A makeshift memorial for DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, is seen at the Minnesota State Capitol building on June 16, 2025 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images)

The U.S. House unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning the June 14 attacks on former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, who were killed by a gunman, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who were wounded.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Morrison, who represents the suburban Minneapolis district where the Hortmans lived, also condemned political violence. Each of the seven other members of Minnesota’s bipartisan U.S. House delegation cosponsored the legislation and spoke in support on the House floor this week.

No House member spoke against the resolution during brief floor debate Tuesday. It passed 424-0 Wednesday, with eight members not voting.

Morrison, a Democrat, urged her colleagues to view the attacks as a “wake-up call” to tone down violent political rhetoric.

“The escalation and normalization of violent rhetoric and political violence have gone way too far, and we as elected representatives have to take the lead and be the first to speak out and to start to model a better path forward,” Morrison said. “Let’s make this the moment where we unequivocally condemn and commit to ending violent rhetoric, full stop. We have to make this horrific act of targeted political violence a watershed moment for our country.”

Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican, said by targeting elected officials, the gunman attacked democracy.

“Make no mistake: This was not just an attack on the Hortman, Hoffman families,” Stauber said Tuesday. “This was an attack on the state of Minnesota and our shared ideals as Americans. Political violence such as this threatens the very fabric of our constitutional republic and can never be ignored or met without condemnation.”

June 14 shootings

Melissa and Mark Hortman were killed in the early morning of June 14 by a man impersonating a police officer.

The suspected killer, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, arrived at the Hortman home after shooting John and Yvette Hoffman in their home and visiting the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers, according to police, who also said they found a list of other elected officials in Boelter’s car.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz described the attack as “a politically motivated assassination.”

Police captured Boelter on June 15 after a nearly two-day search. He faces state and federal murder charges.

Melissa and Mark Hortman and their golden retriever, Gilbert, who also died after being shot in the attack, will lie in state at the Minnesota Capitol on Friday.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who was shot in a targeted attack during a baseball practice eight years prior, also spoke in favor of the resolution Tuesday.

“As someone who’s experienced political violence firsthand, this brings back a lot of emotions,” Scalise said. “The man who shot me on the ballfield that day also had a list of lawmakers. I’m grateful for the actions of the brave law enforcement officers who ran towards the danger and saved lives on the ballfield that day and saved, undoubtedly, many lives in Minnesota on that day just a few days ago.”

A makeshift memorial for DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman is seen at the Minnesota State Capitol building on June 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The violence has sparked concern among lawmakers across the country. (Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images)

A year into her first term in office, New Jersey Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer decided not to run for reelection.

The political world saw her as a rising star in 2023; Jaffer, a Democrat, previously served as the nation’s first female Muslim mayor. But rampant harassment from online commenters and other politicians about her religion, as well as high-profile acts of violence against other public officials, made her reconsider her political future.

“I was concerned about my family,” Jaffer said in an interview. “They didn’t sign up for this. I didn’t want to put them in harm’s way.”

In the wake of the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, more public officials across the country are taking stock of their safety. Some say death threats have become part of the job. They fear that violence — real attacks and constant threats — will scare potential candidates away from seeking public office.

Michigan Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky said she has faced multiple death threats since 2020. In one instance, a neighbor reported that a stranger was waiting at her house, demanding to know when she would return home.

“I have certainly considered somewhat frequently that I might be killed doing this job,” Pohutsky told Stateline. “But what really alarmed me [about the Minnesota attacks] and stopped me in my tracks was I had not considered that someone might enter my home and kill my family.”

Nationwide, lawmakers in both parties say political rhetoric that dehumanizes anyone who disagrees on an issue has created a charged atmosphere. As politicians increasingly describe their rivals not just as wrong on policy but as the enemy, the message can embolden extremists to carry out violence.

“People treat death threats against government officials as a matter of course until someone is assassinated,” Pohutsky said. “It’s an impossible position, because the people who are carrying out these attacks want people to leave public office.”

In some states, lawmakers are discussing whether officials’ home addresses should be included in campaign finance forms and other publicly available documents. Elsewhere, political leaders are reviewing their security protocols.

But elected leaders say there are no easy answers. And they fear things will get worse before they get better.

“These threats of violence, we’ve seen it before here and there, but nothing like we’ve seen it now,” said South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, speaking with reporters this week. “And yes, I think that would make a lot of people stop and think and decide they do not want to enter that arena.

“It’s a tough arena anyway,” McMaster said, “but when you have the threat of violence — unanticipated, unmitigated, unexpected violence — that’s just one more reason not to get involved in politics.”

Growing threats

In recent years, elected officials have faced a growing number of threats and attacks.

