingthrulife]

7. He's trolling us given the goons are made up of the insurrectionists from 1/6

[Martin68]

8. 'Perhaps, Insurrectionist?' Trump must be planning a pardon.

[republianmushroom]

9. No trump, Alex was not with that RWNJ trash that invades Washington on Jan 6 2021