'Uhh…' Dem lawmaker puts Fox Business host on the spot over ICE killings

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) put Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo on the spot Friday over the killing of Alex Pretti last month by federal immigration officers, a killing that Bartiromo attempted to defend before being reminded of the concept of proportionality.

Bartiromo confronted Khanna over how many of his Democratic colleagues remained seated during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday when asked by the president to stand if they supported the following statement: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Most Democratic lawmakers remained seated, prompting Trump to declare them “crazy.”

“Are we to assume that Democrats really do put the needs of illegals ahead of American citizens?” Bartiromo asked Khanna.

Khanna outright rejected the premise of Bartiromo’s question, arguing that his colleagues’ refusal to stand was not an objection to Trump’s statement, but an objection to the manner in which his mass deportation operations have been carried out, which have resulted in the deaths of several American citizens.

“Well, look, this requires context, and I think we both know that, you can't tell citizens to get in the faces of law enforcement and ICE agents and think that ICE agents are not going to respond,” Bartiromo fired back.

“You can't tell citizens that it's okay to interrupt an operation that is underway. You can't have a person who's armed – with a gun showing in his belt – interrupting ICE operations and not expect an ICE agent to react. Do we agree on that?”

Bartiromo’s question, referencing the killing of Alex Pretti last month, prompted Khanna to fire back with a blunt reminder about the concept of proportional use of force in law enforcement.

“You can't have people trying to interrupt law enforcement, including ICE, but the answer to that is not to shoot them dead!” Khanna said. “There is a proportional use of force, there is training, and would you agree that in a number of these cases, ICE agents have exceeded what a proportional response is?”

“Uhh…” Bartiromo said, pausing for a moment in an apparent attempt to collect her thoughts and respond to Khanna’s question.

“I think if an ICE agent feels a threat and feels that he or she and his team is under threat by having someone who's clearly armed with a gun on his belt interrupt him, then he's going to shoot. And they're training to kill.”

Khanna fired back again, this time reminding Bartiromo of the existence of the Second Amendment, a constitutional right frequently championed by conservatives.

“But Maria, I mean even in this country we have a Second Amendment, you can't say that any person who shows up with a gun, simply by doing that at an event can be shot to death!” Khanna said.