In 2020, a group of men were accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; five were later convicted. That same year, the 20-year-old son of a federal judge in New Jersey was killed by a gunman and lawyer who had previously had a case before her.

Paul Pelosi, the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted by a hammer-wielding attacker at his home in 2022. President Donald Trump was targeted in a pair of assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign, including a shooting in which a bullet grazed his ear. And earlier this year, Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was targeted in an arson attack on the governor’s mansion.

Nearly 9 in 10 state lawmakers reported facing demeaning or derogatory comments or actions in their current term or the campaign leading up to it, and more than 4 in 10 reported harassment and threats, according to a report published last year by the progressive-leaning Brennan Center for Justice.

Women were three to four times more likely than men to experience abuse related to their gender, according to the report. And people of color were more than three times as likely as white officeholders to endure race-based abuse.

Since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, political threats against candidates — particularly women, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals — have escalated dramatically, according to Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of Run for Something, a political action committee that helps recruit young, liberal candidates for office.

“It sucks that we have to have these conversations with folks,” she said. “But the goal of this violence is to stop good people from running.”

Litman said that her organization offers support for candidates, including safety protocols, digital privacy training and mental health support. But increasing political violence and the easy online access to officeholders and candidates has begun to change how they interact with constituents and what they share about their lives.

“We have candidates who may have not thought twice to share a photo of their family or post updates about their lives outside of political office,” Litman said. “But now there is a shift in being more deliberate about what is being shared, especially online, where people can send threats and other stuff into your DMs, and use that information to stoke even more fear.”

Language matters

Leaders say that rhetoric characterizing opponents as evil has made violent incidents more likely.

“People have gotten very, very good at toeing the line just shy of actually threatening to kill people,” Pohutsky, the Michigan lawmaker, said.

“That’s sort of become normalized,” she said. “If you make this a righteous fight, if you convince people that someone is harming children, it’s much easier to incite violence against them. That language is intentional.”

The changes have accelerated in recent years. Returning home in 2015 after serving in combat zones as a U.S. Marine and working in post-conflict regions, Jake Harriman said he didn’t recognize the country he had fought for.

Harriman said the tactics he witnessed extremist groups use in conflict areas abroad to exploit fractured nations and warring factions — such as division, fear, isolation — he now sees playing out across the United States.

“What shocked me most,” said Harriman, founder of More Perfect Union, a veteran-led civic service group, “was the hatred — Americans dehumanizing each other in ways I had only seen in war.”

More people are finding a sense of self and belonging via partisan political groups, such as identifying as MAGA or as an opponent of MAGA, said Amy Pason, an associate professor who specializes in political rhetoric at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“This is because people are more isolated or finding social groups on social media — or the other media they consume — and they identity with that group,” she said. “This gets to be more problematic when belonging to that group is to also accept beliefs and shift your attitudes — that those not in your group are dangerous or out to harm your group.”

Despite condemnations of the Minnesota shootings from state lawmakers of both parties, some Republicans in Congress rushed to social media to falsely blame Democrats and liberals.

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat and friend of Hortman’s, confronted U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, in person on Capitol Hill after he made inflammatory comments about the assassination on the platform X. The posts were removed soon after.

Oregon state Sen. Jeff Golden, a Democrat, said the Minnesota attacks were a wakeup call. He pledged to direct his public comments in the future “towards the substance of the proposal and not the character of the person proposing.”

“I do think it can be a thin line,” Golden said. “I probably have crossed it one time or another, and I’m gonna do everything I possibly can not to do it again.”

But politicians have incentive to keep their base motivated and engaged through inflammatory attacks on people they characterize as the enemy, which dehumanizes them and fuels political violence, said Donald Nieman, a history professor at Binghamton University in New York.

Nieman noted in an email to Stateline that fear for personal and family safety is increasingly common among elected officials — affecting even how they vote. While he believes the path out is clear — “tone down the rhetoric, emphasize common ground” — he’s not optimistic.

“In a polarized political system, politicians depend on (and fear) a loyal base,” Neiman wrote. “I fear that the discussion of political violence will take the same course as school shootings: We will lament them, propose solutions that go nowhere, and there will be more shootings.”

Security measures

Just hours before the Minnesota shootings, Oregon lawmakers passed a bill that would make it harder for the public to obtain the home addresses of elected officials. Rather than having that information on the secretary of state’s website, as is currently law, the bill would require residents to submit a public records request to obtain those details.

In 2023, New Jersey lawmakers passed a bill exempting local officials from sharing their addresses publicly, but Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy declined to sign the measure, citing a technicality with its effective date.

