“For what?”
That was Vice President JD Vance’s response when asked if he planned to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti, the unarmed Minnesota protester who was shot dead by Border Patrol agents last month. In an interview with The Daily Mail, Vance made clear he has zero interest in expressing remorse for helping smear a U.S. citizen who was killed by his own government.
The line was delivered with a sick smirk. Watch the exchange for yoursef:
BREAKING:
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 4, 2026
Dailymail: “Do you plan to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti
JD Vance: “For what?”
Are you f—king kidding me?
You shared a post claiming he was an assassin trying to kill agents, instead of a VA ICU nurse, you POS. pic.twitter.com/Q18qThvU6O
The day Pretti was killed, Vance amplified a post from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller calling Pretti an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” The problem? Pretti was disarmed before he was shot. Calling him an assassin isn’t just wrong—it’s a lie designed to justify state violence against American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.
When Daily Mail reporter Philip Nieto pressed Vance on whether he’d apologize if an investigation determined Pretti’s civil rights were violated, the vice president dodged: “So if this hypothetical leads to that hypothetical leads to another hypothetical—”
“It’s a real case that’s open,” Nieto reminded him.
Vance’s response: “I don’t think it’s smart to prejudge the investigation, I don’t think it’s fair to those ICE officers.”
One small detail: Pretti was killed by Border Patrol, not ICE. The vice president of the United States can’t even keep straight which federal agency shot an American citizen dead in the street.
OF COURSE: The administration isn’t backing down—it’s doubling down. Border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that federal agents won’t leave Minnesota until residents stop protesting. That’s right: the government’s official position is that state-sponsored violence will continue until citizens stop exercising their constitutional rights to oppose it.
“We will not draw down on personnel providing security and responding to hostile incidents until we see a change in what’s happening with the lawlessness,” Homan said at a press conference. Translation: stop fighting back, and maybe we’ll stop killing you.
WHY IT MATTERS: Two U.S. citizens—Pretti and award-winning poet Renee Nicole Good—have been killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Zero ICE agents have died during immigration enforcement operations since the agency was founded in 2003. Almost all protesters charged with assaulting officers have seen their charges dropped.
The administration’s playbook is now clear: kill first, smear the victims as terrorists, then demand everyone wait for an “investigation” while refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Vance, Miller, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem painted Pretti as a trained domestic terrorist within hours of his death. Now that the country can see what actually happened, suddenly it’s time for patience and process.
This is what happens when the people in power view American citizens as the enemy. They don’t apologize. They don’t course-correct. They ask, “For what?”