Newsmax Host Holds His Phone Like a Firearm in Defense of ICE Agents Who Shot Alex Pretti: ‘Does That Look Like a Gun?’

Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Monday held his phone as if it were a gun to make the argument that the ICE agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti were simply mistaken.

Pretti, 37, was killed Saturday in Minneapolis during an altercation with several agents. Throughout the ordeal, Pretti held his phone in his right hand to record them. He was then taken to the ground before one of the officers suddenly opened fire. As Pretti was motionless on the ground, the gunfire suddenly resumed and he was shot even more.

In the days prior to the shooting, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz encouraged Minnesota residents to take their phones out to record the activities of ICE agents across the state. Kelly raged at the idea and called the act of recording agents “inherently violent.”

“He is telling people, like this poor soul, to go out there with this camera and confront these guys!” Kelly said. “That is inherently violent. It is dangerous, and I think it’s a criminal act.”

Then, while looking at an image of Pretti clearly holding a phone, Kelly made the argument that the agents may have mistaken it for a gun.

“In a weird way, that phone, I think, can be mistaken for a gun,” Kelly continued. “Now, [Pretti] has a gun, a rather bizarre gun, in his holster. I wanna show you something else. Put that picture down. Just real quick, right? Put it away, if you don’t mind, and take me full. I wanna show you something.”

For added effect, Kelly then took out his own phone and held it up like a gun — an action Pretti was never seen doing.

“Does that look like a gun?” Kelly said. “I think it does a little bit. It’s a phone. It’s black like most phones. That’s crazy stuff.”

Watch above via Newsmax

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