“We’re in such uncharted territory when all of this data can be accessed by anyone and made into lists,” said Jaffer, the former New Jersey lawmaker, citing the “hit list” of 45 officials that law enforcement officials say had been compiled by alleged Minnesota attacker Vance Boelter.

“There needs to be more done to protect those who step up to serve, but we also need to protect freedom of speech and freedom of information,” she said.

Jaffer said a friend from another country was surprised to learn that she had no security detail while in office.

“We’re just normal people,” she said of state legislators. “It’s a great thing that we’re accessible, but it certainly makes us vulnerable.”

Following the Minnesota shootings, North Dakota officials announced they will take down lawmakers’ addresses from legislative websites. New Hampshire legislative leaders also pulled down pages with information about elected leaders, while ramping up security at the State House. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Mexico are reviewing their security practices.

Litman, of Run for Something, said legislatures should consider funding security for local candidates and officials who may not be able to afford it.

“I think there’s a real fear that if Donald Trump, who has the best security detail in the world, can be attacked at a public event, then what about local officials who don’t have the budget to afford to keep themselves or their families safe?” Litman said.

Julia Shumway of the Oregon Capital Chronicle and Seanna Adcox of the South Carolina Daily Gazette contributed to this report.

Stateline reporters Alex Brown and Robbie Sequeira can be reached at abrown@stateline.org and rsequeira@stateline.org.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

A growing memorial for Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband stands Monday, June 16, 2025 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

The horrific assassination of Minnesota’s Democratic legislative leader Melissa Hortman last weekend left people across the country in a state of shock and grief. 

But just across the border from Hortman’s home state, Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden seized on the double murder of Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were shot dead in their home, and the near-fatal shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, to mock Democrats and try to score political points. Van Orden falsely characterized the suspected shooter, a right-wing religious fanatic on a mission to murder Democrats and abortion providers, as an anti-Trump protester who “decided to murder and attempt to murder some politicians that were not far Left enough for them.”

This wildly misleading analysis came straight out of the MAGA alternative reality machine on social media, where, Minnesota Reformer editor J. Patrick Coolican wrote, right-wing influencers began peddling misinformation about Hortman’s murder just hours after it happened. 

Van Orden was not alone in helping to spread those lies. Wisconsin’s former Republican Gov. Scott Walker also did his part. In a now-deleted post on X, Walker wrote that if the assassination “ends up being done by an ultra-liberal activist … watch for many on the left to be silent or even justify it. Wrong!” 

It is now clear that suspected murderer Boelter was a Republican who, as an evangelical Christian minister, gave sermons railing against abortion and LGBTQ people. Walker at least had the good sense to take down his post — lapsing into the silence he’d predicted “many on the left” would observe. 

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was shamed by his colleagues into taking down a similarly callous post in which he blamed “Marxists” for the murders and appeared to gloat that it was a “nightmare” for Walz. 

Van Orden, on the other hand, doubled down.

“I stand by my statement,” he wrote on X after U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan chastized him for replying to Walz’s remembrance of Hortman by saying that the Democratic governor is “stupid” and a “clown.” Van Orden responded to Pocan with an obscenity. That’s the post he stood by.

Van Orden, who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington after President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election alongside the Capitol insurrectionists, is hardly a model of statesmanship. His boorish behavior in Washington on more than one occasion has embarrassed our state.

But there’s something more troubling going on here than one politician’s loutish behavior. 

The horrifying political assassination in Minnesota is a direct result of the same MAGA disinformation machine that went into overdrive trying to distort the truth about the assassin’s aims. Van Orden is one of many Republicans who have hyped the idea that the U.S. is under attack from “criminal, illegal aliens” who were allowed by the Biden administration to “wander around the nation at their leisure.” (In fact, immigrants commit violent crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens, and Van Orden’s district is full of hardworking immigrants who lack legal status but without whom Wisconsin’s dairy industry would collapse.)

Republicans following Trump’s lead have stirred up a moral panic around immigration, abortion, LGBTQ people and other non-threats in increasingly hysterical terms. Their rhetoric laid the groundwork for actual physical violence. It has been used to justify the unprecedented spectacle of masked federal agents seizing people on U.S. streets and deporting them without due process, as well as the Trump administration’s outrageous manhandling and handcuffing of Judge Hannah Dugan in Milwaukee, Sen. Alex Padilla in California and a mayoral candidate and Comptroller Brad Lander in New York City.  

Trump’s invitation to physical violence against his opponents and the press are a hit with his base. It seems inevitable that eventually someone would take him up on it. 

Adding fuel to the fire, Trump’s MAGA minions have made his sociopathic callousness part of their brand. Trump refused to call Walz after the murders in Minnesota, and instead took a gratuitous swipe at the man who campaigned against him as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in 2024, calling him “whacked out” and “a mess.”

