Republican senator Mike Lee faces criticism for his publications on social networks about the murder of a legislator from Minnesota and her husband, with a Democratic senator who calls the positions “rebuilt.”
On Sunday night, a day after an armed man masked police disguised fired and killed the state representative Democratic Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at her home in Minnesota, the Republican of Utah made positions in reference to the attack and with images of Vance Boelter, the suspect in the shooting.
The first publication was subtitled “This is what happens when the Marxists do not leave with theirs” and the second says “Nightmare on Waltz Street”, apparently blaming the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, for the shootings, which the governor called an “act of directed political violence.” Publications have now been eliminated from their account.
Hours later, in his official Senate account, Lee condemned the attacks.
“These hateful attacks do not take place in Utah, Minnesota or anywhere in the United States. Please unique me to condemn this meaningless violence and pray for victims and their families,” Lee wrote.
Senator Mike Lee participates in a hearing of the Senate Judicial Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office building, May 13, 2025.
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Lee’s publications caused an immediate reaction from the Democrats who condemned Lee for doing them.
“Trying to politicize this tragedy is absolutely unacceptable. This rhetoric of elected officials is more than dangerous and encourages even more violence,” said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on the Senate floor on Monday. “It is representable, and it must be called, on both sides of the hall, both sides of the hall. Because in the land of the free and the home of the brave, everyone should feel safe expressing their political views, and we should never do it in a way that condemns violence or intimidation.”
The former president of RNC, Michael Steele, told Lee to “grow hell” in a Publish in x.
A monument is seen in the desktop of the state representative of DFL Melissa Hortman in the cameras of the House of Representatives in the Capitol of the State of Minnesota, on June 16, 2025 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Leaving a meeting at the Capitol on Monday night, Lee ignored journalists’ questions about the positions. ABC News communicated with his office to comment.
The attacks have caused a rapid sentence of Democrats and Republicans in Capitol Hill and throughout the country, and many urged elected officials to reject heated rhetoric.
The Senator of Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, condemned the “horrible attack” and said on Sunday that “this is a very bad atmosphere, and we need to tear down the tone.”
The president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said that “such a horrible political violence does not take place in our society, and each leader must condemn it unequivocally.”
