Former President Bill Clinton spoke out Sunday against federal agents’ “unacceptable” killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota, declaring that if “we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back.”
Joining former President Barack Obama, who also addressed the shootings, Clinton shared a dark warning on social media a day after Pretti, 37, was killed by federal immigration agents.
“In recent weeks, we’ve watched horrible scenes play out in Minneapolis and other communities that I never thought would take place in America. People, including children, have been seized from their homes, workplaces, and the street by masked federal agents,” Clinton began on X, mentioning both Good’s and Pretti’s killings.
“To make matters even worse, at every turn, the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes, and pushed increasingly aggressive and antagonistic tactics, including impeding investigations by local authorities,” he added.
The former president then called on Americans “who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People.”
In the wake of Pretti’s death on Saturday, the Trump administration has repeatedly alleged that federal agents acted in self-defense. Over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters that Pretti “showed up to impede a law enforcement operation” and “attacked those officers.”
Videos of the incident and sworn affidavits suggest otherwise.
When a reporter grilled Noem on Saturday about whether Pretti even still had a gun when a federal agent killed him, she refused to respond directly, telling the reporter not to “distract away from the facts of this situation.”
Obama warned in a statement on X Sunday morning that the “heartbreaking tragedy” in Minneapolis should “also be a wake-up call to every American.”
“Regardless of party,” he said, “many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”