January 29, 2026: New Alex Pretti Video Footage, a Potential Government Shutdown, Updates in Minneapolis, an FBI Investigation Into Signal Chats, and More.

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What are the latest updates on the Alex Pretti shooting?

Jordan Berman 0:00
Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased Politics. Today is Thursday, January 29th. Let's talk about some news. We've got a lot to cover today, so let's just get right into it. We will start the episode with some developments related to the Alex Pretty shooting. And there are quite a few, so we'll kind of just bounce from one to the next. And I'll just kind of, I'll attempt to explain these in chronological order, but there's just been so much happening since Monday's episode that everything kind of gets meshed together. So first, let's talk about the DHS preliminary report. On Tuesday, the DHS shared this preliminary report on the Alex Pretty shooting with Congress based on an initial investigation that was done by the CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Jordan Berman 0:52
And in completing that investigation, the Office of Professional Responsibility basically relied on body cam footage as well as available documentation. Now, remember, the CBP is an agency within the DHS, right? So the DHS oversees the CBP and any internal offices within the CBP, including the Office of Professional Responsibility. So that's why it was the DHS that shared this report with Congress. Now, the report has not been released to the public, but it has been seen by various news outlets, and these various news outlets have reported on its contents. So per those reports, the initial investigation found that CBP agents were conducting a targeted operation when they encountered Preti.
Unknown 1:39
An officer asked Preti and another woman in the road to, quote, move out of the roadway. When they both didn't move, the officer deployed his pepper spray towards both individuals. Officers then attempted to take Pretty into custody.

What is the FBI investigating regarding Signal group chats in Minneapolis?

Unknown 1:54
Pretty resisted their efforts, which then resulted in a subsequent struggle on the ground.
Jordan Berman 2:00
The report states that while Pretty was on the ground, a Border Patrol agent yelled, quote, he's got a gun multiple times, though the report does not state that Pretty ever showed his gun, you know, or like brandished his gun, as was initially reported by DHS Secretary Noem. Roughly five seconds after the Border Patrol agent yelled that Pretty had a gun, two agents discharged firearms at Pretty, one of whom was a Border Patrol agent with a CBP-issued Glock 19. The other was a CBP agent with a CBP-issued Glock 47. The report found that after the shooting, a Border Patrol agent advised that he had possession of Pretty's firearm and that it was cleared and secured in the agent's vehicle. Now, a few things the report doesn't mention.

Why are Democratic lawmakers blocking DHS funding and what does it mean for a government shutdown?

Jordan Berman 2:54
Number one, it does not mention an accidental discharge from Pretty's weapon, which, as we just said, had been confiscated by another agent just seconds before the shooting. I know there were talks of that possibly being the case, there potentially being an accidental discharge that then caused the agents to fire at Pretty, but none of that was mentioned in the report. Two, the report does not say how many shots were fired or which shots killed Pretty.
Unknown 3:24
And three, the report does not state whether the officers that fired the shots knew Pretty had been disarmed when those shots were fired.
Jordan Berman 3:34
So that's the gist of the preliminary report. And again, this is just a preliminary report that is based on an initial investigation.

What happened during the town hall event with Rep. Ilhan Omar?

Jordan Berman 3:42
So it's not going to detail everything. That'll likely take some time. The next development is that the agents that fired their weapons have since been placed on administrative leave. So according to a CBP spokesperson, the move is standard protocol, and the spokesperson said it shouldn't be viewed as any suspicion of wrongdoing. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin also confirmed that the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good has also been placed on administrative leave. So administrative leave is essentially a temporary leave of absence from duties, but you're still entitled to pay and benefits. It's not until the investigation progresses that the agency will then determine whether those agents are brought back or they face further action.

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