The Bari Weiss-founded news platform The Free Press blasted Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem over the series of “lies” she spewed about the ICE-involved fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti.
In an editors piece titled “Kristi Noem’s Reckless Lies,” which was published Sunday, the news website first unpacked remarks Noem made to press about Pretti’s death, which happened Saturday in Minneapolis.
“She [Noem] said on Saturday afternoon that Pretti was ‘brandishing’ his firearm and that he ‘impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them,’” the piece reads. “Noem added, ‘The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.’ That’s Noem’s story and she appears to be sticking to it.”
The article then transitions to pointing out how Noem’s explanation of the incident doesn’t match with what Americans watched in the video footage, which has since gone viral.
“The problem for her and the president she serves is that there are multiple videos of the attack that show something different,” the story continued, adding that it’s not “very hard” for an official to merely state that more information will be unveiled following an investigation.
“And then she could express remorse that an American citizen had been killed. This is what the president himself did last week when he called the killing of Good a ‘tragedy’ and acknowledged that ICE officers will make mistakes, as all officers of the law do from time to time,” The Free Press wrote. “That is not what the Trump administration is doing. They appear to view the social divisions their policies and rhetoric has helped create as a feature and not a bug.”
The journalists wrote that the Trump administration is using the divisiveness as a “viable strategy” to help the Republican party survive midterm elections.
“If the MAGA base feels threatened, they will enthusiastically vote for pro-Trump lawmakers in November,” the piece reads. However, even if that were the case, the article states that it would menacing and/or inhumane tactic.
“Even if this were true, it would still be a cynical, sinister, and un-American gambit,” the editors wrote. “As it happens, the evidence suggests it is bad politics, since the administration’s deportation tactics as well as the conduct of federal agents in Minneapolis are driving voters away from the president and his party.”
The story concluded by noting that Trump had the opportunity to “reset American politics” with his second time around in the White House, but instead he and his entourage decided to “govern like political opponents are mortal enemies and his supporters are easy to fool.”
Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse at VA Minneapolis Health Care, was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. His parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, issued a passionate statement in the hours that followed his death.
“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” they said. “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you,” they concluded.
