Uwa Ede-Osifo , The Guardian; ‘Man, I loved that’: Trump cheers South Carolina rally attender who hit protester
"Multiple protesters were removed from Donald Trump’s rally at South Carolina’s Clemson University on Wednesday, including one who was apparently punched by a rally attender – to the US president’s delight.
“That was great, man. Wow. Man, I loved that. I watched that,” Trump said. “That was incredible. Wow. That was unbelievable."
Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, Spotlight PA; ICE detainee punished for speaking to press about poor conditions at Moshannon, lawyer says
"An ICE detainee who was blamed by officials for encouraging others to refuse meals to protest poor conditions at Moshannon Valley Processing Center has been returned to the facility and placed under a higher level of surveillance, his lawyer says.
In addition, Edin Daniel Chinchilla-Roque has been punished for talking to the press, according to Harrisburg-based immigration lawyer Craig Shagin. Chinchilla-Roque is unable to call certain people, including his girlfriend, because the numbers have been blocked, Shagin said.
Chinchilla-Roque spent seven days in solitary confinement following the protest. He was then transported to Port Isabel Service Processing Center in south Texas and later Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, before eventually being transferred back to Moshannon on June 6."
Matt Sledge, Sam Biddle , The Intercept; PHILLY COPS ADMIT THAT THEY’RE TRACKING “FIRST AMENDMENT ACTIVITY” CRITICAL OF AI
"AMERICANS SPEAKING OUT against artificial intelligence data centers on social media are falling under police surveillance, a confidential law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Intercept reveals.
A fusion center in Philadelphia combed through spicy internet comments from AI critics and concluded there is a growing risk of physical violence against data centers from “domestic violent extremists,” ranging from white supremacists to anarchists.
“Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) are likely interested in targeting artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, posing a physical and cyber threat to infrastructure in the Philadelphia regional area,” the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center wrote in a December alert.
The fusion center distributed its warning, marked “for official use only,” through the national fusion center network of state, local, and federal police agencies.
Like many of the reports produced by fusion centers, the bulletin points to news reports and social media posts, but cites little in the way of tangible threats. It acknowledges “a lack of specific information on plans to target AI data centers in the Philadelphia area,” but warns law enforcement that three planned data center facilities in the region could become targets of future protests."
Luke Garrett , NPR; Senate Democrats and Republicans call for investigation into killing of Alex Pretti
"Congressional leaders are pushing back against the Trump administration's account of the killing of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old U.S. citizen shot dead by federal officers during an immigration enforcement protest in Minneapolis Saturday...
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., warned the Trump administration against any attempt to shut out local and state law enforcement from the investigation.
"There must be a thorough and impartial investigation into yesterday's Minneapolis shooting," Tillis said in a post Sunday morning. "Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump's legacy."
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also called for a "full joint federal and state investigation" and said the "credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake" in a statement.
On Sunday, Trump administration officials continued to defend the federal agents who killed Pretti. The head of President Trump's immigration operation, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, told CNN that the federal agents are "the victims" and said Pretti "perpetrated violence" during an active immigration enforcement operation.
"That suspect injected himself into that law enforcement situation with a weapon," Bovino said.
The video evidence and eyewitness accounts that have surfaced so far refute that assertion. There has been no evidence that NPR has verified of Pretti brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents.
On Saturday, Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said if a U.S. citizen approaches law enforcement with a gun, federal officers "will be legally justified in shooting you."
The powerful National Rifle Association and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., criticized Essayli.
"Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it's a Constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don't understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government," Massie said on X.
Chair of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, R-Ky., suggested Sunday that Trump remove ICE from Minneapolis because local law enforcement aren't cooperating.
"If the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm's way, and there's a chance of losing more innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide do we want to continue to have all of these illegals," Comer said on Fox News."
The Editorial Board, The New York Times; The Trump Administration Is Lying to Our Faces. Congress Must Act.
"The federal government owes Americans a thorough investigation and a truthful accounting of the Saturday morning shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti on a Minneapolis street. When the government kills, it has an obligation to demonstrate that it has acted in the public interest. Instead, the Trump administration is once again engaged in a perversion of justice.
Mere hours after Mr. Pretti died, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, declared without offering evidence that Mr. Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism.” Gregory Bovino, a border patrol official, offered his own assessment: “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
These unfounded and inflammatory judgments pre-empt the outcome of an investigation, which the Department of Homeland Security has promised. They also appear wholly inconsistent with several videos recorded at the scene.
Those videos showed that Mr. Pretti had nothing but a phone in his hands when he was tackled by border patrol agents, and that he never drew the gun he was carrying (and reportedly had a license to carry). Indeed, the videos seem to show that one federal agent took the gun from Mr. Pretti moments before a different agent shot him from behind. Separate analyses by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, CBS News and otherorganizations all concluded that the videos contradict the Trump administration’s description of the killing.
The administration is urging Americans to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears. Ms. Noem and Mr. Bovino are lying in defiance of obvious truths. They are lying in the manner of authoritarian regimes that require people to accept lies as a demonstration of power...
It is premature to reach conclusions about what exactly happened on that Minneapolis street. The Trump administration should not have done so, and we will not do so. What is clear, however, is that the federal government needs to re-establish public faith in the agencies and officers who are carrying out Mr. Trump’s crackdown on immigration. If the administration is allowed to act with impunity and avoid even the most basic accountability, the result will be more violence."