 “I could be nice and call, but why waste time?” Trump told reporters. 

In a terse statement, Walz spokesperson Teddy Tschann explained why: “Governor Walz wishes that President Trump would be a President for all Americans, but this tragedy isn’t about Trump or Walz. It’s about the Hortman family, the Hoffman family, and the State of Minnesota, and the governor remains focused on helping all three to heal.”

What happened in Minnesota is a tragedy for all of us. It’s made worse by the lack of leadership from politicians who not only don’t have the wisdom and maturity to respond appropriately, but who, by failing to take responsibility for their actions, are actively propelling us toward a more terrible future.

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“We all have responsibility when it comes to toning down the political rhetoric we use each day,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin Legislature held its first floor sessions after the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and the near-fatal shootings of another state lawmaker and his wife. Leaders said that political violence is unacceptable and expressed willingness to discuss increasing security at the Capitol and for Wisconsin public officials.

Police have identified 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter as the suspected gunman in the assassination of Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor House leader Melissa Hortman and her husband over the weekend. He is also the suspect in the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Boelter was apprehended Monday and faces federal and state murder charges. 

Wisconsin lawmakers had requested increased security in the Wisconsin State Capitol following the shootings and ahead of Wednesday’s floor sessions. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) told reporters that they made the right decision in requesting the increased security and said his caucus would be open to talking about new security proposals but it isn’t clear those are the right actions to take.

“Whenever an incident like this happens the most important thing that we can do is to take a breath and look at what’s going to be the actual best potential solution as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction,” Vos said. 

Vos added that the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) believes the Minnesota case may be one of the first political assassinations of a state lawmaker in the nation’s history and also noted that the “scariest” thing is that the shootings happened at the lawmakers’ homes.

“The idea of trying to make the Capitol into a fortress, I don’t know if that necessarily would even have ever done anything in this situation to help the awful situation that happened in Minnesota,” Vos said. “We’re going to talk about it as a caucus. I think we made the right decision to increase security here.” 

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) echoed Democrats at another presser, where lawmakers didn’t take questions. 

“Political violence is never the answer. We need to solve our differences through legislation,” LeMahieu said. 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) spoke about the attacks at a joint press conference ahead of Wednesday’s floor sessions. Boelter had a list of dozens of people including elected officials and abortion providers in his vehicle, according to police. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Democratic lawmakers were found on that list.

Neubauer thanked law enforcement and her colleagues in leadership for coming together in a joint statement over the weekend to say that “no one should ever fear for their lives because of their service to their communities.” She said she and Hortman “shared a strong commitment to service and our communities” and that her heart is broken for Hortman’s family.

“I would also like to ask everyone to remember that these threats, even after the suspect has been apprehended, have had real impacts on the mental health of everyone affected, and we ask that you please respect the duress members and their families have been put through and extend understanding to them,” Neubauer said. 

Hesselbein said that differences should be settled with debate, not political violence.

“In addition to inflicting physical harm, political violence is meant to silence opposition. It is meant to discourage participation in our democracy by residents, by people thinking of running, by public officials. No one should fear for their lives because of their service to the community or because of their involvement in public life,” Hesselbein said. 

“I feel safe in our Capitol building. I think we’re going to continue to have conversations to make sure that everyone else feels safe as well,” Hesselbein said. 

Neubauer said Democrats are open to longer term conversations about security measures in the Capitol. 

Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) has suggested that Wisconsin should install metal detectors in the Capitol and should ban members of the public from carrying guns inside the building. 

State lawmakers have passed bipartisan laws in the past to help protect judges. While debating a bill — SB 169 — that would make a minor change to one of those laws enacted last year that provides privacy protections for judicial officers when there is a written request, there was some discussion about extending additional privacy protections for public officials. 

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said the bill speaks to keeping judges safe in their homes and said she hoped her colleagues would consider joining her in working on a proposal to extend privacy protections to anyone who serves the public in a public-facing role. 

“There are many people who serve the public in an important capacity, judges are certainly one, but legislators as well, constitutional officers… who are now in this world of high risk,” Roys said.

Vos earlier told reporters that the jobs of judges and state lawmakers are a little different, which could influence conversations about additional privacy protections for public officials in various roles. 

“State legislators are just so much more accessible, which, frankly, is like our superpower. We are the most accessible and the most responsive to the public because we are constantly at events, we are meeting with people, we are doing town halls. We are doing all the interactions that you want in a healthy democracy,” Vos said. 

