t
Comedian Andrew Schulz continues to distance himself from President Donald Trump and his administration, denouncing his disastrous “spin” on the death of Alex Pretti on Saturday in Minnesota as “fucking disgusting” in the latest episode of his “Flagrant” podcast.
“Let’s talk about what happened in Minneapolis,” Schulz said on Wednesday’s episode.
He continued: “ICE murdered an American citizen in cold blood and then the Trump administration called him a domestic terrorist. That’s it. Plain and simple. I see the administration trying to spin it, and it’s fucking disgusting.”
Schulz made a mistake in exposing the encounter, confusing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who killed Pretti with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, but he certainly had valid reasons to condemn the Trump administration’s current “turn.”
Eyewitness videos from Minneapolis appear to show Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who worked as an intensive care nurse, filming an altercation involving CBP agents, before several of them tackled Pretti to the ground, disarmed him and killed him.
Trump administration officials quickly seized on Saturday’s shooting as an opportunity to blame the victim.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “wannabe assassin” who allegedly “attempted to assassinate federal agents” before being killed, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti was engaging in “domestic terrorism” before he was shot.
“They didn’t even have a moment where they said, ‘Hey, we’re reviewing the footage, we’re going to try to see what’s really happening,’” said Schulz, who voted for Trump in 2024 but has since frequently criticized him and his administration on various issues.
He continued: “All of them, Trump and all of his cronies, issued collective statements that immediately placed blame on an American citizen who was exercising his First and Second Amendment rights. Right? He has the right to protest. He has the right to carry a firearm.”
Pretti was legally carrying a gun before being disarmed and shot to death.
OCTAVIO JONES/News/Getty Images
“There’s no question about this, and the administration immediately comes out and tries to mislead the public, which you can’t do when we have 15 different videos of what happened,” Schulz said of the litany of eyewitness footage.
Miller notably changed his tone with a statement on Tuesday, stating that his initial rhetoric was “based on reports” provided to Homeland Security by Customs and Border Protection, and saying that the White House is “evaluating” why agents “may not have followed” proper protocol.
Schulz acknowledged on his podcast that he and his co-hosts interviewed Trump before the 2024 election, and that many viewers aware of this probably don’t care about his perspective on the increasingly volatile political climate under Trump.
However, he concluded: “I don’t think any of us are having this conversation to gain goodwill or get people to like us or anything. This is something that is undeniably abhorrent and should be reported. It’s that simple. It’s disgusting.”