Bill Clinton urges Americans “stand up, speak out” after Minneapolis killings

• Former President Bill Clinton issued a sharp rebuke of the "horrible scenes" in Minneapolis on Sunday, accusing the Trump administration of "lying" to the public about the fatal shootings of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good while calling on Americans to "stand up" for democratic freedoms.
• The killing of Alex Pretti—an ICU nurse and lawful gun owner—has sparked a severe constitutional crisis, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz demanding a state-led probe as verified video footage appears to show agents disarming and subduing Pretti before firing approximately 10 shots into him while he lay on the ground.

Former president Bill Clinton on Sunday decried "horrible scenes" in Minneapolis after two US citizens were killed by federal agents, as the veteran Democrat urged Americans to protest what he called unacceptable government action.

"It is up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People," Clinton said, warning that Trump administration officials have "lied to us" about the fatal encounters and used increasingly aggressive tactics in their immigration crackdown.

"All of this is unacceptable," Clinton said in the statement.

"If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back."

The Trump administration faced intensifying pressure Sunday over its mass immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, after federal agents shot dead a second US citizen and graphic cell phone footage again contradicted officials' immediate description of the incident.

Federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, early Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an immigration officer fired on Renee Good, also 37, killing her in her car.

President Donald Trump's administration quickly claimed that Pretti had intended to harm the federal agents -- as it did after Good's death -- pointing to a pistol it said was discovered on him.

However, video shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing around 10 shots at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant and thrown to the ground.

The video further inflamed ongoing protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal agents, with around 1,000 people participating in a demonstration Sunday.

After top officials described Pretti as an "assassin" who had assaulted the agents, Pretti's parents issued a statement Saturday condemning the administration's "sickening lies" about their son.

Asked Sunday what she would say to Pretti's parents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: "Just that I'm grieved for them."

"I truly am. I can't even imagine losing a child," she told Fox News show "The Sunday Briefing."

She said more clarity would come as an investigation progresses.

US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," also said an investigation was necessary to get a full understanding of the killing.

Asked if agents had already removed the pistol from Pretti when they fired on him, Blanche said: "I do not know. And nobody else knows, either. That's why we're doing an investigation."

“Joint” probe

Their comments came after multiple senators from Trump's Republican Party called for a thorough probe into the killing, and for cooperation with local authorities.

"There must be a full joint federal and state investigation," Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.

The Trump administration controversially excluded local investigators from a probe into Good's killing.

Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Walz posed a question directly to the president during a press briefing Sunday, asking: "What's the plan, Donald Trump?"

"What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?"

Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants.

Trump has repeatedly amplified the racially tinged accusations, including on Sunday when he posted on his Truth Social platform: "Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!"

The city, known for its bitterly cold winters, has one of the country's highest concentrations of Somali immigrants.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump's claim, telling reporters "it's not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we'd be having a different conversation. But he's sending armed masked men."