During the Assembly Floor Session, Vos spoke about knowing Hortman, saying he met her through his work with the National Conference of State Legislatures and called Hortman “funny and engaging and incredibly smart.” 

Hortman was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature in 2004. “Over the next two decades,” Vos said, “she became a formidable force in state politics on her intelligence and her effectiveness.” 

“We all have responsibility when it comes to toning down the political rhetoric we use each day,” Vos said. “All political parties suffer political intimidation, name calling and the risk of physical violence, and we owe it to those who elect us to be role models for civil discourse.” 

The Senate and Assembly both held moments of silence for the Hortmans.

Vos and Hesselbein both read portions of the statement put out by the Hortmans’ children, Sophie and Colin Hortman: “Hope and resilience are the enemy of fear. Our parents lived their lives with immense dedication to their fellow humans. This tragedy must become a moment for us to come together. Hold your loved ones a little closer. Love your neighbors. Treat each other with kindness and respect. The best way to honor our parents’ memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”

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From left, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, both Minnesota Democrats. (Courtesy photos.)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith honored Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, during remarks on the Senate floor.

The Minnesota Democratic senators on Tuesday reflected on Melissa’s leadership, devotion to her community and many contributions to her state.

The Hortmans were killed over the weekend in what has been called a political assassination. Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot and are on a path to recovery.

Authorities have arrested Vance Boelter, who is accused of killing the Hortmans and shooting and injuring the Hoffmans. He faces both federal and state charges.

“Melissa is someone that I wish the whole Senate and the whole nation knew,” Klobuchar said. “We treasured her in Minnesota. She was the epitome of what you want in a public servant. She went into it for all the right reasons.”

Klobuchar said Melissa “knew no limits in terms of trying to get people together, trying to get things done.” She described both Melissa and Mark as “great neighbors, wonderful friends and great parents for their beloved children, Sophie and Colin.”

The senior senator recited a bit of Hortman’s lengthy list of legislative accomplishments: “When a Minnesota student gets a free school lunch, that’s Melissa. When a Minnesota parent is able to take paid leave to spend those early, precious moments with a newborn, that’s Melissa. When a Minnesota voter casts a ballot without facing unfair discrimination, that’s Melissa.”

Smith, who confronted her Republican colleague U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on Monday over some tawdry tweets he posted after the killings, said Melissa Hortman was funny, straightforward, kind, smart, driven and determined.

“She did well because she worked hard at everything that she did, from her first job making burritos, to her last job leading her caucus through a deeply divided legislative session.”

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 13: U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) participates in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah took down X posts Tuesday making an apparent connection between Gov. Tim Walz and the man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, and blaming “Marxists” for the murders. The change comes after blowback from Sen. Tina Smith and her staffers as well as Minnesota Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

One X post said “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” with pictures of Boelter, who is accused of killing Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in the early morning hours of June 14. Boelter also went to the homes of two other state lawmakers that night; one house was empty, and at the other, a police officer pulled up to the house shortly after Boelter arrived, so Boelter left.

Another Lee post read, “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way,” with a picture of Boelter.

Misinformation about Boelter’s apparent connection to Walz has been circulating online since the killing. Walz reappointed Boelter to the Workforce Development Board — one of hundreds of nonpartisan boards and commissions — after he was originally appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, but Walz had no personal connection to Boelter. There have also been claims online that Boelter is a leftist, though his roommate told reporters that he is a Trump supporter.

The changes to Lee’s X feed come after a confrontation between Lee and Smith Monday at the U.S. Capitol.

“I wanted him to hear directly from me about how painful that was and how wrong that was,” Smith told the Star Tribune. Smith, who was a friend of Hortman’s, said Lee did not apologize during their conversation.

Ed Shelleby, Smith’s deputy chief of staff, sent an email to Lee’s staff condemning the senator’s posts.

“You exploited the murder of a lifetime public servant and her husband to post some sick burns about Democrats. Did you see this as an excellent opportunity to get likes and retweets? Have you absolutely no conscience? No decency?” a copy of the email obtained by Semafor said.

Several Minnesota Republicans also condemned Lee’s posts.

“I have tremendous respect for Senator Mike Lee, but it doesn’t mean he is immune from the base impulses social media incentivizes. People say stupid stuff on the internet all the time. The best they can do is admit they shouldn’t have and be better,” Rep. Nolan West, R-Blaine, wrote on X. He later responded to his post, writing, “Respect rescinded.”

“This has nothing to do with Governor Walz,” Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, posted on X.

In separate press conferences Monday, both state and federal officials addressed the misinformation that has been circulating online about the assassination.

