Joe Biden is speaking out about the national unrest after two American citizens were shot and killed in Minneapolis.
The former president called the deaths of both Alex Pretti and Renee Good “senseless.”
Biden never addressed Donald Trump by name, but he took aim at both the president and his administration in a post on social media on Tuesday.
He said what has happened in Minneapolis over the past month “betrays our most basic values as Americans.”
“We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street. We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights. We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized,” he wrote.
Biden added that “no single person can destroy what America stands for and believes in, not even a President,” and urged Americans to speak out.
“Minnesotans have reminded us all what it is to be American, and they have suffered enough at the hands of this Administration,” he said. “Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.”
Biden praised the people of Minnesota for helping out their community under “unimaginable circumstances,” speaking out against injustice and holding the government accountable.
It has been four days since Border Patrol agents shot and killed Pretti. Videos showed the 37-year-old VA nurse holding up his phone and recording agents and also attempting to help a shoved woman up before being tackled to the ground and shot multiple times.
It happened just weeks after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Good, a mother and widow, also in Minneapolis.
Videos show the ICE agent firing multiple shots into her SUV as she appeared to be trying to drive away. Top Trump officials claimed Good was trying to hit the agent, and he was acting in self-defense.
But the Trump administration’s rushed response to the killing of Pretti, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem immediately calling him a “domestic terrorist,” has been met with bipartisan criticism and demands for a comprehensive and independent investigation.
“Now, justice requires full, fair, and transparent investigations into the deaths of the two Americans who lost their lives in the city they called home,” Biden said in his statement.
“Jill and I are sending strength to the families and communities who love Alex Pretti and Renee Good as we all mourn their senseless deaths,” he continued.
Biden is the latest U.S. leader to speak out against the killings.
Former President Barack Obama released a statement on Sunday in which he called the killing of Pretti a “heartbreaking tragedy” and warned that many of the country’s core values are “increasingly under assault.”
On Monday, Trump spoke with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz amid the increasing unrest. After repeatedly attacking Walz in recent weeks, Trump claimed they had a very good call and were on a “similar wavelength.”