SARAH LONGWELL AND ANDREW WEISSMANN, The Bulwark; The Minneapolis Shooting Demands a Real Investigation (w/ Andrew Weissmann)
"Sarah Longwell is joined by Andrew Weissmann for his reaction to the second killing of a civilian in Minnesota by federal agents. Andrew is professor of practice at the NYU School of Law who served as lead prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office from 2017 to 2019, and was General Counsel for the FBI from 2011 to 2013. They discuss the roles of the First and Second Amendments in the case, the contradictions and falsehoods issued by the government, and why it is important for people to continue speaking out and come forward with any video evidence in cases like this."
Toria Sheffield and Wendy Grossman Kantor, People; VA Doctor Remembers Alex Pretti, 37-Year-Old Man Killed by ICE, as ‘Kind and Helpful’ ICU Nurse (Exclusive)
"Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis, is being remembered by one of his colleagues as a 'kind guy' and a “very, very skilled nurse.”
“He was energetic, he was kind. He was always quick to have a joke or a laugh,” Dr. Dimitri Drekonja, an infectious disease physician at the VA Medical Center where Pretti was employed, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.
“He was very capable. When he gave a summary of the shift … [he] had all the information at his fingertips. He would tell me how the family was doing. He was a very, very skilled nurse,” he continued.
Drekonja, 51, went on to say that the “biggest thing” he wants others to know about Pretti is “that this was a kind and helpful guy — and nothing over the years that I knew him contradicted that. He was always willing to help. Whether it was a small task, whether it was patient care, whether it was, ‘Hey, I can give you a ride over, we're gonna meet for drinks after work.’ He was just a really kind guy.”
“It’s just been gutting,” he continued of Pretti's death, adding that he and other colleagues at the hospital “want people to know that [Pretti] was a good person. He was such a nice guy.”
Drekonja additionally said that he and Pretti shared an interest in mountain biking, and that they would often discuss their favorite local routes.
Pretti had been a registered nurse since January 2021, according to his nursing license, obtained by PEOPLE. He previously worked at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Pretti was shot and killed on Saturday, Jan. 24, at about 9:00 a.m. local time."
Corina Knoll, Julie Bosman and Maia Coleman, The New York Times ; Alex Jeffrey Pretti Knew He Wanted to Help Others
"The man fatally shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis was Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, officials said.
Mr. Pretti, who was 37, was a registered nurse who worked in the intensive-care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, according to interviews and public records, and lived in an apartment in Minneapolis a short drive away from where he was killed.
He had a firearms permit, required by state law in Minnesota to carry a handgun, officials said.
Colleagues and acquaintances of Mr. Pretti were stunned by his death, recalling a friendly neighbor and hardworking professional who was devoted to his patients.
Dr. Dimitri Drekonja said that the two had worked together for years. Mr. Pretti was capable, competent and friendly, he said, the kind of person who cared deeply about his work and his patients.
“He was a really great colleague and a really great friend,” he said. “The default look on his face was a smile.”
The two chatted regularly about mountain biking, one of Mr. Pretti’s passions.
Family members of Mr. Pretti declined to comment on Saturday. Michael Pretti, Mr. Pretti’s father, told The Associated Press that he had warned his son to be careful in Minneapolis.
“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”
Mr. Pretti received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 2011, a spokeswoman said. He graduated from a high school in Green Bay, Wis., in 2006, and was listed on the honor roll in a local newspaper. His parents now live in Colorado, and his former spouse lives in California."
Sam Levine, The Guardian; White House posts digitally altered image of woman arrested after ICE protest
"The White House posted a digitally altered image of a woman who was arrested on Thursday in a case touted by the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, to make it seem as if she was dramatically crying, a Guardian analysis of the image has found.
The woman, Nekima Levy Armstrong, also appears to have darker skin in the altered image. Armstrong was one of three people arrested on Thursday in connection to a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. Bondi announced the arrests on social media on Thursday morning.
The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, posted an image of Armstrong’s arrest at 10.21am on Thursday, less than an hour after Bondi’s announcement. The image shows a law enforcement agent, face blurred out, escorting Armstrong, who appears to be handcuffed. Armstrong, dressed in all black, appears to be composed in the picture.
A little more than 30 minutes later, the White House posted another image of Armstrong’s arrest in which she is crying. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reposted the image. The image posted by the White House is altered, a Guardian analysis found."
Sam Hill, SF Gate; DOI cracks down on stickers covering Trump's face on national park passes
[Kip Currier: It's still hard to believe this news story is real -- the Department of the Interior is voiding people's U.S. National Parks passes if Donald Trump's face (yes -- his face is on the entrance passes!) is covered up by anything -- and not from The Onion.]
[Excerpt]
"Covering up Donald Trump’s face on an America the Beautiful pass may come with an extra cost at national park entrance gates this year.
The Department of the Interior recently updated its “Void if Altered” rules for 2026, explicitly flagging stickers and other coverings as alterations that could invalidate the pass. The move appears to respond to visitors preparing to cover the image of Trump, which was set to begin appearing on passes Jan. 1 despite legal challenges.
An internal email from department business specialists Allison Christofis and Jeff Beauchamp to regional National Park Service staff shared updated guidelines for passes this year, highlighting changes to the department’s altered pass policy. The email was provided to SFGATE by a Park Service employee who requested anonymity to protect their job, which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy."
