FBI Special Agent issues SHOCK TAKEDOWN of ICE

I'm joined now by former Army officer, FBI special agent, SWAT team leader, and. federal prosecutor Tony Box. Tony, thank. you so much for taking the time. >> Thank you, Brian. Good to be here. >> So, I want to talk to you about what's. happening right now in Minnesota at the. hands of ICE. Uh first and foremost, can. you give a little bit of insight from. from your vantage, given, you know, your. wealth of experience, uh. what your reaction is to the way that. ICE is comporting itself right now, and. especially um these, you know, extrajudicial killings, Renee Good and. Alex Ready?

>> Sure. Uh so, my reaction, I'm appalled. I'm saddened. I feel really, really bad. for the people of Minneapolis and for. the United States citizens that they are. being punished at the hands of their own. government. Shooting people, unarmed. people, in the case of Renee Good, as. she drives away, is essentially murder. And what happened to Alex Ready is also. murder. He was unarmed at the time. They. They disarmed him prior to shooting him. They stood over him, and they shot. several times. And so, uh the legality.

is is dubious. The mission that they are. supposedly conducting is dubious. And. it's a shame uh that it's taking place. for the. against the people of Minnesota. >> From your from your vantage, can you. talk a little bit about the. qualifications that these ICE agents. have or are exhibiting, given, you know, your, again, wealth of experience uh in. in other agencies where I presume uh. discipline is held in a little bit. higher regard? >> It is, indeed. So, uh I have worn the vest, the tactical.

vest that you see on TV, uh many times. As you said, I was a SWAT team member. I've also worn it same vest over in. Iraq. And so, with wearing that vest. comes a solemn responsibility. Uh and that is to execute the mission. All those law enforcement officers have. some variation of protect and serve. And. what they're doing now is not protecting. nor serving. And so, it is it is the. training is not there. Clearly, they are. untrained. Uh we have received reports.

in the news media. All of us know that. they are rushing these people through. with inadequate training, and it shows. The number one thing that they should be. doing, and I don't know if they covered. it at all. Oftentimes, these border. patrol agents are used to working border. patrol matters and not crowd control or. situations such as what's taking place. in Minneapolis right now. The number one. issue is de-escalation. That's what we. are trained to do. When they're sitting. in their cars, and before they get out. of their their SUVs, they should be. thinking of themselves, "How can I.

de-escalate?" Not "How can I escalate?". Not when someone has a cell phone that I. am going to beat them to submission. because they're taping me. They have a. constitutional right to tape and to. protest. It's a first amendment right. that we all have. They are exercising. it. They are exercising it well. They. are educating all of us about what's. taking place. >> Can I have your your opinion here on on. the issue of qualified immunity, or as. J.D. Vance likes to say absolute.

immunity? So so there's really two. questions here. One, can I Can you react. to this idea that was put forward by. J.D. Vance that these people have. absolute immunity that they can. basically commit crimes with impunity. because they work for the federal. government. And the second issue, that. even in these instances where qualified. immunity applies, not this bogus. standard of absolute immunity, are these. law enforcement officials who commit. murder either at the hands of you know. either against Renee Good or Alex. Preddy, are they even covered by.

qualified immunity? >> Sure. So, the concept of absolute. immunity in this situation is absurd, right? There is no absolute immunity for. these law enforcement officers in these. situations. You cannot kill with. impunity, right? So, what J.D. Vance. said is a lie. He knew it was a lie. I. mean, Al Franken has a book that says. lying liars and the lies who tell them, right? He He knew it a lie to start. with, right? He's a lawyer. And just because he hasn't been a. federal prosecutor like me, but. nonetheless, we all know that there is. no absolute immunity. There is, however,

qualified immunity. And these these. individuals have qualified immunity to. the extent that they are carrying out. the business of the federal government, and they do it in a proper manner. They. they do not have qualified immunity for. killing. Would a reasonable person do. what they did? And in in each instance, I would present I would say that. probably not. These individuals. we we all saw the tape. They were. horrendous. They were sad.

And you know, they beat Alex. It. appeared as they beat him with some sort. of can prior to shooting him. That is. not something that we. adequately trained federal law. enforcement officers trained to do. >> Why do you presume that DHS seems so. hell-bent on not allowing state. investigators. to gain access to any evidence or even. have an investigation of their own? >> Because they do not want the truth to. come out. They do not want the evidence. to be found. There is damning.

incriminating evidence on the scene. And. if the state investigators or other. impartial investigators were at to. access that, that would increase the. chances of a criminal prosecution. against those officers. And that is the. reason why they are inhibiting that. investigation. >> As somebody who who obviously has a lot. of deference to law enforcement, I mean, again, your your your resume is is is is. quite extensive. Um can is ICE. salvageable as it stands right now?

