Trump SCRAMBLES In First Interview Since ICE's Alex Pretti Killing

What this episode is about

Donald Trump addressed the controversial killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, labeling it a "very unfortunate incident" while avoiding condemnation of claims made by Steven Miller and JD Vance that Pretti was a domestic terrorist. He expressed concerns about Pretti carrying a gun, implying a shift in his stance on the Second Amendment and broader constitutional rights amidst ongoing debates over law enforcement actions.

Key takeaways

• Trump's take on gun rights is a masterclass in selective outrage—such irony from a pro-gun Republican.
• When government agents become the threat, who's protecting the citizens? Welcome to the GOP's Kafkaesque logic.
• Remember the McCloskies? They brandished weapons and got a hero's welcome—double standards at play, much?
• In Trump's world, only the 'in-group' gets to play by the rules—everyone else? Those rights are optional.
• Steven Miller's narrative spin on Prey reveals that sometimes, facts are mere playthings in political theater.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Dan (Guest) · 12 min speaking
• Donald Trump (Guest) · 6 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Donald Trump, Alex Jeffrey Prey, Steven Miller, J.D. Vance
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Steven Miller, J.D. Vance, Greg Bevino, Cory Lewendowski
3. 6:00 – 9:00: J.D. Vance, Greg Bevino, Tom Holman, Cook Unity
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Cory Lewendowski, Donald Trump, Steven Miller, Tom Holman
5. 12:00 – 15:00: Donald Trump, Steven Miller
6. 15:00 – 18:00: Alex Jeffrey Prey, Liam Kaneo Ramos

Notable quotes from "Trump SCRAMBLES In First Interview Since ICE's Alex Pretti Killing"

• All right, Dan. Donald Trump finally answered questions today about the murder of Alex Prey by federal agents.

  about Donald Trump · at 0:00

• And then Steven Miller was the first to do it and said he was an assassin.

  about Steven Miller · at 4:01

• Vance like the tweet is still up from Miller. Multiple tweets when he calls him an assassin. Vance has still reposted the tweet and they've both been tweeting other since then and they've just left this up.

  about J.D. Vance · at 7:03

• Also asked about what he called a quote deescalation in Minnesota. as well as Border Patrol commander Greg Bevino who he threw under the bus and Christine who he did not. Let's listen.

  about Greg Bevino · at 8:06

• And I think it's clear that the reason Gnome asked for this two-hour meeting with her and Cory Luwendowski, her close friend, and Trump top adviser >> top Yeah. Yeah. Right at the top at.

  about Cory Lewendowski · at 10:04

• Like Homeman has a different approach than Bo and Christine Gnome and Cory Lewendowski and Steven Miller, frankly.

  about Tom Holman · at 11:23

• Will Kane's "Yeah, no, it's made up by the media, right? It turns out not to be true." So, Liam is still in a detention facility in Texas with…

  about Liam Kaneo Ramos · at 16:50

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political leader / main subject of critique · 4 mentions · first at 0:00
  Central figure in the segment: questioned about the killing of Alex Prey and portrayed as shaping (and evading responsibility for) the administration’s narrative and enforcement posture.
• Steven Miller — Person · Referenced administration official / narrative driver · 6 mentions · first at 0:09
  Portrayed as originating and pushing the 'assassin/domestic terrorist' narrative about Alex Prey and later shifting blame to CBP in response to reporting.
• Alex Jeffrey Prey — Person · Victim referenced / focal incident · 3 mentions · first at 0:03
  The discussion centers on his killing by federal agents and the subsequent effort by administration figures to label him an 'assassin' or 'domestic terrorist.'
  >> Do you agree with the assessment from some of your own officials that Alex Prey is a domestic terrorist or an assassin?
• J.D. Vance — Person · Referenced administration/political figure amplifying narrative · 3 mentions · first at 0:09
  Described as boosting Steven Miller’s claim by reposting/retweeting the 'assassin' characterization of Alex Prey.
• Greg Bevino — Person · Referenced enforcement commander / alleged fall guy · 2 mentions · first at 3:58
  Presented as the on-the-ground commander being 'thrown under the bus' in the aftermath of the Minnesota operation and the killing of Alex Prey.
• Tom Holman — Person · Referenced enforcement leader / alternative tactical voice · 2 mentions · first at 8:30
  Cited as being deployed to Minnesota and framed as favoring a more 'targeted' approach compared with broader sweeps attributed to other officials.
• Liam Kaneo Ramos — Person · Referenced child detainee / example case · 1 mention · first at 16:45
  Used as a concrete example to dispute claims of 'fake news' and to illustrate detention/deportation practices; described as a 5-year-old held in Texas with his father.
• Cory Lewendowski — Person · Referenced political adviser involved in response planning · 3 mentions · first at 5:59
  Mentioned as attending a two-hour meeting with Trump and Christine Gnome about the communications response to the killing, implying involvement in messaging strategy.

