‘There’s No Evidence!’ Sparks Fly as CNN’s Dana Bash Brawls With Trump Border Patrol Commander Over Alex Pretti Shooting

CNN’s Dana Bash brawled with Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino on Sunday during a tense interview about the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of a Border Patrol agent.

On Saturday, the 37-year-old Pretti was shot and killed by an agent in Minneapolis, and Trump administration officials quickly came out swinging.

During a Saturday evening press conference, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem described the incident like this: “The officers attempted to disarm this individual but the armed suspect reacted violently. Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots.”

“It looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and kill law enforcement,” she added. Noem’s claims have been under severe scrutiny in the hours since she made them, with many arguing that video of the incident contradicts her version of events.

During Bovino’s sit-down with Bash, the latter asked the former: “So are you saying it’s not okay for him to exercise his Second Amendment right — not to mention his First Amendment right to be there in the first place — but his Second Amendment right to carry the gun? And if you do, you can be shot by federal law enforcement?”

Here’s how the conversation unfolded from there:

BOVINO: No, I didn’t say that, Dana. I never said that. What I’m saying is we respect that Second Amendment right, but those rights don’t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct, and impede law enforcement officers — and most especially when you mean to do that beforehand.

BASH: How do you know that?

BOVINO: When you mean to do that beforehand, when you show up to an active crime scene, don’t leave the crime scene, and you’re armed, then, you know, you’ve got to-, the decision-making process for that individual doesn’t seem to be very good. Now back to the Second Amendment, what you’re saying about the Second Amendment is peacefully protesting with firearms. Absolutely, I’ve done that myself and fully support that, but not when you perpetrate violence, obstruct, delay, or obfuscate Border Patrol in the performance of their duties in an active crime scene.

BASH:  There’s no evidence that he was perpetrating violence! And there’s no evidence, unless you have it, and we’d love to see it if there is, that he was intending to massacre law enforcement other than the fact that he was there and he had a gun lawfully.

BOVINO: He meant to be there beforehand. Again, Dana, he meant-, he came there beforehand for a reason-

BASH: How do you know that? How do you know that?

BOVINO: Because he was there, because he was there.

BASH: But all he was doing was filming and documenting it, which is legal. He was carrying a gun, which in Minneapolis is legal.

BOVINO: I didn’t say it wasn’t, and I didn’t say it wasn’t legal.

BASH: So then what did he do that was illegal?

BOVINO: He cannot assault federal law enforcement. When he does that that’s an active law enforcement crime scene.

BASH: Where do you see in the video that he was assaulting law enforcement? Because from everything we have seen, law enforcement was assaulting him when he was there trying to help another individual.

BOVINO: Dana, law enforcement doesn’t assault anyone. Follow directions of law enforcement. Follow directions of enforcement in an active crime scene. It’s very evident he didn’t want to do that, very evident that the other individuals didn’t wanna do that, and, you know, it’s too bad the consequences had to be paid because he injected himself into that crime scene. I can’t say that enough. He made the decision to go there. We didn’t make the decision to talk to him, we didn’t even know that individual was in existence until he came into that crime scene.

Watch above via CNN.

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