Bessent Defends Comment Suggesting Pretti Was Killed Because He Brought Gun to Protest

Politicians don’t like to say they were wrong. And as much as can understand that reluctance, I think there’s actually some value in owning up to mistakes. Everyone’s human, nobody’s perfect, and we all screw up from time to time. It’s not political weakness to acknowledge that reality. To me, anyway, it’s kind of refreshing when a politician admits they made a goof.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared before the Senate Banking committee on Thursday to talk about the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s Annual Report for 2025, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) had something else on his mind; Bessent’s comments on ABC’s “This Week” the day after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. 

You suggested that Alex Pretti was culpable in his own killing because he had a gun in his waistband holster, which he was licensed to carry,” Van Hollen said. “So, Mr. Secretary, today, would you like to retract that statement?”

Van Hollen’s line of questioning was directed at a statement Bessent made the day after Pretti’s death, in which he said, “I am sorry that this gentleman is dead, but he did bring a 9mm semi-automatic weapon with two cartridges to what was supposed to be a peaceful protest.”

Pretti’s legally open-carrying has become a sticking point in conservatives’ response to the shooting.

“I would not. And would you like to express remorse over the death of Ashli Babbitt here in the Capitol?” Bessent asked Van Hollen in response, referring to Babbitt’s death by Capitol Police when trying to break into the Speaker’s Lobby.

“I have expressed remorse over that, so I’ve done that,” Van Hollen said. “I have other questions, but I actually would have expected you to take this opportunity to rephrase your response to that question. So you think the fact that he legally had a gun justified his killing?”

“I didn’t say that at all,” Bessent said.

It’s fair to slam Van Hollen for bringing up Bessent’s comments at a hearing on an entirely unrelated matter, but once the question was out there Bessent should have just said something like, “My comments were made based on my knowledge of the incident at the time. There is nothing illegal or inherently violent about carrying a firearm and a spare magazine at a peaceful protest, and I was wrong to have implied otherwise.”

Bessent could have then asked Van Hollen if he supports Maryland’s ban on concealed carry within 1,000 feet of a protest, which of course would have made Pretti’s carrying a crime if he’d been protesting in Baltimore or Frederick. 

Instead, Bessent essentially doubled down on a very stupid comment. And while Bessent didn’t come right out and say that Pretti’s legally-carried gun justified his killing, his remarks on ABC certainly implied that it was Pretti’s gun and spare magazine that led to his death. 

Again, politicians don’t like to admit they made mistakes. The White House defending President Trump’s posting of a video that included a second or two of an unrelated video showing Barack and Michelle Obama as apes is another perfect example of this phenomenon. Karoline Leavitt could have just said that Trump hadn’t watched the entire video before he shared it, of course it was a mistake, and he took down his Truth Social post once he realized what had happened. 

After Leavitt defended the video though, the White House undercut her response by deleting the post and blaming a staffer for posting it. 

The White House has deleted the apes video and a person familiar tells me:

“President Trump didn’t see the video (legitimately didn’t), a staffer posted it.”

FWIW, only a small handful of staffers have access to his Truth Social account m.

— Sophia Cai (@SophiaCai99) February 6, 2026

Now the administration is once again going to spend days responding to a story that could have been dispensed with in a few seconds, just like Bessent’s comments and those by FBI Director Kash Patel, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and President Trump himself about carrying a gun and two magazines. 

Bessent’s exchange with Van Hollen hasn’t received nearly as much attention as his statement on ABC, but it’s still another unforced error by the administration when it comes to talking about the Second Amendment… and its importance to tens of millions of conservative voters. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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