‘You Know There’s Video of This, Right?’ Jake Tapper Corners Guest Who Claimed Alex Pretti Was Committing ‘Violence’ When Shot

CNN’s Jake Tapper took umbrage at a guest’s characterization of the shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Pretti was filming Border Patrol activity in public when agents approached him and a nearby woman before knocking her to the ground. Video shows the 37-year-old Pretti attempting to help the woman, but agents pepper-sprayed both of them and tackled Pretti to the ground. One of the agents can be seen removing Pretti’s holstered firearm, for which he had a permit. At no point was Pretti holding the weapon. After disarming Pretti, agents shot him 10 times. It was the second deadly shooting by immigration agents in Minneapolis this month. Renee Good, 37, was shot to death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

On Tuesday’s edition of The Lead, Tapper interviewed Chad Mizelle, who was general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security during President Donald Trump’s first term and served as chief of staff in the Justice Department until October.

Mizelle began his appearance by blaming Pretti’s death on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) for encouraging residents to peacefully protest the ongoing crackdown by federal immigration agents.

“If you want to lay blame at somebody’s feet, it is squarely on Tim Walz and the Minnesota officials who have called ICE the modern-day Gestapo, who have told ICE to get the F out of our city, who have encouraged their citizens to protest against ICE, to blow whistles against ICE, to organize Signal chats against ICE,” Mizelle said.

“So, you have an issue with the First Amendment?” Tapper responded. “You don’t think that people should be exercising their First Amendment rights to speak about policies that they don’t like. You have more of a problem with that than you have with people killing American citizens. Did I get that right?”

“Jake, do you actually think you have a First Amendment right to blow a whistle in the ear of law enforcement, to disobey a lawful command from law enforcement to interfere with the law enforcement investigation, to carry a gun without a proper ID or license, as is required under Minnesota law, and then to violently resist arrest? You think you have a First Amendment right to do all that, Jake?”

Pretti had a permit to carry, but did not have an ID on him at the time. Under Minnesota law, the violation is a petty misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $25 for a first offense.

“That’s like a negligible misdemeanor in Minnesota,” Tapper shot back. “That’s not some major crime.”

Mizelle replied by positing a hypothetical scenario about driving over the speed limit, prompting an exchange in which Mizelle baselessly claimed Pretti was “committing an act of violence” when he was killed:

MIZELLE: The question is, if you’re going over the speed limit, are you following the law or are you breaking the law? That’s what we’re asking ourselves here.

TAPPER: No, we’re asking, if I’m breaking the speed limit, does an officer have a right to shoot and kill me? I think that’s really what the question is.

MIZELLE: No, what you’re trying to say is that he was perfectly law-abiding. And I’m saying from the very get-go, Alex Pretti was not following the law, Jake. And you’re saying, well, he had a First Amendment right. You don’t have a First Amendment right to break the law.

TAPPER: What law did he break?

MIZELLE: He interfered with an ongoing law enforcement investigation. That is a felony.

TAPPER: By doing what? By filming it?

MIZELLE: No, Jake, as you know, if before this video, why was Border Patrol even there? Why was ICE there? They were trying to apprehend an illegal alien who had locked himself inside a donut shop and was being aided by the donut shop workers. So Border Patrol was calling for backup. And while they were waiting for backup and trying to clear out the street because it was an active operation, there were individuals who were interfering with that. Resisting the lawful command of a law enforcement officer is a crime. And then whenever you resist arrest, that’s an additional crime. And if you have a gun with you while you’re committing an act of violence, in this case, potentially against a law enforcement officer, Jake, that’s a third crime. So–

TAPPER: Chad, you know that there’s video of this, right? I mean, you’re accusing Alex Pretti of committing violence. You know we can see what happened, right? I mean, you’re aware that there’s video of this. And we saw that the officers–

MIZELLE: Did you not see him wrestling?

TAPPER: I saw five or six officers wrestling him. I saw five or six officers wrestling him to the ground while he was holding up his camera.

MIZELLE: Why does it take five or six officers to wrestle a single individual? Why does it take five or six people to wrestle a single individual? Only if that individual is resisting arrest. Jake, you just proved my point.

TAPPER: No, I don’t think I did. Five or six officers jumping on somebody who obviously was immediately on the ground and one hand was on the ground, and one hand was holding his camera, is not evidence that six people needed to be doing that. That’s like saying, “He deserved to be shot. Otherwise, why would the officers have shot him?” You really don’t think that they did anything– that there’s any question about whether or not this man deserved to be shot? You really think that this was fine. This was a fine act, because I don’t even think there are people in the Trump administration who are arguing that.

MIZELLE: Jake, that to be clear, I’m not saying that this is a fine act. I think that, to take President Trump’s terms, this is incredibly unfortunate. And so, as I try to rewind the clock and say, how could we avoid this? I start with not two minutes before the incident happened, but 10 minutes before the incident happened and say, well, if we didn’t have individuals in a donut shop harboring an illegal alien, by the way, another crime, then you wouldn’t have had this situation where border patrol is outside in the streets calling for backup and trying to clear the streets out in front of a active law enforcement operation.

Watch above via CNN.

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