>> I think it is. So, ICE. is a legitimate agency. So, today, Governor Andy Beshear came. out and he said everyone needs to come. out of Minnesota, and everyone needs to. be retrained. And so, to the extent that. first of all, I agree that everyone all. the officers need to come out of. Minnesota. They're there, they're. causing mayhem, and they need to be. pulled out. And I agree that they need. to be retrained. So, it is a salvageable. agency. I would not throw the agency out. because they're poorly trained. The. solution to that is to train them well,

not send them through a couple weeks of. trainings, pluck them off the street, and send them to Minnesota uh to do. something that they don't know how to. do. They have not been trained well to. do. >> I mean, critics would would say that. that these people have already shown, you know, why they're there and who they are and. and kind of their true colors in in. comporting themselves the way that they. have. I think with the way the. administration is is promoting ICE right. now, they're getting a certain type of.

person to apply and sign on. And so, is. there any legitimacy to this idea that. because they've brought people in with a. very specific extremist position on how. they're going to act and behave that the. agency itself might remain, but the. people who staff that agency right now. are are not. worth salvaging. >> So, >> the problem is not the individuals, it. starts with the leadership. And it's. coming from the administration in. Washington, D.C. A fish rots from the.

head down. And so, with that they are. these people they're telling these. people you can do whatever you want and. not face any consequences. There should. be consequences. If those individuals. knew that they could be prosecuted or. believed that they could be prosecuted, they would not be doing what they're. doing. And so, that's one of the primary. problems here is that the administration. defends them at all costs and says, "No. matter what they do, they cannot be. prosecuted." And so, these individuals. not are all not They are not all bad.

people. Some of them are good people who. want to do a good job. Uh and so, I. don't think they're all poorly trained. uh. or or, you know, cowboys who just want. to beat up people. Some of them just. don't know what they're doing. Others, yeah, they should go, but the. administrations are protecting them and. giving them the shield is really, really. harming what's taking place in them. being able to do their job effectively. >> So, in terms of the administration, the. culpability that the administration. shoulders, do you think that there's. legal exposure for the people at the.

top, for the Kristi Noems and Greg. Bovinos and Tom Homans, JD Vances of the. world who are not only refusing to allow. legitimate investigations at the hands. of DHS take place, but actually. offering up, you know, pre-clearing the. ICE agents who are involved in these. shootings. I had spoken to one. prosecutor who who I have a show with, Glenn Kirschner, and he surfaced this. idea of of these folks acting as. accessories after the fact. And so, do.

you think that that these administration. officials shoulder any legal exposure by. virtue of the behavior that they're. showing right now? >> I certainly think it's a possibility. So, they are they are active. participants. They're advising. They're. giving direction. If you're giving. direction to these people and they. commit a crime, you can be an accessory. after the fact. And so, I I agree with. Glenn that that's a possibility. It's a. stretch or maybe a stretch, but. nonetheless, it's worth exploring. And I. tell you, not just prosecution, but.

other types of accountability, whether. it be impeachment, whether congressional. authorities exercise their. responsibility as they've been mandated. to do, these people should be held. accountable for what they have done. >> In terms of in terms of the prospect of. impeachment, I mean, this is more of a. political question, but do you think. that that what we're seeing right now is. grounds for the impeachment of both Pam. Bondi and Kristi Noem? >> I think it very well could be. Yes. What. they've done uh.

appears to me to be impeachable. offenses. And so, to the extent that. Congress uh launches such an. investigation or hearings, I think the. truth will come out there, whether it. rises to any impeachable offenses, but. it should be explored. >> And finally, let's finish off with this. Um. have you thought about the prospect of. Trump purposefully ramping up these. operations and purposefully escalating. this violence? I mean, you spoke about. this earlier uh in one of your other. responses that that their priority. should be de-escalation, and instead, it. seems to be a policy of escalation. Do.

you think that all of this is a pretext. to be able to ramp up violence so that. they can uh invoke the Insurrection Act? >> I do. I think that that's a a This is. all a pretext, right? Or it could be all. a pretext. They have no desire Look, they came in here talking about they. wanted to investigate fraud. How. ridiculous is that, right? It's not a. fraud investigation. It's an. investigation of terror and chaos. for the purpose of. uh of. you know, invoking the Insurrection Act.

And so, you know, I I just wanted to. talk about the terror and chaos aspect. of it. You know, regarding Alex Preddy, his killing hits home to me because just. like Alex Preddy, I was shot, and I was. left on the ground bleeding, and I was. held as a hero. But in Alex's case, they. have. castigated They have, you know, sullied. his name to such an extent. He should be. a hero. He was exercising his First. Amendment right, as he allowed to do. And in my situation, I was trying to.

help someone, and I was shot, and I was. held as a hero. He was trying to help. someone. And these are some of the. things that they called him. They called. him a domestic terrorist. They called. him an assassin. They said he brandished. a weapon. They said he insulted an. officer. They said he violently. resisted. None of those things were. true. So, I want to make sure everyone. understands that Alex Preddy should be. recognized as a hero. The reason why. we're having this conversation, and the. administration appears to be. backtracking somewhat, is because of him. and people like him who are out there.

fighting and exercising their. constitutional rights and holding the. receipt administration accountable. >> Perfect place to leave off. Tony Box, thank you so much for taking the time. today. I appreciate it. >> Brian. >> [music].