Sponsors

• Cook Unity — Product · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 7:19
  Sponsor of the podcast, providing chef-designed meals delivered to customers.
  >> Pods of America is brought to you by Cook Unity. I have been using Cook Unity forever, for years, long before they ever sponsored this podcast. It is fantastic. most of my meals are from.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 All right, Dan. Uh, Donald Trump finally answered questions today about the murder of Alex Prey by federal agents. Uh, here he is trying to explain why Steven Miller and JD Vance slandered Prey as an assassin and a domestic terrorist. >> Do you agree with the assessment from some of your own officials that Alex Prey is a domestic terrorist or an assassin? >> Well, I haven't heard that, but certainly he shouldn't have been carrying a gun. But all of Hey, look, bottom line, everybody in this room, >> we view that as a very unfortunate incident. Okay, everyone, unless you're you're a stupid person. Uh, very very unfortunate incident. I don't like that he had a gun. I don't like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That's a lot of bad stuff. And despite that, I say that's a very unfortunate.

0:46 >> So, we have already done away with the first amendment under Trump's second term. the doesn't care much for the fourth amendment, unreasonable search and seizure. Uh not really a big fan of the 10th amendment, states rights. Uh and now looks like he's looks like he's done with the second amendment as well. >> It's not a trade three amendments for one in this situation. >> Same. Same. >> What amendment was birthright citizenship in that one going to?

1:11 >> Uh that's 14th. Yeah. Not definitely not a fan of the 14th. Yeah. So we're uh he said earlier on the plane like he should have he's not you're not supposed to have a gun. like he he's been going all of them now are just like the real crime is if you if you are legally permitted to carry a gun but you bring it to an area where border patrol or ICE just happens to be I guess uh which is not just apprehending undocumented immigrants anymore but just in the streets of our cities then you can be shot to death I guess is the what what they're saying now >> you remember the McCloskies John the I do >> the the couple that stood outside their house in Missouri I believe brandishing weapons including an assault rifle. I >> believe it was during a protest.

1:53 >> It was during a protest and they were they targeted by law enforcement? No. Did they get to speak at the Republican convention that year? Yes, they did. They be they were become Republican right-wing heroes. I mean, obviously this is nonsensical and makes no sense and they're desperately trying to excuse the inexcusable and explain the unexplainable. But it does seem if you were to like boil it down to what the logic that Trump and Cash Patel and all these other people are are suggesting here is you can have a gun to protect yourself from other people, but you cannot have a gun to protect yourself from the government, which has been the main argument only if they're in the government.

2:30 >> Only if they're in the government. That's exactly right. Because you remember the entire NRA sales pitch was buy your gun because Biden's going to be president or Barack Obama's gonna be president. And so it's just I mean it's absurd. And I'm actually s like it just also goes to show how Trump just can't let it go. He just can't take he just can't accept responsibility here. So he's got to keep pivoting back to this absurd gun argument, which all the video footage refutes any contention that the gun was ever attempted to be used in any way or that there was any threat there. It also speaks to why it's just uh so difficult to describe anything about the Trump administration's politics or MAGA's politics as conservative or even ideological in any way or talk about it

3:16 in terms of hypocrisy. It is purely um when we have power uh we can have guns, you can't um we can get abortions, you can't. Um we can commit fraud. Uh you can't. And so really the whole thing is just uh you know the inroup if you're part of MAGA you can do whatever you want there's there are no laws and if you are not part of MAGA then we can tell you what to do and you don't have any rights >> it's might makes right that's foreign policy that's domestic policy that's that's what it is >> also just then when he said um oh I haven't heard that any of my my aids have been referring to him as a domestic terrorist or an assassin so um let's see Greg Bavino did Christina genome did.

