"The factual bullshit from Trump-administration officials about Minnesota is, at least, easily detected: Hear claim, watch video, reject claim. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem declares that Alex Pretti "brandished" a firearm. ( He did not.) White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tells us Pretti was "an assassin" who "tried to murder federal agents." (Pretti never drew his weapon, got pepper-sprayed, and wound up at the bottom of an ICE dogpile.)"
"Beyond the pure barbarity of publicly branding any recently deceased person a "domestic terrorist," the administration's habitual knee-jerk invocation of this term makes zero legal sense. For starters, there is no crime called "domestic terrorism." Rather, federal law defines the term and then (curiously) does nothing with it, leaving the concept floating out there as an academic curiosity. Even if the term had real meaning, applying it to Good or Pretti underscores the ridiculousness of the administration's name-calling."
Administration officials repeatedly made false factual claims about Minnesota incidents, including assertions that Alex Pretti "brandished" a firearm, that he was "an assassin," and that Renee Good "ran over" an ICE officer. Video evidence shows Pretti never drew a weapon, was pepper-sprayed, and was restrained; Good made only glancing contact. The officials' factual fabrications rest on parallel legal misstatements. The federal term "domestic terrorism" is not a standalone crime; the law defines the term but does not create a distinct offense. Under the federal definition, an illegal act dangerous to human life plus intent to intimidate or coerce a population or influence government policy are required, making the label inapplicable here.
Read at Intelligencer
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