On Monday’s CNN This Morning, CNN Guest and WIRED contributor Garrett Graff praised Minnesota protestors for supposedly being non-violent and said viral videos only showed federal law enforcement being violent. In reality, many other videos have shown protesters being violent, including a riot outside a hotel where federal law enforcement was staying on Sunday night into Monday morning. The segment was a part of CNN ‘Breaking News’ coverage pertaining to the shooting of Alex Pretti and the following unrest. Host Audie Cornish introduced a clip of FBI Director Kash Patel that talked about the need to “quell these riots” amid a trend across the country of “protests turning into violent scenarios and people attacking law enforcement.” Cornish seemed skeptical of Patel’s claims and noted the term “quell riots” stood out to her. Graff responded to Cornish by claiming the Trump Administration hoped to provoke more incidents:  Yeah, absolutely. And I think what you're seeing is this narrative out of DHS, out of the White House, out of the Trump Administration that says that these are cities that are out of control and that - that they're trying to provoke the types of language and incidents that would allow them to turn to the Insurrection Act.   Ignoring the riots in Minneapolis overnight, CNN and WIRED contributor Garrett Graff claims every video from the city shows "only" federal law enforcement "commits all the violence": "And the thing that really strikes me is that at virtually every scene that you can find online… pic.twitter.com/yLgxJFKjQB — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 26, 2026   Graff continued and claimed all Minnesota protests had been peaceful:  And the thing that really strikes me is that at virtually every scene that you can find online in these viral videos, the violence is being done only by the ICE and CBP officers. So, they sort of show up in a peaceful situation and commit all of the violence.  And I think that that's exactly what we saw with the shooting on Saturday, that this was a confrontation that federal officers began, and then in mere seconds, escalated into deadly force.” After Graff’s comments, Cornish asked if protestors were on their own and state leaders were not doing enough due to “fear of the administration.” Graff pushed back and commended ‘courageous’ individuals: I think, actually, Audie, it's not right to say that they're on their own. Because what is so remarkable to me about Minnesota and so many of the other communities where this has happened is how courageous the individual citizens have been. (...) You know, you saw the mass protests in Minneapolis on Friday, unlike anything we have ever seen in a major American city in modern times. And I think many Americans are looking at this and saying that the courage of Minnesotans is contagious across the country. Graff’s comments are out of touch with reality, especially when there are video and photo examples of violence. This includes riots outside hotels with federal law enforcement, an officer having their finger bitten off, and many others scene of violence.    NOW: Hotel tries to barricade front entrance as Anti-ICE Protesters throw snowballs and light fireworks. One person rips the placard off the hotel with a shovel pic.twitter.com/agh7F14Mjn — Oliya Scootercaster