Judge Drops Emergency Order to Stop Destruction of Evidence in Alex Pretti Case

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1:49Michael Popok:We got some breaking legal news coming out of Minnesota. Where else? With a late night new lawsuit filed and already a Trump appointed judge without even hearing from the Trump administration. I got this. Entered a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration, Border Patrol, ICE, and the rest from destroying any evidence, concealing it or altering it related to the shooting death execution style of Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, 9 a.m. on January the 24th. Things are going pretty terribly for the Trump administration in the public's eye when a federal judge who's a Trump appointee doesn't trust the Trump administration and has to enter in order to make sure they don't conceal or destroy evidence in a state investigation about whether federal officers have violated criminal law in the state of Minneapolis or state of Minnesota located in Minneapolis.

2:48Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popak. Let's get to the new reporting in front of Judge Tostrad. Judge Tostrad was appointed in the first Trump term, not a MAGA judge, and he's holding a hearing later today. But before he even gets to the hearing, He's already entered the temporary restraining order. He may extend it, make it into a preliminary injunction, but he does not want anything concealed, altered, deleted from the crime scene. Why has this happened? Because once again, the Trump administration has ordered its agents to box out state investigatory officers and agents from doing their job to get to use the crime scene, to investigate the crime scene, to get to the bottom of whether state criminal law has been violated by federal officers.

3:37Michael Popok:Now, we saw what happens when you don't run to court, like what happened with the Renee Good execution at the beginning of January, on the 6th of January. They already destroyed the crime scene, had blocked out the Minnesota officials from doing their job, and the Attorney General Keith Ellison from doing his job. And now they're trying to reconstruct everything to determine whether Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent, committed state crimes. Right? That's what's happening. But they didn't run to court. That crime scene is long gone. Fast forward to the 24th. Immediately upon shots ringing out, striking down and murdering Alex Preti, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, their BCA, ran to the scene.

4:22Michael Popok:and they were blocked and boxed out again. That crime scene was trampled on. They weren't able to get bullet casings. They weren't able to take witness statements. They weren't able to pick up video. It had already been done by the feds. And so they ran to court. And this is what the judge has ordered. Defendants together with their employees, agents, and anyone acting in concert with them, and that's everybody in Trump world, are enjoined from destroying or altering evidence related to the fatal shooting involving federal officers that took place on 26th Street and Nicolette Avenue in Minneapolis on Jan 24th, 2026.

5:00Michael Popok:That's Alex Preddy, including but not limited to evidence that defendants and those working on their behalf removed from the scene and are evidence that defendants have taken into their exclusive custody. Greg Bovino, head of Border Patrol, you know, the Gestapo that wears that long coat looking like he's part of the SS. Yes, he's already said that the five officers that were involved in the gang tackle and the disarming of Preti before they shot him 10 times after they took the gun off of him, not before. He already said he's transferred those five people away from the crime scene and out of Minneapolis.

5:36Michael Popok:Let's play the clip. We know one of the agents had eight years experience and we know he was a less lethal instructor and had this training. What did the other agents, what was his history, and are they both working right now or are they on administrative leave? All agents that were involved in that scene are working, not in Minneapolis, but in other locations. That's for their safety. There's this thing called doxing, and the safety of our employees is very important to us. So we're going to keep those employees safe as far as the number of shots, the number of agents involved. That, again, is going to come out in the investigation.

6:11I'm not going to speculate on who did what, when they did it, how they did it, or what exactly occurred there.

6:18Michael Popok:I'm going to wait for the investigation to let me know what happened. Now, there's going to be a hearing on this. Here's what the complaint immediately filed on the day. This was actually filed on the 24th on the day Alex Preddy was murdered. That's how quickly Minnesota led by its attorney general, Keith Ellison, ran into court. They said that they've been denied their ability to carry out their sovereign right and duties to investigate possible violations of state law within the state's borders. That's on paragraph one. They said in paragraph three that as is typical of an officer involved shooting involving a federal officer that the BCA, the state personnel headed to the scene.

7:04Michael Popok:Preliminary investigatory measures were blocked. They could not establish a perimeter, preserve the scene, take photographs and measurements. identify and speak to witnesses involved and take statements and collect physical evidence like bullet casings, shell casings. That's paragraph three. And paragraph four, critical evidence denied them. According to reports in paragraph five, federal personnel seized the cell phones and detained witnesses. But then after they left, they allowed the perimeter, right, the crime scene perimeter to collapse, potentially spoiling evidence. In fact, as we know from that last clip from Bavino, they left Minnesota, continuing to deny them access.

7:44Michael Popok:This is not the first occasion in paragraph nine, they said in the complaint where the federal officers have committed a fatal shooting during their unprecedented show of force and willingly interfering with the ability of the estate of the state to investigate. And then they go off and describe Renee Good on Jan 7th, who was shot and killed in her car by a federal agent. And all of that. Now, they're going to run into court. There's going to be a hearing at two o 'clock in the afternoon on Monday. But I would be shocked if based on the complaint that's been filed, the violations that have been alleged, including of the 10th Amendment, state sovereignty to investigate local criminal conduct of a federal officer sort of goes to our founding days.

8:31Michael Popok:The reason we have illegal search and seizure on the books of the Fourth Amendment is because that is what the king did by allowing military officers to burst through doors and go take you out of your home and take over that house. We don't like illegal searches and seizures. And we saw multiple violations of Alex Preti's rights on the street before he was executed. His First Amendment rights to peacefully protest with his cell phone in hand, with whistles blaring in the background by other First Amendment peaceful onlookers violated. His Second Amendment rights. I mean, I may not agree with how the United States Supreme Court has expanded that right of personal carry, but it is expanded.