4:01 Uh, and then Steven Miller was the first to do it and said he was an assassin. Um, and then JD Vance uh also retweeted Steven Miller calling uh Freddy an assassin. And now we found out from Axios uh did some reporting that uh it was actually Steven Miller concocted this whole thing which we I think you and I would have guessed most people would have guessed that follow this closely. Uh but now six sources uh from the White House and other places in the administration have talked to Axios. Uh, here's I'll just read you from the story. Under Miller's direction, DHS officials began assembling a statement based on information from other officers on scene who noted only that Prey had a firearm. That's it. Uh, and then the source says, "Steven heard gun and knew what the narrative would be. Prey came to massacre cops and then Vance reposted him." Uh, it also has Christine M in

4:51 that story saying, "Everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Steven," she said to a source. And I didn't notice this when I first looked at the story, but apparently the story's been up for a couple hours and then Miller went on the record to respond in the story. So they updated the story with Miller's response. Yeah. So he is deciding to uh Steven Miller, that has decided to throw throw border patrol under the bus as opposed to standing by his own Any early comments made were based on information sent to the White House through Customs and Border Patrol, Miller told Axios. Uh Miller said that the Minnesota operation didn't follow the guidelines established by the White House in the aftermath of the January 7th shooting of Renee Good.

5:32 Specifically, Miller said the squads of CBP agents were supposed to be divided between officers engaged in the arrests of specifically targeted quote criminal aliens and other officers in charge of crowd control. Quote, Miller Miller said, quote, we are examining why CBP was not following that protocol. Yeah, just this is not the biggest point here, but we also know from a lot of reporting from the New York Times, the Atlantic, and others that Trump had a 2-hour meeting with Christine Gnome and Cory Luwendowski that included his press secretary and his communications director. And you're telling which so it suggests to me that the meeting was therefore about the communications response to the killing. And you're telling me at no point in there the charges of assassin domestic terrorist came up in their two-hour meeting on the communications around the response to the killing? That's ridiculous.

6:21 >> It's also unbelievable that Miller is just thinks he's going to get away with saying that Customs and Border Patrol sent information saying that this guy was an assassin uh who wanted to commit a massacre because there's going to be no information that he can uh that he can release that shows that that proves that. And it's a lie. And I'm sure that Customs and Border Patrol is not going to want to be thrown under the bus there either. And it is pretty clear from the story that someone just saw, oh, the guy had a gun. Freddy had a gun. And so, uh, Steven's like, great, we'll make him a domestic terrorist. Just like, uh, just like we said about Renee Good. And and now go further and call him a assassin. It is disgusting.

7:00 I I also can't I can't believe that like Vance like the the tweet is still up from Miller. Multiple tweets when he calls him an assassin. Vance has still reposted the tweet and they've both been tweeting other since then and they've just left this up. >> Yeah. I mean I I don't know why you're surprised by this. >> I mean, yeah, >> they're truly soulless individuals here. >> Pods of America is brought to you by Cook Unity. I have been using Cook Unity forever, for years, long before they ever sponsored this podcast. It is fantastic. Uh most of my meals are from Cook Unity. They deliver chef designed meals that balance real flavor, nutrition, and convenience with no cooking or planning required. They also let you choose what works for you with collections like protein forward, better

7:37 for sleep, mood boosting, and fiber maxing. >> Plus, it's awesome knowing their roster of all-star chefs include Food Network alums, James Beard Award winners, and acclaimed restaurant tours who balance bold flavors and nutrition and small batch meals delivered fresh, not frozen. Taste, comfort, and craftsmanship and every bite from the award-winning chefs behind Cookity. Go to cookunity.com/crooked or use code crooked to get 50% off your first order. That's 50% off your first order at cookunity.com/crooked or use the codec crooked. Uh Trump was also asked about what he called a quote deescalation in Minnesota. Uh as well as Border Patrol commander Greg Bevino who he threw under the bus and Christine who he did not. Let's listen.

8:16 >> You know Minnesota's in the uh in the news a lot, but they don't what they don't say is that Minnesota has low numbers because of the fact that we took thousands of hardened criminals out of Minnesota. So they had good crime numbers, believe it or not. And uh that's all working out. You know, we have Tom Holman there now. We put him in there. He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else. And we'll we're going to deescalate a little bit.

8:39 >> Commander Bino is supposedly leaving Minneapolis along with some CBP agency. Is this a pullback? >> I don't think it's a pullback. It's a little bit of a change. Everybody in this room that has a business, you know, you make little changes. You know, Bevino is very good, but he's a pretty out there kind of a guy. And in some cases, that's good. Maybe it wasn't good here. Do you still have confidence in DHS Secretary Christine Gnome? You brought up the success of she was there with the border. Who closed up the border? She did with Tom Holman with the whole group. I mean they closed up the border. The border is a tremendous success. One of the most secure borders in in the entire world.

