Mike Lee deletes posts about Minnesota lawmaker shootings after blowback

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday deleted social media posts he made blaming the left for the fatal shooting of a Minnesota state legislator.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the posts that seemingly made light of the shootings that killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife were gone from the Utah Republican’s @BasedMikeLee personal account on the social platform X.

One of his posts from over the weekend had dubbed the killing the “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” an apparent attempted reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), while the other said, “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way.” Both featured images of Vance Boelter, 57, the suspected shooter.

Lee’s decision to remove the posts came after intense blowback from Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the posts were “disgusting” and publicly called on Lee to take them down. He urged President Trump and Republicans to make the same request, arguing Lee might listen to them. 

On Monday, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), a friend of Hortman’s, confronted Lee in the Capitol. She told reporters she wanted him to hear from her directly “about how painful that was and how brutal that was to see that on what was just a horrible, brutal weekend.”

“I think too often in the Senate, we talk to each other through one another, and I wanted him to hear it from me directly,” she said. 

The Minnesota Democrat added it was “hard for me to characterize exactly what he said. He didn’t say a lot, frankly,” noting the Republican senator “seemed a little surprised to be confronted.”

Later Monday, Lee stayed silent as reporters asked multiple times about his posts. A Lee staffer went so far as to try to block a camera’s view of him while walking outside.

The Hill has reached out to Lee’s office for comment.

Democrats said Tuesday they were encouraged by Lee removing the posts. 

“I’m glad that he took this down,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who was also a friend of Hortman’s. 

“This wasn’t funny to anyone in my state, and he understood that,” she added. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who lambasted Lee for “politizic[ing] this tragedy” a day earlier, added that he hoped Lee was admitting fault with his actions. 

“I hope that was an apology,” Durbin said. 

Lee got little backup from his colleagues on the matter.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), when asked about the posts, questioned the Utah conservative’s decision to go public with those comments. 

“I don’t know if this person was a Marxist or not. … I have no sense. Nor does it matter, by the way. Nor does it matter,” Cramer said. “What happened is absolutely, positively unacceptable in any political environment, and it’s tragic.”

“He maybe should have waited longer before he responded. I don’t know where he stands today on it. I just know where I do,” Cramer continued. “The politics of this shooter are so irrelevant to me. … I just think whenever you rush to a judgment like this, when your political instincts kick in during a tragedy, you probably should realign some priorities.”

Cramer noted he had not spoken to Lee individually about it. 

The killing had immediate ramifications on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers expressed alarm and pressed for additional security for members amid a rising tide of threats against elected officials. Capitol Police and the Senate sergeant-at-arms held a briefing for members Tuesday.

Authorities say Boelter also had compiled a “kill list” of 45 Democratic political officials. A number of Minnesota lawmakers said they appeared on the list, as did lawmakers from other states, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Reps. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).

Boelter was arrested Sunday and faces federal murder, stalking and firearms charges, in addition to state charges.

Scholten announced she would be canceling a planned town hall after her name emerged on that list, with others indicating they planned to keep their scheduled events. But overall, lawmakers say the political temperature must drop. 

“I do hope the president calls the governor and they start working together. That would be good for the country,” Landsman said. “And I — you know, Mike Lee and others who have said some pretty unfortunate, unhelpful things since this, it would be great for them to say, ‘You know what? We’ve got to be done with this. I shouldn’t have said that.’”

“We have to be in this together, and we’re going to all work together to turn the corner, because this isn’t anything we want to continue seeing,” he added.

Updated at 4:32 p.m. EDT