Trump and team seem to prioritize vilifying victims of their immigration operations, regardless of conflicting evidence
In the moments after federal officers shot Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti dead, Trump administration figures almost immediately made public statements in press conferences, televised interviews and social media posts that were at best indifferent to the evidence available at the time and at worst completely fabricated.
A pattern is emerging, in which the Trump administration prioritizes the vilification of the dead victim as to blame for the incident over preserving the neutrality of any investigative process.
In a statement sent to the Guardian around 12.30pm EST, assistant homeland security secretary Tricia McLaughlin sent a news release asserting that “the officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted” and that “an agent fired defensive shots.”
The statement went out about two and a half hours after agents killed Pretti. Video from the event began circulating immediately, which showed half a dozen officers taking Pretti – who had a phone, not a gun, visibly in his hand – to the ground after spraying him with a chemical agent.