9:14 >> What do you think, Dan? I mean, everyone sometimes when you have a business and uh you know your employees are murdering people in the streets, you got to make a little change. >> Yeah. It's like adjusting the menu at a restaurant. Trump is deescalating. He is trying to change the narrative at least um that he's also trying to throw fairly I think Bino under the bus. Bino is you know he's the fall guy here. You that's true and you can see that in Stephen Miller's statement. They're going to make him take the blame for everything.

9:42 And he's sticking with Christine Gnome probably because Trump is just too like to fire her would be to admit too much failure on his part to take be make himself too culpable. So, it's I was say I'm going to say I'm going to deescalate. I'm going to try to change the narrative. I need a fall guy. That's Bavino. But Gnome is too high up on the food chain to get rid of at this moment when people are pressuring me to do so. And I think it's clear that the reason Gnome asked for this two-hour meeting with her and Cory Luwendowski, her close friend, um, and Trump top adviser >> top Yeah. Yeah. Right at the top uh at the at the White House. um was because and then why she said that to Axio that like I'm just taking direction from the president and Steven is cuz I think she wants to make it clear that if she's

10:27 fired she's going to be like well no I was just doing exactly what the White House told me. >> Yeah, I think that's right and just she also knows and certainly Cory Luwendowski knows that Trump for all of the bravado of the apprentice does not like to fire people and so if you come into his office and he has to see you look you in the eyes he's much less likely to fire you. What do you think about whether like whether this is a deescalation in any way in policy? Like do you think that is completely or we just have to wait and see? I mean, you know, I think Walls and Fry are hopeful as they probably should be, right, when they're because they're dealing with this horrible invasion and occupation. Um, but and and I'm sure they don't like necessarily trust whatever Donald Trump and the administration is telling them and Tom

11:10 Hman, but uh I wonder if they will actually reduce any of the forces because it doesn't seem like they have so far. I think it may be a more a change in tactics than a, you know, an evacuation or a departure of the troops. Like Homeman has a different approach than Bo and Christine Gnome and Cory Lewendowski and Steven Miller, frankly. And he lost out on the internal battle. He has argued for, you know, in all the reporting says he has argued for, and I can't believe we're quasi defending Tom Hman here. I don't mean to do that. I know, >> but he's argued for a more targeted approach that if you actually want to get focusing entirely on or at least primarily on criminals and people with final deportation orders, >> the bino gnome approach is to sweep everyone up and then figure out what to do with them afterwards. Yeah.

11:56 >> And it's a much more visual approach. It's a much more evocative approach. It's a it's that because I think what they also want to do is they want to send a message to people who are here to tell them to self- deepport, people who may are thinking of coming here to not come here that you will be persecuted if you come here and so it may lower the temperature somewhat in Minneapolis for now. I am curious how long they can possibly stay Minneapolis but we can't forget this. You know, it's not getting attention but there are horrible things happening in Maine right now too, right?

12:22 There's an incredibly aggressive campaign happening there at the exact same time. And so I just I wait and see, right? I don't know that this is a, you know, I think this may be a change in tactics for the time being, but I don't think Steven Miller and therefore Donald Trump are giving up the idea that you want to deport as many people from this country as humanly possible. You know, I think that that will stay. There's reports out of Maine today, Portland Press Herald was reporting this that uh the agents there uh anyone who is, you know, the observers of ICE, people who are organizers, protesters, have whistles and stuff like that. They are going to their homes and telling them, uh, I know where you live. Do not follow us. Do not try to. And these people are are just, you know, exercising their First Amendment rights. No one's impeding any kind of investigation. And

13:08 they're just harassing these people by going to their home. One woman said that her her children are staying somewhere else right now because uh an agent said, "We know where you live and if you keep following us, we'll come back." It's crazy. And Greg Graino is not there. So um finally uh here's Trump showing his uh his trademark compassion and empathy as the uh as the nation's consoler and chief. >> The bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible. The other was terrible, too. And I'm not sure about his parents, but I know her parents were big Trump fans. makes me feel bad anyway. But I mean, I guess you could say even worse. They were tremendous Trump people, Trump Trump fans, and you know, the daughter was uh she was I don't know if it you could say radicalized. Maybe radicalized, maybe

13:54 not. I don't know. But I hate to see it. I hate to see that. >> It's one thing to think that, right? It's a completely different thing to feel entirely comfortable saying that out loud in public. Think it in your head. Bad. mention it in private pretty bad. Saying it on television as if it's a completely normal thought that a tra the severity of a tragedy is dependent upon the connection to yourself. >> Yeah. Well, it's like and and it's the only way you can possibly have any kind of sympathy or understanding for anyone is in how it relates directly to you and if it relates directly to you.

