On this week’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart attacked Republicans for shirking federal officials for Saturday’s shooting death of a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis.
At the beginning of Monday’s show, Stewart played a clip of the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Kristi Noem attended a press conference shortly after the shooting. She claimed that the victim, Alex Preti, “came in with weapons and ammunition to stop law enforcement operations” and “attacked” federal officers.
“That’s the fact,” Stewart said. “And there’s no reason to doubt them at all. There’s no evidence to contradict their version. Wait a minute. What I’m getting is…really? I’m hearing there may be grainy footage of Zapruder from every angle imaginable that contradicts the government’s account!”
The program then cut to a news clip featuring civilian footage of the shooting incident. CNN reported that the only thing Pretti had in his hand was “a cell phone, not a gun.” The newspaper also reported that Preti was “pushed to the ground and pepper sprayed” by ICE agents and was “trying to help the woman” moments before she was killed. In an NBC News clip, a reporter claims that a video “shows Preeti’s legally registered gun being removed from his body by a police officer mere seconds before the shooting.”
“Well, apparently there’s an actual case of ‘he said, the video completely disproved what he said,'” Stewart joked.
Later in the show, Stewart played a clip from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s appearance on “Meet the Press.” He said in an interview that Preti “was not peacefully protesting,” adding: “We shouldn’t gaslight the regime about what happened.”
“Are you gaslighting me?” Stewart shouted. “Speaking of gaslighting, this is Todd Blanche, the day after he accused us all of gaslighting the administration for what happened.”
The late-night pundit then cut to Fox News to claim that Blanche “I don’t think anyone is comparing what happened on Saturday to the legal definition of domestic terrorism.”
“Well, I mean, they certainly hinted at that,” Stewart said. “So it might be hard to find someone who explicitly uses that exact word, but we found them.”
Stewart then cut back to Noem’s press conference, saying, “Violence against a government for ideological reasons, for reasons of resisting and perpetuating violence, that’s the definition of domestic terrorism.”
Stewart joked, “Actually, I think that might be the definition of gaslighting.”
Watch the entire segment below.
