Kristen Welker Battles Trump DOJ Official Todd Blanche On Facts Of Pretti Shooting: ‘Everyone Has Now Seen This Video!’

Meet The Press anchor Kristen Welker battled with Trump Department of Justice official Todd Blanche on Sunday over the facts of the border patrol shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.

“This is an American citizen, he’s an ICE nurse at a VA hospital. He appears to be shot some 10 times,” Welker said. “There are a group of law enforcement officials who pummel him, who spray tear gas at him, pepper spray — why shouldn’t every American be bothered by what they see in this video, Mr. Blanche. Are you bothered by what you see this video?”

“Absolutely!” Blanche began before declaring that what “bothered” him wasn’t watching Pretti die but what he saw as ICE “going on an isolated arrest to arrest a criminal” and they weren’t “supported by law enforcement.”

“This is not a peaceful protest,” Blanche added. “He was not protesting peacefully.”

“You’re saying he was not protesting peacefully,” Welker shot back.

“The video shows him holding up a cell phone, directing traffic. The video after shows him being pummeled by these law enforcement. Everyone has now seen this video across the country with this man holding up a cell phone, and part of the outrage that people are expressing is that they feel as though the federal government is asking them to believe something that they don’t see with their own two eyes.” Is that what the administration is asking of the American people, to believe that he was violent when the video, based on what everyone has seen so far, does not show that?” she asked.

“Well, first of all,  I did not say he was violent. I said he was not protesting peacefully,” Blanche said. “And you described what every American has seen, which is video shortly ahead of the incident where he was screaming the face of ICE. He had a phone right into ICE’s face. You tell me, is that protesting peacefully?”

Watch the clip above via NBC News’s Meet The Press.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet Newsletter
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!