Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Minnesota
The president appears to have changed his tune when it comes to his stance on Alex Pretti and Renee Good's deaths after they were both branded as 'agitators'.
Both Good and Pretti were fatally shot by federal agents in two separate incidents last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Good was shot on January 7 while behind the wheel of her car as she drove away from ICE officers who were carrying out raids in her neighborhood, while Pretti was taking part in an ICE protest on January 24 when he was tackled to the ground by officers and shot. His death has since been ruled as a homicide by a medical examiner.
Donald Trump has addressed both matters and appeared to place blame on both Pretti and Good for the violence that broke out — but now, Trump seemingly developed a more sympathetic point of view.
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Speaking with NBC News, the president said he was 'not happy' about what happened.
"[Pretti] was not an angel and [Good] was not an angel," Trump said. "You know, you look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there. Nobody could be happy and ICE wasn't happy either."
The POTUS went on to share his thoughts on who 'feels worse than anybody' about the shootings, with his comments marking a contrast on what he's said previously.
In a Truth Social post shared the day after Good's passing, he said of the footage of the moments leading up to the 37-year-old mother being shot: "The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing, and resisting, who then violently, wilfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense."
"We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate," he added.
Speaking after Pretti's shooting, Trump alleged that he'd been brandishing a gun; something which has since been refuted by witnesses.
He wrote online: "This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off?
"It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — Not an easy thing to do!"
In a separate comment, he hailed Pretti as an 'agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist'.
Trump went on to say of the footage that emerged of Pretti involved in an altercation with ICE in the days leading up to his death: "Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the tail light broke off in pieces."
The POTUS continued: "It should have not happened. It was very sad to me, a very sad incident. I think they were both sad.
"And you know who feels worse about it than anybody? The people of ICE."
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