“As our community grieves, I encourage those out there seeking to create additional chaos to stop spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

The U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators emerged from a briefing with federal law enforcement officials Tuesday saying they’ll likely boost funding on safety and security for members and their families in an upcoming government funding bill.

The hour-long briefing by U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate sergeant-at-arms followed the weekend assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband as well as the attempted murder of a state senator and his wife.

The gunman had a list of Democratic elected officials, including members of Congress, and their home addresses, which renewed long-standing security concerns among lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke about the shootings during a floor speech shortly after the meeting, pressing for an end to political violence.

“I’m profoundly grateful to local law enforcement that the alleged shooter is in custody and I look forward to seeing him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Thune said. “There is no place for this kind of violence in our country. None.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, said that California Democrat Adam Schiff and Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick suggested during the closed-door meeting that Congress bolster funding for member safety.

“The Capitol Police and the sergeant at arms gave a very detailed discussion of how they can protect members here, back in our states, at our homes, in our offices,” Schumer said. “The violence, threats against elected officials, including people in the Senate, has dramatically increased, and that means we need more protection. We need more money.”

The USCP and other law enforcement agencies, Schumer said, are taking some immediate steps to bolster security, though he said “there are other things that will take a little while with more resources.”

Schumer also called on political leaders to be more cautious about how they discuss policy differences.

“The rhetoric that’s encouraging violence is coming from too many powerful people in this country,” Schumer said. “And we need firm, strong denouncement of all violence and violent rhetoric — that should be from the president and from all of the elected officials.”

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith called the meeting “very productive,” but didn’t want to elaborate.

“I’m not going to comment any more,” Smith told reporters. “I think it’s important for members’ safety that we don’t talk a lot about what is being done to keep us safe in order to keep us safe.”

Support for funding increase

Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she expects the panel will increase funding for USCP in the bill that covers the upcoming fiscal year.

“I believe we need to do that,” Murray said.

Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons said the current situation is “incredibly concerning, gravely concerning.”

“And I appreciate the prompt and thorough bipartisan response,” Coons said.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor in Alabama, said USCP will increase its security measures for members of Congress.

“They’re going to try to do as much as they can, that’s about it,” he said after the briefing. “You know, security at home and here.”

Asked whether there’s a legislative solution or anything lawmakers can do, Oklahoma GOP Sen. James Lankford told reporters “there’s a cultural solution.”

Sen. Martin Heinrich did not go into details about the meeting but said “everybody is having a very robust discussion about the sort of heightened security, dangerous environment we’re all operating in right now and what to do about that, both tactically to meet some of that threat, but also how to reduce the volatility of the environment that we’re in every day.”

The New Mexico Democrat is the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, which funds USCP and the sergeant at arms.

Asked about boosting USCP funding, Heinrich said this is “an obvious place that lawmakers will look,” but added that senators should be strategic about funding.

“We also just need to be smart and targeted about this,” he said. “There are a lot of things that can be done that don’t require a lot of funding that would reduce the scale of the target that is on the backs of anybody in public office these days.”

U.S. Capitol Police officers stand guard outside of the U.S. Capitol on June 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate will gather behind closed doors Tuesday to hear from federal law enforcement officials about protection for lawmakers and the safety of their families, just days after a gunman said to be posing as a police officer targeted state lawmakers in Minnesota.

The briefing from U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms follows years of increased funding for both entities as threats and attempted assassinations against members of Congress have become part of the job.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, said Monday on the floor that the suspected shooter had a list of more than 70 public officials he wanted to target, including several members of the Senate.

“My highest priority right now is working with the Senate leadership on both sides, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police, to ensure everyone’s safety,” Schumer said. “This weekend I asked Capitol Police and the Sergeant at Arms to increase security for members, including Sen. (Alex) Padilla and the Minnesota senators.”

California Sen. Padilla moved to the forefront of the public debate about immigration and deportations last week when he was forcibly removed from a press conference after trying to ask Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question while she was still speaking.

Schumer said the briefing would be an opportunity for USCP and the SAA to “convey what they’re doing for members to keep them safe.”

He urged senators to “come together” to oppose political violence in all forms, before criticizing Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee for social media posts. Lee made two posts that drew condemnation.

“I was deeply disappointed and sickened to see a member of this chamber use the tragedy in Minnesota to take cheap political shots at the other side on social media and risk escalating a perilous moment,” Schumer said. “What the senior senator from Utah posted after the shooting was reckless and beneath the dignity of his office.

“For a senator to fan the flames of division with falsities while the killer was still on the loose is deeply irresponsible. He should take down his post immediately and apologize to the families of the victims.”

On another social media account, Lee wrote, “These hateful attacks have no place in Utah, Minnesota, or anywhere in America.”

