As we reported, there were some heated hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with Attorney General Pam Bondi teeing off on lawmakers like Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY-12) and Jamie Raskin (MD-08), who were trying to embarrass her and looking for their little soundbites.
It didn’t go well for them.
The circus continued Thursday, with embattled Minnesota AG Keith Ellison taking to the microphone at a Senate Homeland Security hearing amidst his state’s multi-billion-dollar fraud scandal and the ongoing violent anti-ICE protests that he has been cheerleading. The demonstrators’ efforts to interfere with law enforcement have led to two preventable deaths — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who would still be alive today if they had simply engaged in “peaceful protests” and not tried to violently harass federal agents.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) placed at least some of the blame squarely at the feet of Ellison in a fiery exchange, telling the far-left attorney general that he “encouraged” the dangerous protester actions:
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. Sen. Ron Johnson starts YELLING at AG Keith Ellison for exploiting the deaths of anti-ICE agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 12, 2026
"A tragedy was going to happen and YOU ENCOURAGED IT! You ought to feel DAMN GUILTY about it!"
"2 people are DEAD because you… pic.twitter.com/tG1VQd9PO5
Johnson let loose on the smug Minnesotan:
Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves in harm's way. And now you’re exploiting those two people. It never should have happened…
I can't imagine being a law enforcement official where I know my colleagues have been shot at, their vehicles rammed, that there are trained activists deployed.
And by the way, we know at least one of those activists had a semi-automatic pistol with extra clips. So now you're an ICE officer. You're doing enforcement action. You've got a team behind you trying to protect you.
You've got all these trained activists behind you. Is it any wonder they're at hair-trigger alert? A tragedy was going to happen and you encouraged it!
And you ought to feel damn guilty about it.
Nope. Not only did Ellison apparently not feel the slightest tinge of contrition about the deaths, but he rolled his eyes and smirked as Johnson finished his remarks. Johnson noticed:
Yeah, sit there and smirk. Smirk. It's sick! It's despicable. You disgust me.
Ellison continued to preen, telling Johnson everything he just said was “lies.” I’m unclear what he’s calling lies, because we do know that Pretti and Good are dead, and we have Ellison on record numerous times spouting incendiary rhetoric.
The duplicitous AG then went on to play the innocent guy:
"Were you ever concerned about encouraging — I guess, people that support you — to go out and put themselves into harm's way by impeding and obstructing a legal law enforcement action. Did that ever concern you?" Johnson asked Ellison.
"Sir, that never happened. We [at] all times said if you want to protest, protest peacefully, protest safely. But you'll never find me being against the First Amendment. I'll always be for the First Amendment," Ellison responded.
ELLISON: "Sir, that never happened! We said protest peacefully and safely!"
— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) February 12, 2026
JOHNSON: "You were seeing the scuffles. Minneapolis police couldn't even protect ICE agents!"pic.twitter.com/g0wV0yFn0s
It was a heinous performance by Ellison all around, and Johnson is right that smirking and eye-rolling about the deaths of Pretti and Good was “despicable.”
If you wonder how Minnesota has flown so far off the rails, all you have to do is look at this guy and his comrades, Gov. Tim Walz and Rep Ilhan Omar (MN-05). They are at the heart of the problems, but they will never own it, because that's how the Left rolls.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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