After Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Minneapolis protester Renee Good on January 7, President Donald Trump claimed she "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense." Trump added that "it is hard to believe he is alive" after that purported vehicular assault. A week later, the president retreated from that characterization. Although "her actions were pretty tough," he told CBS News, "I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person."
Something similar happened after U.S. Border Patrol agents fatally shot another Minneapolis protester, Alex Pretti, on Saturday morning. Various Trump administration officials immediately described Pretti as "a domestic terrorist" and "would-be assassin" who was "brandishing" a gun, who "was there to perpetuate violence," who "attacked those officers," who "tried to assassinate federal law enforcement," and who "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement." Although Trump initially reinforced that framing, his subsequent comments suggested the circumstances of Pretti's death were not as clear as those officials implied.