9:14Michael Popok:He had the right to have that firearm, you know, in his jacket, under his jacket. And the fact that they found a proper firearm. And however, you know, claiming now that it may have gone off, yeah, may have gone off when you pulled it out of his holster. And then you use that as an excuse to shoot him 10 times, right? So his Second Amendment rights violated, his First Amendment rights violated. And when he was stopped, when he was stopped without probable cause of having done anything and gang tackled and brought to the ground, that's a violation of the Fourth Amendment against illegal search and seizure.

9:47Michael Popok:And then you've got, you know, murder, which is part of the Ten Commandments. Let's talk candidly about something that no one wants to talk about, what happens when you pass on. Because unfortunately, it's going to happen to you and me. But we can be prepared with trust and will online estate planning. Estate planning is something many people put off, even when they know it's important. If you're a parent, a homeowner, spouse, or caring for aging parents, it may be time to start thinking about having a plan in place, especially when it comes to decisions like guardianship. Trust in Will makes estate planning easier to approach.

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11:12Michael Popok:Go to trustandwill.com slash legal AF and get 20 % off. That's trustandwill.com slash legal AF to get your 20 % off. Trustandwill.com slash legal AF. It is so bad. And I think this is weighing on the minds of judges like this judge, Tostrad, Judge Menendez, a Biden appointee who's holding another hearing today about the state of Minnesota's efforts on a temporary restraining order and under preliminary injunction to get ICE out of Minnesota. This was Border Patrol, by the way. This wasn't even ICE that killed Preti. And it's starting to work. That's why coverage here is so important. Public outcry about what happened to Alex Preti on the heels of what happened in the aftermath of what happened to Renee Good.

12:07Michael Popok:Americans are in revolt against the Trump administration. It's so bad that right-wing media are now siding against Donald Trump. Wall Street Journal, controlled by who? By Rupert Murdoch, says in his editorial board, get out of Minnesota. The New York Post, also controlled by Rupert Murdoch, says in another editorial, get out of Minnesota. You know, MAGA legislators, senators and Congress people are telling Donald Trump to get out of Minnesota. And even he is starting to backpedal in his own public statements and postings and in people like Todd Blanche, who went on Sunday morning talk shows and said, oh, you know, we got to reserve judgment here.

12:55Michael Popok:We got to look at the videos. That's much different than what he said with Renee Good, right? Here's a clip of Todd Blanche talking about Alex Preddy. You see the public pressure working when you compare it back to back to his statements about Renee Good. Renee Good was a domestic terrorist that tried to hit somebody with her car. We all know that's a lie based on the video. But Alex Breddy, oh, we have to, everybody calm down. Can't rush to judgment. The way they rushed the judgment on Renee Good. Let's play the clips back to back. What exactly threatened those law enforcement officials? Did at any point Mr.

13:35Preddy brandish a gun?

13:40I can see the same video that everybody else can see. And we're still it's been analyzed up and down for the for the past 24 hours. But there's obviously an investigation that's that's ongoing. Secretary Noem talked about that yesterday, which is what we would expect anytime a tragedy like this occurs. But I disagree with you when you say what was there that looked as if there was a confrontation. We don't know what happened in the minutes leading up to what we just watched. We don't know what ICE saw, what ICE heard. That's part of the investigation that's going to be happening. But what we did not see, again, and we cannot avoid this conversation.

14:21What we did not see is a single cop helping with that isolated, targeted effort by ICE to arrest a criminal. And you're right. There are three. Go ahead. Sorry. Did you see him at any point brandish a gun? Have you been told by law enforcement there on the ground that at any point he brandished a gun, that he threatened them with a gun? The video shows he's holding up a cell phone. no you you can't see what everything is happening is the fbi convect conducting investigation into that agent into the shooting what can you tell us about that will it be made public what happened on that day has been reviewed by millions and millions of americans because it was recorded on on phones um when it happened okay the civil rights the department of justice our civil rights unit we don't just go out and investigate every time an officer is is forced to defend himself against somebody or putting his life in danger.

15:19We never do. That has nothing to do with what happened in Minneapolis. There are over a thousand shootings every year where law enforcement are put in danger by individuals and they have to protect themselves and they have a lawful right to do so. The Department of Justice doesn't just stand up and investigate because some congressman thinks we should, because some governor thinks that we should. We investigate when it's appropriate to investigate. And that is not the case here. It wasn't the case when it happened. And it's not the case today. If circumstances change and there's something that we do need to investigate around that shooting or any other shooting, we will.

15:55But but we are not going to bow to pressure from the media, bow to pressure from politicians and do something that we never do. Not under this administration, not under the last administration. And so, no, we are not investigating. And if there comes a time when we need to, we will. So what has this taught us?

16:15Michael Popok:Public outcry, courage and crowds work. We've had some fallen leaders of our First Amendment, Renee Good and now Alex Pretti, who gave their life for the First Amendment and for the Fourth Amendment, but they will not have died in vain. Not with people like Attorney General Keith Ellison in Minnesota, Midas Touch, Legal AF staying on top of it from from our vantage point as independent media, doing what we're doing. And even judges like Judge Tostrit, a Trump appointee issuing an immediate injunction, immediate temporary restraining order, because he doesn't trust the Trump administration or its Department of Justice or its Border Patrol or its ICE.

16:58Michael Popok:He has to give, think about that. He had to give an order to an administration, presidential administration, not to destroy evidence. Tells you everything you need to know. I'll continue to follow the story, update you here and on Legal AF YouTube and on Legal AF Substack, where I do two, three lives a day on these important stories at the intersection. And as soon as we get a new ruling from Judge Menendez on her case involving the state of Minnesota, and we get our final, final ruling from Judge Tostrid, you know where to find it here on Midas Touch and on Legal AF. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak.

17:34Michael Popok:Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Wear Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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