Sen. Mike Lee deletes social media posts about the Minnesota shootings after facing criticism
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, removed posts on his personal X account about Saturday's fatal attack on a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband after he faced fierce backlash from Democrats.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., who was friends with the slain lawmaker, told reporters Monday that she confronted Lee about his post. 'I needed him to hear from me directly what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague,' she said.
Lee had written in one post about the Saturday assassination of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, that 'this is what happens When Marxists don't get their way.' In another, he posted a photo of the suspect and captioned it "Nightmare on Waltz Street," an apparent reference to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
Several Democrats had called on Lee to take down the posts, which he'd published Saturday and Sunday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said at a news conference Tuesday that he asked Lee to remove them and that "he wouldn't listen to me."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told reporters she also spoke to Lee about his posts, but she declined to divulge details of their conversation. 'Sen. Lee and I had a good discussion, and I'm very glad he took it down,' said Klobuchar, who has a relationship with Lee from years of working together on the Judiciary Committee.
Smith said Tuesday she was "glad" the posts were removed, "but I haven't heard anything from him about why he took them down, and I certainly didn't hear an apology."
Some of Lee's posts were still visible Tuesday afternoon, including one from Saturday night that said, 'Marxism kills.'
On Lee's official Senate X account, his posts struck a different tone. "These hateful attacks have no place in Utah, Minnesota, or anywhere in America. Please join me in condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families," he wrote.
Prosecutors said the suspect, Vance Boelter, is also responsible for the nonfatal shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Boelter's car had notebooks with the names of more than 45 state and federal elected officials, and the federal criminal complaint against him says officials named in the notebooks were 'mostly or all Democrats.'
Lee did not answer NBC News' questions about the posts Monday, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why they were taken down Tuesday.
Smith spoke to Lee on Monday and later told reporters she'd felt compelled to confront him about the posts.
'I wanted him to know how much pain that caused me and the other people in my state and I think around the country who think that this was a brutal attack,' Smith told reporters in the Capitol.
Smith's deputy chief of staff, Ed Shelleby, also lambasted the posts in an email to Lee's office shared with NBC News.
'Is this how your team measures success? Using the office of US Senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination—is that a successful day of work on Team Lee?" Shelleby wrote.
Dareh Gregorian
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Brennan Leach, Sahil Kapur, Gabrielle Khoriaty, Kyle Stewart and Amanda Terkel contributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
42 minutes ago
- NBC News
Trump posts on social media calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday posted on social media a call for a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden more than four years ago. Despite a flurry of lawsuits from the Trump campaign in the wake of his 2020 election loss, no evidence has emerged of any mass voter fraud schemes that had any impact on the election. Trump, on his Truth Social platform, falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election in "LANDSLIDE!" and that the election "was a total FRAUD!" "A Special Prosecutor must be appointed," Trump wrote. "This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!" A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Trump's call for a special prosecutor. Trump told NBC News' "Meet the Press" in a December 2024 interview that he wouldn't direct the Justice Department to look back at the 2020 election, despite his repeated false assertions that it was marred by fraud. "To the people who say that you're now directing your Justice Department to investigate 2020 and they want to move on — is that a good use of precious resources? Is that what you want them to do?" moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump. "Just so you know, I have the right to do that but I'm not interested in that," Trump replied. He added: "I'm not interested. I have the absolute right. I'm the chief law enforcement officer, you do know that. I'm the president. But I'm not interested in that. You know what I'm interested in? Drilling, and getting prices down, and stopping people from pouring into our border that come from prisons and mental institutions." Earlier in the week, Trump also made reference to FBI Director Kash Patel's boosting of a 2020 election conspiracy based on a single unverified claim from an unidentified FBI confidential human source about the use of fake licenses to vote. Trump himself has faced two separate special counsel investigations: The Robert Mueller investigation during his first term in office and the Jack Smith investigation during Biden's presidency. Smith's investigation resulted in two separate federal criminal cases against Trump. One charged him over his handling of classified documents, while another charged him in connection with his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. In the classified documents case, Trump's legal team argued that Smith's appointment was invalid and that Congress never authorized special counsels. