Widely circulated video of Pretti’s killing by federal agents undercut earlier assertions of him being a gunman
White House officials sought to rapidly distance Donald Trump and top officials from their initial portrayals of the man fatally shot by federal officials in Minnesota as a gunman, as they faced a deepening backlash after video footage was widely seen to undercut their assertions.
The move came as Trump advisers appeared to realize that the caustic portrayals of the man, Alex Pretti, who was reportedly licensed to carry a gun, had turned the killing into an even larger political liability for the president.
Over the weekend, senior administration officials including Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, called the victim “a domestic terrorist who tried to assassinate law enforcement”, while Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused him of perpetrating “the definition of domestic terrorism”.
Was it already the case before MAGA that it was completely normal for the highest law enforcement authorities in the US to blatantly lie and completely disregard the law, even breaking it themselves on a regular basis, even in high-profile cases?
As a European, I am now so used to the fact that absolutely nothing the White House communicates is even remotely true that it seems like the normal state of affairs in the US.
Is it just particularly extreme with this criminal mafia regime, or was it already common practice before?