CNN anchor Anderson Cooper threw the Trump administration's own words back at them on Monday in a devastating takedown over a comment made following the killing of an ICU nurse at a protest in Minneapolis over the weekend.
Cooper discussed the Trump administration's justifications for the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Pretti, 37, attended a protest of Trump's immigration tactics when he was swarmed by federal officers and shot at least 10 times, according to reports. Pretti's death was the second high-profile killing caused by federal agents in Minneapolis over the last month.
Administration officials have claimed Pretti was a "domestic terrorist" and spread falsehoods about the events that led up to his death. For instance, administration officials initially claimed Pretti brandished a weapon at officers. Eyewitness videos show Pretti was disarmed and subdued by the time the first shots were fired.
"There are a lot of people here in Minneapolis tonight who are sick of the lies being told by some in the Trump administration about Alex Pretti, who was shot to death here on Saturday," Cooper said.
He then played a montage of Trump and other administration officials defending conservative activists like Kyle Rittenhouse for exercising the same rights Pretti was exercising when federal agents shot him. For instance, FBI Director Kash Patel claimed it is illegal to bring a loaded firearm to a protest, despite defending Rittenhouse for bringing a semi-automatic rifle with him when he shot and killed two people during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020.
Cooper also played clips of Trump talking about "saving" the Second Amendment rights of his base, a right that the president has not talked about in the wake of Pretti's death.