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who was handling the case, then ruled that Smith's appointment was "unlawful," a decision the Justice Department appealed. The Justice Department dropped its appeal of Cannon's ruling after Trump took office in January. Smith's office dropped the Jan. 6-related case after Trump won the 2024 election last November. "Trump knew that there was no outcome-determinative fraud in the 2020 election, that many of the specific claims that he made were untrue, and that he had lost the election," Smith wrote in his public report. After beginning his second term, Trump quickly granted clemency to roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants on the day of his inauguration, freeing many who had admitted to or been convicted of assaulting members of law enforcement during that attack.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
US Senate referee rules against cuts to CFPB, financial regulators in tax and spending bill
WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - Republican provisions to slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other financial watchdogs violate budgetary rules, the U.S. Senate's nonpartisan referee said on Friday, jeopardizing their inclusion in a sweeping tax-cut and spending bill pushed by President Donald Trump. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, whose role is to ensure lawmakers follow proper legislative procedure, said a provision to effectively eliminate the budget for the CFPB could not be approved via a simple majority vote in the Republican-controlled chamber. Similarly, provisions slashing the budget for the Office of Financial Research, eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and cutting pay for Federal Reserve employees were deemed out of bounds and unable to advance via majority support, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. Republicans had sought to include the policy changes as part of the Senate version of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. If Republicans opt to keep those provisions, they would need 60 votes to pass in the 100-seat chamber, rather than the simple majority that other elements of Trump's tax and spending package would need under a complex budget process being invoked by Republicans to bypass Democratic opposition. Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate and Democrats are expected to oppose the provisions. The CFPB receives its funding directly from the Federal Reserve, and can request up to 12% of the Fed's profits. Republicans have complained for years the agency is too powerful and have tried to require its budget be set by Congress, arguing that would make the CFPB more accountable. Under Trump, the CFPB has been drastically curtailed, with several rulewriting and enforcement initiatives being scrapped and the administration attempting to lay off large numbers of agency staff. Many of those efforts are currently being challenged in court. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, the Republican whose panel drafted the provisions in question, said in a statement he would continue working with MacDonough, without offering specifics on next steps. "I remain committed to advancing legislation that cuts waste and duplication in our federal government and saves taxpayer dollars," he said.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Vance to travel to Los Angeles
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Los Angeles on Friday for a visit to a city where clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials have become a focal point of the opposition to the Trump administration's immigration agenda. While in Los Angeles, Vance is expected to deliver remarks as well as tour federal facilities, including a mobile command center and meet with Marines. Vance's visit to the city is the latest in the battle between Democrats and the Trump administration over its hardline deportation policies after an appeals court ruled in the president's favor Thursday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it's "likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority" in deploying California National Guard troops to respond to protests in L.A. The decision stemmed from the lawsuit California Attorney General Rob Bonta brought against the Trump administration after Trump sent the troops to the city without the approval of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. On Wednesday, U.S. Northern Command said that it was activating 2,000 additional National Guard troops in L.A. to 'support the protection of federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area.' That brings the total number of National Guard troops deployed to the city to more than 4,000 since the protests erupted there earlier this month. The president also deployed U.S. Marines to assist law enforcement in the response to demonstrations. The president's and administration's immigration actions have sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers, including California Sen. Alex Padilla, who was forcibly removed and handcuffed after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a briefing last week. The protests formed after ICE agents raided three places in central L.A. in early June, triggering a domino effect of similar demonstrations nationwide. While they've dissipated in recent weeks, one began on Thursday when federal agents working with ICE came to Dodgers Stadium 'requested permission to access the parking lots.' The Major League Baseball team, however, said that it blocked immigration agents from entering the ballpark.
