ST. PAUL — As the state and country reel from deadly attacks on Minnesota lawmakers this weekend, local and national politicians are confronting a swirl of misinformation and speculation on the internet.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, took to X Saturday and posted on his account “BasedMikeLee,” about the Saturday, June 14 shootings that injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and killed Speaker of the House Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
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“This is what happens … When Marxists don’t get their way,” Lee wrote. In a separate post, he said, “Nightmare on Waltz street” — seemingly a play on Gov. Tim Walz’s name. Lee has since deleted the posts.
The posts received swift criticism, including from .
Minnesota House Leader Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, to denounce the posts, as well. Niska said Tuesday that Lee is someone he has met and has “had a lot of respect for,” but thought his actions were inappropriate.
“Well, there's been a lot of … people from all different angles, saying a lot of, I think, baseless and inhumane things on social media,” Niska said. “And it's … just disappointing. I just don't think there's any basis to, at this point in time, assign blame to anyone, including Governor Walz … what Senator Lee said, I didn't think was appropriate, if it was supposed to be a joke, I didn't think it was particularly funny.”
Vance Boelter was arrested Sunday night and has been charged in Saturday's shootings.
Niska said he wishes everyone could think more about “the actual humans that are involved … hurting and grieving because of the crime of Vance Boelter.”
Speculation on social media intensified after news entities reported that Walz had appointed Boelter to a in 2019.
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President Donald Trump, in an interview on Air Force One, was Walz about the assassination. Trump declined and said, “Why waste time?” Trump later added, “He appointed this guy.”
A spokesperson for Walz's office said Tuesday that Walz does not directly interview prospective members of the 60-person workforce development advisory board that Boelter was appointed to. The spokesperson said that Walz does not know Boelter and that there are thousands of volunteers who serve on state advisory boards.
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said Tuesday that misinformation in politics is like “a cancer.”
“I watched … beginning on Saturday and continuing into these last days, people, I don't know who they are, busy building a ridiculous narrative around some partisan bent, and trying to ascribe that to a heinous madman who went to people's homes with the intention to murder them, and I find that unforgivable,” Murphy said.
“What we are experiencing in Minnesota is not a Democratic loss or Republican loss. It is a Minnesota loss," Murphy said.
On Sunday, law enforcement announced Boelter had been caught following , Drew Evans, Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, urged the public to wait for answers as the investigation is ongoing.
“We often want easy answers, just for complex problems, and this is a complex situation that our investigators are going to need time to sift through the information and evidence, and those answers will come,” Evans said.
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Niska said Tuesday that he wants everyone to keep their humanity in view.
“We have to … keep our humanity in view when we have those disagreements, and each one of us has the right to our opinions and the right to be wrong," Niska said. "And one of the things that makes Vance Boelter and his crimes such an attack on our system is that he not only took Melissa Hortman’s life, but he did it to take her right to disagree with him … that's not something that we can accept as something that's within the bounds of our society.”
The Trust Project
