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A number of hosts of late-night TV shows have been reacting to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis, tearing into the administration for its response to the incident.
On Monday, The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart questioned the assertions made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other officials that the fact that Pretti, a lawful gun owner, had a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun on his person at a protest was an indication that he was not there peacefully.
“Are you saying that the problem is the guy had a gun?” Stewart said. “Are you saying that the guns are the problem? Is everyone on the right coming together to say carrying a legal firearm was the problem?”
Newsweek reached out to DHS via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Pretti, 37, was an intensive care nurse who worked at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis and was shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Saturday.
DHS has said the Border Patrol agent fired in self-defense, saying that Pretti had a handgun and resisted law enforcement; however, other accounts say that the released video footage instead shows Pretti having his gun taken from him before he was shot and that all he had in his hands was his cellphone.
Some reports have said that Border Patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino was expected to be removed from his role in Minneapolis following the incident, but DHS has said the claims are not true and that Bovino “has not been relieved of his duties.”
What To Know
On his show on Monday evening, during a segment on the shooting of Pretti, Stewart also showed a clip of Bovino at a press conference that was reportedly cut short after only two questions.
Stewart said that he had a lot of questions, like “who’s going to investigate this horrific killing by the Department of Homeland Security that the Department of Homeland Security has clearly misrepresented?”
In a reference to O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star who was accused of killing his ex-wife, Stewart added: “Oh, good luck finding the real killer, O.J. We’re rooting for ya.” Simpson’s case is often described as the “Trial of the Century,” and while he was found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, he was later found liable for the deaths in a lawsuit.
“And pardon me for not trusting that the administration is going to do a fair and free investigation, when they are already going out on TV, moving the goalposts on why the shooting was justified, whether he was brandishing the weapon or not,” Stewart said.
Stewart said Bovino was the “Border Patrol commander-in-short,” while Jimmy Kimmel said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday that Bovino was Trump’s “number one icehole.”
In Monday’s show, Stewart played a clip of Bovino saying that politicians, community leaders and some journalists had been calling law enforcement “names like Gestapo.” The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany, who were known to wear long trench coats.
Stewart then showed a photo of Bovino wearing a dark trench coat. Stewart said, “It is slightly terrifying to Americans that you seem to be dressing for the job you want.”
Kimmel also said during his show on Monday, while discussing Pretti’s death, that the Trump administration “won’t even admit that it was a mistake.”
“They say the Honda SUV that Renee Good was driving was weaponized, they say the gun Alex Pretti had a license to carry in an open carry state…a gun that Alex Pretti did not even draw, did not touch, a gun that was taken from him by one of the agents before he was shot dead by the other ones,” Kimmel said. “They fired 10 times on an ICU nurse. They’re telling us, well, it was justified.”
“Is that the law and order you voted for, if you voted for this?” Kimmel asked.
What People Are Saying
Jimmy Kimmel said on Monday’s show: “Can we agree that peaceful protesters, including moms driving SUVs on their way back after dropping their 6-year-old off at school, and a nurse who stepped in to protect a woman from harm, don’t deserve to be shot dead in the street by the people we are paying to protect us?”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday: “Mr. Bovino is a wonderful man and he’s a great professional. He is very much going to continue CBP throughout and across the country. Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis.”
DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin said on Monday: “Greg Bovino’s firing should be the first, not the last. An American citizen was murdered this weekend at the hands of federal agents. Donald Trump can hide away at movie screenings of ‘Melania,’ but the American people know he’s behind this campaign of terror and violence. And they won’t forget that in the immediate wake of a tragic murder, Trump, JD Vance and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem took to the airwaves to slander the victim and spread lies. Trump and Vance should immediately fire Noem, Stephen Miller, and Corey Lewandowski — or else they are sending a clear message to voters that getting murdered for exercising your constitutional rights is acceptable in Trump’s America.”
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