Suspect faces state and federal charges

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the attack on the two state lawmakers and their spouses was clearly motivated by politics.

Klobuchar said she has received additional security and that she was concerned about the possibility of more attacks against lawmakers.

“I have had threats before, as several of our colleagues have had,” Klobuchar said. “And I think one of the things is, we don’t talk about this stuff much because you don’t want to see copycats that copy exactly what they’ve done.”

The suspected gunman, who was arrested Sunday following a manhunt, has been charged by both state and federal prosecutors with murdering state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and attempting to kill state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.

The suspect went to the homes of at least two other state lawmakers and had a list of Democratic lawmakers’ home addresses as well as abortion providers, according to police.

Lawmakers disclose they were on list of targets

The U.S. House won’t receive a security briefing this week since its members are out of session on a district work period, typically a time when lawmakers are back in their communities for town halls and other public events, though the shooting has led some members to change their schedules.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten announced Monday she would postpone her town hall in Muskegon, writing in a statement she didn’t want to “divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time.”

“Nothing matters more to me than the safety and well-being of the people I serve,” Scholten wrote. “After being made aware that my name was on a list connected to the recent tragic shooting in Minnesota, my office has made the difficult decision to postpone our planned town hall in Muskegon.”

Scholten added she hoped to “reschedule this event as soon as possible.”

Ohio Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman released a statement on Monday, announcing that USCP bolstered his security after his name was found among the suspected Minnesota shooter’s possessions.

“On Sunday morning, Capitol Police contacted my office to inform me that the FBI had found my name among the evidence collected during the search for a suspect in Minnesota — who is accused of murdering and seriously injuring lawmakers,” Landsman wrote. “Since the suspect was still at large at that time, we worked very closely with the Cincinnati Police Department to arrange for increased security for my family and me.”

Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar wrote in a statement posted to social media that she was among the people the suspected Minnesota shooter had on his list.

“This was only a day after protestors were shot in Utah, an extremist drove a car into protests in Virginia, credible threats were made against state lawmakers in Austin and a man pointed a gun at protestors here in El Paso,” Escobar wrote.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and New York Democratic Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, ranking member on the Committee on House Administration, wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday, urging him to take action to ensure members’ safety. 

“While we differ in many areas related to policy and our vision for America’s future, Member safety must be an area of common ground. Representatives from both sides of the aisle have endured assassination attempts that changed their lives and careers forever,” the two wrote. “Too many other patriotic public servants have left Congress because they no longer felt safe carrying out their duty as elected officials. We must act to protect each other and preserve this great American institution.”

Threats on the rise over the years

Members of Congress and their families are no strangers to threats, which have steadily risen for years, attacks and shootings.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in their family home in San Francisco in October 2022 by a man wielding a hammer, who was searching for Pelosi, a California Democrat.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La, was shot and severely wounded in 2017 when a gunman opened fire at GOP lawmakers practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Several others were injured during the shooting.

Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords survived being shot in the head during a constituent meeting in a grocery store parking lot in 2011 when a gunman opened fire, killing six people and injuring a dozen others.

Even President Donald Trump, who has extensive Secret Service protection, was shot in the ear last July while campaigning in Pennsylvania. The gunman in that incident killed local fireman Corey Comperatore and injured two others.

The union representing U.S. Capitol Police warned more than a year ago that the federal law enforcement agency was struggling to keep up amid an increasingly hostile political environment and staffing shortages.

“We’ve never seen a threat environment like this,” union Chairman Gus Papathanasiou wrote in a statement. “Given the profound divisions in this country and this year’s elections, people ask me if I’m concerned and I tell them I am worried — very worried.”

Former USCP Chief Thomas Manger, who retired earlier this year, told lawmakers well before the union’s public statement that he was concerned by how few threats against members of Congress were actually prosecuted successfully.

Few threats led to prosecution

Klobuchar, who was chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee at the time of the hearing, said USCP referred 458 threat cases for prosecution during 2021, with 40 of those leading to a court case. That was out of 9,625 total threats.

Just 22 of the 7,501 threats lobbed at members during 2022 led to prosecution, a USCP spokesperson confirmed to States Newsroom at the time.

Threats against lawmakers have continued to increase ever since.

USCP investigated 8,008 “concerning statements and direct threats against the Members of Congress, including their families and staff” in 2023 and 9,474 in 2024, according to data from USCP. 

GREEN ISLE, MINNESOTA - JUNE 15: Law enforcement on June 15, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota searched for a suspect in the killing of DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, who were shot at their home yesterday. DFL State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and hospitalized in a separate incident. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a press conference that the shooting "appears to be a politically motivated assassination." (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Law enforcement officers on Sunday night arrested Vance Boelter, who is accused of assassinating Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in Brooklyn Park as part of a larger plot to kill Democratic elected officials and other advocates of abortion rights, according to a state official with knowledge of the arrest.

