Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) was in Minneapolis on Monday, where he was confronted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters.
Khanna hugged one protester, Michael Wilson, on camera. Wilson discussed the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and referred to Khanna as a “pimp.”
“When you go back to Capitol Hill, tell ’em I said it. If they bring their a**es here, f***ing with us. It’s gonna get worse,” Wilson said.
Khanna defended his conversation with Wilson as the video circulated on X.
“Yes, I chose to listen to him, shared my view that we need to live up to King’s vision of non-violence, and gave him a hug,” Khanna wrote on X on Monday. “Perhaps, a better way to de-escalation and healing for our nation than having armed ICE agents shoot protestors.”
According to the protester, fellow demonstrators have recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day since Pretti was killed on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti was carrying a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun at the time of the incident.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara alerted the public that the subsequent protest is an “unlawful assembly.” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X that a Homeland Security Investigations officer had his finger bitten off by rioters in the area.
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Minneapolis residents were caught on camera wheeling trash cans and other objects toward a police line to seemingly prepare a defensive wall that would impede any police attempt to sweep them out.
Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Just before his death, he was at what DHS called a “targeted” operation “against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.”