Comedian Andrew Schulz is continuing to distance himself from President Donald Trump and his administration, decrying their disastrous “spin” of Alex Pretti’s death Saturday in Minnesota as “f**king disgusting” on 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. Like, plain and simple. I see the administration trying to spin it, and it’s fucking disgusting.”
Schulz made a mistake in laying out the encounter, confusing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who killed Pretti with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, but certainly had valid reason to condemn the Trump administration’s ongoing “spin.”
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 wrestled 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 “would-be assassin” who allegedly “tried to murder federal agents” before he was 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’re like, ‘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 over various issues.
He continued, “All of them, Trump and all the cronies, put out collective statements that immediately blamed an American citizen that 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 lawfully carrying a gun before he was disarmed and fatally shot.
“There’s no question about this whatsoever, and the administration immediately comes out and they try to gaslight the public, which you cannot do when we have 15 different videos of what happened,” Schulz said about the litany of eyewitness footage.
Miller notably changed his tune with a statement Tuesday, claiming his initial rhetoric was “based on reports” provided to Homeland Security by Customs and Border Protection, and saying the White House is “evaluating” why agents “may not have been following” proper protocol.
Schulz acknowledged on his podcast that he and his co-hosts interviewed Trump ahead of the 2024 election, and that many viewers who are aware of this probably don’t care about his perspective on the increasingly volatile political climate under Trump.
He nonetheless concluded: “I don’t think any of us are having this conversation to, like, curry any goodwill or get people to like us or something like that. This is something that is undeniably abhorrent and should be called out. Simple as that. It’s disgusting.”
