President Donald Trump said he wasn’t aware of Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who a gunman assassinated in June.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked by a reporter whether, in retrospect, he thinks it would have been fitting to lower the flag in honor of Hortman, given the tributes to the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“I’m not familiar. The — who?” Trump responded.
After the reporter explained who it was, Trump gave an understanding, “Oh.”
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that,” he said. “But the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I would have if somebody had asked me.”
“People make requests for the lowering of the flag, and oftentimes you have to say no because it would be a lot of lowering the flag; it would never be up. Had the governor of Minnesota asked me to do that, I would have done that gladly,” Trump said.
Hortman and her husband, Mark, were allegedly assassinated by Vance Boelter, who dressed as a police officer with a realistic silicone mask, at their home in the early hours of June 14. He then traveled to the home of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, whom he allegedly shot nine times, and his wife, Yvette, eight times, though both survived.
Boelter’s motivation remains unclear, but investigators found a one-and-a-half-page letter, described as rambling and difficult to read, that was ascribed to him. In it, Boelter claimed he had been secretly trained by the U.S. military and asked to perform the killing so that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) could run for Klobuchar’s Senate seat, according to two sources familiar with the matter speaking with the Minnesota Star Tribune. The note was reportedly addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel.
The relative lack of attention toward Hortman’s assassination has been pointed to by some left-wing figures as evidence of hypocrisy from those on the Right, particularly those who were angry over the celebrations of some left-wing social media users over Kirk’s death. Some left-wing commentators have used the assassination as a way to deflect from the Kirk assassination, such as fired Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, who reposted a claim that many within the MAGA movement were openly “pleased” with Hortman’s murder.
The Hortmans’ assassination received a flurry of coverage over the strange circumstances under which it was carried out, with pictures of Boelter in his silicone mask initially flooding social media. Interest generally petered off after Boelter’s unstable condition came to light, as his murders appeared to lack a partisan motivation. Boelter himself cryptically cited some information “that goes back 24 months,” likely referring to his allegations of Waltz hiring him to assassinate Klobuchar.
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Evidence that has surfaced since the killing of Kirk also appears to showcase a partisan motive, something authorities have begun to suggest but not concretely pin down.
Hortman and her husband were also not well known nationally, unlike Kirk. The public nature of Kirk’s assassination, caught on camera and beamed around the world, further contributed to the extensive coverage.
