--- title: Trump Labels Pretti ‘Agitator and, Perhaps, Insurrectionist’ description: The President asserted “Pretti’s stock has gone way down” after videos show the late nurse was involved in a previous altercation with federal agents. canonical: https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/ author: Chad de Guzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-30T08:45:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:52:04.835Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Labels Pretti ‘Agitator and, Perhaps, Insurrectionist’ og:description: The President asserted “Pretti’s stock has gone way down” after videos show the late nurse was involved in a previous altercation with federal agents. og:url: https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1edefc104570a934/6998cd3e25f3ee298464559d/alex-pretti.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Memorial for Alex Pretti in Minnesota og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Labels Pretti ‘Agitator and, Perhaps, Insurrectionist’ twitter:description: The President asserted “Pretti’s stock has gone way down” after videos show the late nurse was involved in a previous altercation with federal agents. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1edefc104570a934/6998cd3e25f3ee298464559d/alex-pretti.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Labels Man Killed by Federal Agents an ‘Agitator’ and ‘Perhaps, Insurrectionist’ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1b282f3f-d8d1-4abe-8f50-a92bae2b9d33&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Jan 30, 2026 8:45 AM UTC  Signs and flowers are seen at a makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 29, 2026. Signs and flowers are seen at a makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 29, 2026. Madison Thorn—Anadolu/Getty Images  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Jan 30, 2026 8:45 AM UTC President Donald Trump has labeled [Alex Pretti](https://time.com/7357687/alex-pretti-ice-minneapolis/), a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist,” in a [post on Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115982625271651077) early Friday. “Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE \[Immigration and Customs Enforcement\] Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Trump continued in his post. “It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!” The President appeared to be referring to [footage](https://www.thenewsmovement.com/stories/exclusive-man-who-appears-to-be-alex-pretti-filmed-in-altercation-with-federal-agents) published by digital news outlet the News Movement and analyzed by BBC News. In the video, a man who appears to be Pretti is seen on Jan. 13 screaming at federal immigration agents and then spitting at and kicking in the taillight of their vehicle as they drove away, after which the agents in tactical gear exited their vehicle and tackled the man to the ground and sprayed chemical irritants at surrounding onlookers. Moments later, the agents released the man and retreated. The _Minnesota Star Tribune_ [published](https://www.startribune.com/bystander-video-reveals-confrontation-between-alex-pretti-and-federal-agents-11-days-before-killing/601572009) on Thursday another video showing a different angle of the same incident, and Pretti’s family confirmed to the newspaper that the man was Pretti. CNN had [reported](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/27/us/alex-pretti-protesters-minneapolis-invs) Tuesday that Pretti was involved in an altercation with federal agents in which he had broken a rib over a week before he was shot; the Department of Homeland Security told the outlet that it had “no record of this incident.” Trump’s remarks about Pretti come after his Administration initially after Pretti’s killing portrayed Pretti as a security threat and domestic terrorist, including alleging that he had intended to “[massacre law enforcement](http://x.com/DHSgov/status/2015115351797780500).” Pretti [had a handgun](https://time.com/7358403/nra-trump-clash-gun-carrying-rights-pretti-federal-agents/) but [video footage](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html) showed that he was not holding it at the time he was restrained and fatally shot by federal agents. Pretti’s family called the allegations “[sickening lies](https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/2015467356453994500)” and described Pretti as a “kindhearted soul,” “good man,” and “hero.” As [public anger mounted](https://time.com/7358027/ice-agents-minnesota-alex-pretti-abolish-ice/), including growing frustration from even [within the Republican Party](https://time.com/7357923/abolish-ice-polls-minneapolis-shootings-alex-pretti-renee-good-trump-immigration/), Trump promised that his Administration was “[reviewing everything](https://time.com/7357964/trump-homan-ice-minneapolis/)” to do with the incident. About video of Pretti’s earlier encounter with federal agents, a lawyer representing Pretti’s family told the [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/minneapolis-ice-alex-pretti-videos-immigration-809506eb23f44a3e8f6e53b9fda7b700) in a statement: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street—despite posing no threat to anyone—he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents,” and “Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/"},"headline":"Trump Labels Man Killed by Federal Agents an ‘Agitator’ and ‘Perhaps, Insurrectionist’","datePublished":"2026-01-30T08:45:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:52:04.835Z","description":"The President asserted “Pretti’s stock has gone way down” after videos show the late nurse was involved in a previous altercation with federal agents.","url":"https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/","keywords":["Donald Trump","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1edefc104570a934/6998cd3e25f3ee298464559d/alex-pretti.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chad de Guzman","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1edefc104570a934/6998cd3e25f3ee298464559d/alex-pretti.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Memorial for Alex Pretti in Minnesota","caption":"Signs and flowers left by mourners are seen at the makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minn., US, on Jan. 29, 2026.","creditText":"Madison Thorn—Anadolu/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7362321/trump-alex-pretti-agitator-insurrectionist-minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents/","name":"Trump Labels Man Killed by Federal Agents an ‘Agitator’ and ‘Perhaps, Insurrectionist’"}}]}] ```