The FBI director says that ‘substantial progress’ has been made so far.
FBI Director Kash Patel said more arrests are coming in Minnesota in the midst of a federal operation and local protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and said the bureau has made progress in its investigation of groups who are allegedly funding the demonstrations.
Speaking to podcaster Benny Johnson on Monday, the FBI director said the bureau is investigating alleged group funding of ongoing protests against ICE officials in Minneapolis, coming in the wake of two shootings this month that left protesters dead.
“We’ve got also investigations ongoing into the funding of this. We’ve made substantial progress,“ he said. ”We’ve actually found groups and individuals responsible for funding it ‘cause it’s not happening organically.”
Also in the interview, Patel said four people were arrested earlier this month after a federal vehicle was broken into in Minneapolis. He said that another person was arrested on Sunday.
“In a vehicle, we discovered not just [FBI] firearms, which thankfully we recovered, but also personal information about law enforcement,” Patel told Johnson. “That personal information was being used on the ground to issue threats of life to FBI agents, along with their wives and their children. There are going to be more arrests on that same matter, today and tomorrow. We’re not done.”
The FBI last week announced it would be offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and capture of individuals who allegedly stole government property out of an FBI vehicle.
This comes after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a protester, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed after he approached Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Officials did not specify whether Pretti brandished the gun.
Videos from the scene circulating on social media appear to show Pretti holding an object in his hand as he struggles with agents. The man’s family said in a statement shared by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that Pretti was “clearly not holding a gun” but instead had “his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head.
