Rand Paul Eviscerates Trump Admin ‘Lies’ On Alex Pretti Shooting: ‘Terrible Judgement’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pulled no punches on Sunday night in criticizing the Trump administration’s response to the killing of Alex Pretti last week by ICE agents.

Paul, whose more libertarian leaning politics have led to him calling out ICE’s heavy-handed tactics, joined 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley to discuss the shooting of Pretti last week and the reaction from top Trump officials to the killing.

Paul addressed federal officials’ claims that Pretti posed a threat to ICE officers.

“I saw no evidence. I saw a man that was retreating. I mean, he went to the middle of the street. He didn’t even obstruct traffic. He let a car go through. As the agents advanced on him, he retreated to the side of the street. A woman is violently pushed to the ground, and he turns to help her, and that’s when he is grabbed from behind. I saw no evidence of him assaulting the police,” Paul said.

Pelley pressed, “Should Secretary Noem be fired?”

“I think we have to get through our hearing February 12th, and I think we have to see what the people who work for her say. But my advice to them, if they’re watching and they come to testify, is if you come in and you’re going to justify that this man was– aggressively assaulting your police officers. That cannot be acceptable, and that’s why they’re lacking in trust,” Paul replied.

Pelley then played clips of some of the statements from top Trump officials on the shooting:

Scott Pelley: The commander of the Border Patrol operation…

Gregory Bovino: This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.

Scott Pelley: The FBI director didn’t tell the truth about Pretti’s right to carry a gun…

Kash Patel: You cannot bring a firearm, loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple, you don’t have that right to break the law and incite violence.

“The president’s advisor, Stephen Miller, called Pretti an assassin. That’s a lot of people–not telling the truth,” Pelley added.

Paul shook his head at Miller’s statement and added, “It sounds like terrible judgment. I mean, terrible conclusions, incorrect conclusions, stating things that no one else believes. you can lie to your heart’s content if there’s no video. But the video doesn’t support what they’re saying.”

“You seem to be saying trust is broken,” Pelly added as Paul agreed, “Without question.”

Watch the clip above via 60 Minutes.

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