Stephen Colbert Issues Blunt Warning to Trump — From the Declaration of Independence

Stephen Colbert issued a blunt warning to President Donald Trump from the Declaration of Independence of the “right of the people to alter or abolish” government that has become “destructive” as he condemned the administration’s response to a second federal agent killing in Minneapolis.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday morning during an enforcement operation. Video footage and subsequent investigations show that several agents seized Pretti on the street before shots were fired.

According to analyses of the video and witness accounts, agents confronted Pretti and others, wrestling him to the ground before multiple officers then fired at least 10 shots in a span of about five seconds, striking Pretti.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said an agent fired “defensive shots” after attempting to disarm Pretti, who they contend approached them with a handgun. However, bystander video reviewed by news organizations showed Pretti with a phone in hand and no visible weapon at the outset of the encounter; footage later captured an agent withdrawing a firearm from the scuffle shortly before shots were fired.

In his monologue opening Monday night’s The Late Show, Colbert blasted the administration and Trump for the reaction to the killing:

Everyone knows there has to be an investigation. And this weekend, Kristi Noem announced that the DHS will be leading the Border Patrol shooting investigation in Minneapolis.

But the outcry to that announcement was so huge that today, it was announced the FBI will also lead the probe into Alex Pretti. Do you know how awful you have to be for people to go, ‘We’d be a lot more comfortable if Kash Patel were involved here?’ Trump knows exactly who’s to blame for Pretti’s death. It’s people who didn’t vote for him. Last night, he posted: ‘Democrats are putting illegal alien criminals over taxpaying, law-abiding citizens and they have created dangerous circumstances for everyone involved.’

Continuing, he directly condemned federal agents as “thugs,” reminding the president of the founding document as the audience applauded:

Gotta point out, your anti-immigrant thugs are the ones killing taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. And Americans won’t stand for it because we have read our country’s user agreement. We have read our country’s user agreement, the Declaration of Independence. ‘Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.’

Watch above via CBS.

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