14:33 Otherwise, there's there's just nothing. Because if her parents were anti-Trump people, then that it is what it is. But if it but if one of his supporters gets hurt in this, then something is wrong. Which goes right to the core fundamental issue here that the entire mentality of Trump, Steven Miller, the people around him is that this is a war between people who support Donald Trump and everyone else. >> Yes. Yes. And and if you don't get in our way and you don't and you just don't resist and you just sit in your homes quietly, then you're you'll be okay. But >> you might be okay.

15:09 >> But you might be okay. But the moment you question us, the moment you you try to defeat us through electoral politics, the moment you try to organize or protest or do anything else or or you know, uh if you're in the media, say something bad about us, criticize us, then all bets are off. Sorry, can't help you. It's just uh it is dark, man. dark. Um, also like it's it is wild and I know Governor Walls said this today like we don't know the name of the officers who shot Alex Prey. Just don't know their names. We there's still no investigation uh into Renee Good's killer. Not a real investigation so far into Alex Py's killer. Like I I it's just it is wild that federal agents have killed two American citizens and there is just no serious criminal investigation into either of them even if the evidence and a jury would clear

16:03 them. We're just not even they're just not even going to investigate. I mean, the fact that they that the by reports the folks who the agents who shot Prey are on the job somewhere else. Like even in right a in any sort of police shooting, the most likely the thing that happens next is that person while an investigation takes place to see if the shooting was justified, that person is off the job, right? They're returned to their desk. You know, it's looked into here. They just set him out to I assume do this somewhere else in the country as far as we know. The other thing I'm raising because you and I talked about it on Friday's pod, but um in that interview with Will Kaine right there, uh Trump said that the uh the story about uh that 5-year-old boy in Minneapolis, uh Liam Kaneo Ramos, was fake fake news. And then, of course, Will Kane's like, "Yeah, no, it's made

16:51 up by the media, right? It turns out not to be true." So, uh Liam is still in a detention facility uh in Texas with his father. Uh his mother very much wants him home. His school very much wants him home. they can't get him home. And thankfully, a federal judge in Texas just handed out a ruling blocking the deportation of Liam and his father. So, the idea that this was a fake story and Liam's okay and they're the border patrol, they're playing his favorite music and they're taking care of him. Well, in Texas, they're about to deport him even though uh it's illegal, according to a judge, to deport him and his father because they were not criminal illegal aliens. They were people who showed up at the border and were waiting for their asylum hearing and in the process of uh of trying to get asylum in the United States and then

17:39 were just ripped from their family in Minneapolis and thrown at a detention center in Texas. So thankfully uh you know a judge ruled that. The idea that this is like again if they are lying about Alex Prey when we can all see the video to the contrary and they know we can see the video to the contrary just imagine of course the story they're telling about Liam and 5-year-old boy and saying that it's fake news. Of course that's not right. Of course they're lying >> in and every single thing else.

18:05 >> Exactly. everything every sing like there has never been a credibility gap like this with the government in the United States for all the times the government has been dishonest and lied it's been many times there is no one and nothing you can trust his government says about ICE about these shootings about the detention centers about Trump's corruption about what's happening in Venezuela about where money is going about who is looking at whose data you can trust no one >> and we've never been in a moment where there were fewer people with the power to expose knows what is happening. Like this is a >> this is a it's it is a very >> dark situation in terms of the state of our government and it like the like root and branch has to be uprooted.

18:48 >> Yes, absolutely. Um all right, well that's all for now. We'll keep you guys updated if there's any other uh big breaking news. Uh as always, please subscribe to uh Positive America channel on YouTube so you can uh keep up with us. We'll be here uh bringing you all the news uh as it comes. >> Bye everyone. Bye Dan.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Trump SCRAMBLES In First Interview Since ICE's Alex Pretti Killing"?

Dan (Guest), Donald Trump (Guest).

What is "Trump SCRAMBLES In First Interview Since ICE's Alex Pretti Killing" about?

Donald Trump addressed the controversial killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, labeling it a "very unfortunate incident" while avoiding condemnation of claims made by Steven Miller and JD Vance that Pretti was a domestic terrorist. He expressed concerns about Pretti carrying a gun, implying a shift in his stance on the Second Amendment and broader constitutional rights amidst ongoing debates…

What is mentioned in this Pod Save America episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Steven Miller, Alex Jeffrey Prey, J.D. Vance, Greg Bevino, Tom Holman. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Trump SCRAMBLES In First Interview Since ICE's Alex Pretti Killing"?

The episode runs 19 min; the transcript is about 3,865 words in 29 timestamped sections.

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