Vice President JD Vance gave a cold two-word response when a reporter asked him if he should apologize to the family of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse killed by Border Patrol agents during a protest in Minneapolis less than two weeks ago.

“So that?” the vice president responded to Phillip Nieto of the Daily Mail.

“Because, you know, labeling him a murderer with bad intentions,” Nieto responded, referring to Vance sharing a post on

Miller has since admitted that Border Patrol agents “may not have followed” proper protocol surrounding the Pretti shooting. Amid the backlash, President Donald Trump also said he did not believe Pretti was a “killer.” But Vance refused to apologize for amplifying the comments and continued to smear Pretti in the Daily Mail interview.

Vice President JD Vance republished claims that Alex Pretti was a
Vice President JD Vance republished claims that Alex Pretti was a “murderer.”

via News

“I just described to you what I said about Alex Pretti, who is a guy who showed up with bad intentions at an ICE protest,” he continued.

“But if it is determined that your civil rights were violated by this FBI investigation, will you apologize?” Nieto pressed him, referring to the Justice Department’s announcement last Friday that it would lead a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s death, which marked a major change of course in how the Trump administration was handling the shooting.

It infuriated Vance to think so far ahead.

“If this hypothesis leads to that hypothesis leads to another hypothetical, will I do something?” the vice president asked as Nieto reminded him that “it is a real case that is open.”

Vance, despite jumping to conclusions about Pretti, said an investigation into the shooting needs to be conducted before commenting.

“We’re going to let the investigation determine, we’re going to let the real law come to the surface and find out what happened, and then if it’s determined that the guy who shot Alex Pretti did something wrong, then a lot of consequences will come from that,” Vance said.

“We’ll let that happen, but I don’t think it’s wise to prejudge the investigation,” he continued. “I don’t think it’s fair to those ICE officers.”