U.S. President Donald Trump has taken to his Truth Social account to claim that Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis man killed in an ICE encounter, was not innocent. He called him an “agitator and perhaps, insurrectionist”. Alex, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was killed on Jan. 24 by an on-duty federal agent while trying to help a fellow protester.
Since Alex’s killing, the president has made several comments regarding the fatal encounter. In the latest post made on Friday, he seemed to defend the ICE agents involved in the case. Trump wrote, “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.”
President Trump commented early Friday on the video showing Alex Pretti confronting federal immigration officers on a Minneapolis street 11 days before he was fatally shot in another encounter with Customs and Border Protection agents.
On his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump… pic.twitter.com/M6KxGhuRjq
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 30, 2026
The president appeared to place all the blame on Alex. In his post, he claimed that Alex was violent and destroyed an official car. He applauded the ICE agents for remaining calm. “(Alex was) so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces. 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! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he chimed in.
Trump’s angry claims come after digital media outlet the News Movement published footage of an earlier encounter between Pretti and some Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Dated Jan 13, the video shows an angry Pretti screaming in the faces of ICE agents. He then proceeds to spit at their vehicle before kicking their car’s taillight.
The agents initially drove away but remained nearby. They tackled Pretti, held him to the ground, and sprayed what appeared to be a chemical irritant. After a while, they released him from their grip and exited.
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The Minnesota Star Tribune released the same footage from a different angle. Pretti’s family has identified the man in the video as him.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has criminalized Pretti. Initially, after his killing, his office claimed that Pretti was a domestic terrorist who wanted to “massacre law enforcement.” A lawyer representing Pretti’s family released a statement saying, “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
Pretti was a veteran’s nurse who was loved by his community. He had a handgun in his possession, but fellow protestors testified that he never used it on the day he was killed. Trump’s comments amid the ongoing investigation angered netizens even further.
