Fox News’ Jonathan Turley Calls Out Trump Admin’s ‘Unforced Error’ on Pretti Shooting

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley criticized misrepresentations President Donald Trump administration made in the wake of the shooting of Alex Pretti as an “unforced error,” noting that there were multiple claims contradicted by video evidence.

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked for the VA, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents on Saturday. Shortly afterwards, multiple administration officials claimed Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “kill” or “massacre” federal agents, and said he was “brandishing” his weapon, among other comments.

Video evidence taken by several bystanders, reviewed in detail by multiple media outlets, contradicted these claims. During the incident, Pretti was only holding his cell phone, he had a permit to carry his gun, he never took the gun out, an agent found the gun in its holster and took it from Pretti before another agent began firing.

Turley, a constitutional law professor, appeared on Monday’s episode of America Reports and was interviewed by John Roberts about the Pretti shooting.

“Professor, what is your view of the shooting?” asked Roberts. “There are a lot of reports that Pretti had been disarmed before he was shot.”

“Well, I do believe that there was an unforced error with regard to administration in their initial accounts of the shooting. Those accounts are not borne out by those videotapes,” replied Turley. “It does not appear that he was threatening the officer, it appears that this certainly escalated after that first contact. And that is not the impression you receive from those early statements.”

After accusing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) of “leading the mob” because of his remarks criticizing ICE agents, Turley added, “with regard to the shooting, there are legitimate questions that have to be investigated.”

“It does not appear [Pretti] was violent or threatening the officers initially,” Turley continued. “He was not obeying orders, that is also clear. He came back into the road after being told to get out of the road.”

It should perhaps be noted that Turley omitted what Pretti was doing at this point: helping a woman that the ICE agents had shoved to the ground and pepper sprayed. The first contact was also initiated by the agents, as reported by The New York Times in its detailed analysis:

A small group of protesters stands in the street, speaking to a federal agent as whistles sound. Mr. Pretti appears to be filming the scene with his phone and directing traffic.

An agent begins shoving the demonstrators, and squirts pepper spray at their faces.

At this moment, Mr. Pretti has both hands clearly visible. One is holding his phone, while he holds the other up to protect himself from pepper spray. He moves to help one of the protesters who was sprayed, as other agents approach and pull him from behind.

“But what we really need to see is that short period before you hear officer say ‘gun.’ There is indication one of the officers removed [Pretti’s] gun and during that period one of the other officers said ‘gun,’ and the shooting occurred shortly after that,” Turley said. “You have to look at whether that was a panic shot by the officer, or whether the officers were seeing something with regard to the suspect’s hands, was he trying to reach for that gun or another gun, we simply don’t know.”

Again, it should perhaps be noted that the frame-by-frame review of the video evidence by multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, found that Pretti “was clearly holding a phone, not a gun, before the agents took him to the ground and shot him,” and that the agents had disarmed him and held him down “with his arms pinned near his head” before the first shots were fired.

Pretti was not shown reaching for a gun or other weapon; his arms were pinned. No other gun was found on Pretti’s body or on the scene.

“Minnesota is right in one respect, they should be part of the investigation,” Turley said. “And I don’t think the administration gives up much, certainly, by allowing them to be part of that. This is obviously an incredibly traumatic moment for everyone involved. Minnesota should be part of that process.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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