The arrest comes after a two-day manhunt. Law enforcement officers had been searching all day after locating Boelter’s abandoned vehicle near Green Isle, where Boelter has a home.

Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic-Farmer-Labor state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. Both Hoffmans survived the shooting, but received surgeries for their injuries and remain hospitalized.

Boelter is a Christian who voted for President Donald Trump and opposes abortion and LGBTQ rights, according to interviews with his childhood friend and videos of his sermons posted online. A list of potential targets — including Hoffman and Hortman — included abortion providers and other Democratic elected officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The attack, which has shocked Minnesotans and the nation, comes amid rising political violence since the emergence of President Donald Trump, who has made repeated threats of violence against his political enemies and praised his supporters who, for instance, attacked officers while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He later pardoned all of them.

Authorities say Boelter attacked the Hoffmans at their home in Champlin at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday morning.

At around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park police headed to the Hortmans’ home to proactively check on them following the attack on the Hoffmans, said Drew Evans, superintendent at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at a press conference Saturday morning.

When they arrived, the officers saw the shooter in a fake law enforcement uniform exiting the front door of the house. Out front, emergency vehicle lights flashed from a Ford Explorer outfitted to look like a cop car. When the officers confronted the shooter, a gunfight ensued, and the killer escaped, abandoning the vehicle.

Inside, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were dead from gunshot wounds.

In the SUV, police found a document with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list.

Evans said Sunday that the document is not a “traditional manifesto that’s a treatise on all kinds of ideology and writings.” Instead, it contains a list of names and “other thoughts” throughout.

On Saturday afternoon, police raided a home in north Minneapolis where Boelter lived part time. In an interview with the Star Tribune and other media outlets, Boelter’s roommate and childhood friend David Carlson shared a text message Boelter sent him at 6:03 a.m. saying that he would be “gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly.”

Federal and state warrants were out for Boelter’s arrest, and the FBI was offering a $50,000 award for information that led to Boelter’s capture.

On Sunday morning, law enforcement officers detained and questioned Boelter’s wife as she was driving through Mille Lacs County with other family members. Evans said Sunday none of Boelter’s family members are in custody.

Sunday afternoon, law enforcement officers located a car linked to Boelter in Sibley County within a few miles of his home address in Green Isle.

Law enforcement officials continue to investigate Boelter’s motives, Evans said, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions.

“We often want easy answers for complex problems, and this is a complex situation…those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation,” he said.

Fragments of Boelter’s life available online, and interviews with those who know him, shed light on his religious and political beliefs.

Boelter’s LinkedIn page indicates that he spent many years working in food production before becoming the general manager of a 7-Eleven. More recently, he worked at funeral homes, the New York Times reported.

Boelter was facing financial stress after quitting his job to embark on business ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Carlson, the Star Tribune reported.

The website for a private security firm lists Boelter as the “director of security patrols,” and his wife as the CEO. He purchased some cars and uniforms but “it was never a real company,” Carlson told the Strib.

Carlson said Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposes abortion, the New York Times reported.

In recordings of sermons Boelter delivered in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he railed against abortion and LGBTQ people.

The reporting on Boelter’s religious life suggests that his beliefs were rooted in fundamentalism, though he doesn’t appear to have been ordained in any particular denomination, said Rev. Angela Denker, a Minnesota-based Lutheran minister, journalist and author of books on Christianity, right-wing politics and masculinity.

“What this kind of theology says is that if you commit violence in the name of whatever movement you’re a part of, then you’re going to be rewarded,” Denker said.

The gunman shot John Hoffman nine times, and Yvette Hoffman eight times, according to a statement from Yvette.

The Hoffmans’ nephew, Mat Ollig, wrote on Facebook that Yvette used her body to shield her daughter. John Hoffman is “enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette Hoffman said in a statement.

On the steps of the State Capitol Sunday, mourners created an extemporaneous memorial for Hortman, who will be known as one of the most consequential progressive leaders in recent state history.

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Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

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Just hours after Minnesotans learned that Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman had been assassinated, right-wing influencer Collin Rugg, who has 1.8 million followers on X, posted a report that hinted that she’d been killed because of a recent vote on ending undocumented adults’ ability to enroll in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance for the working poor.

Mike Cernovich, another right-wing influencer who has 1.4 million followers on X, took Rugg’s post and amped it up, but in the “just asking questions” style of many conspiracy theories:

“Did Tim Walz have her executed to send a message?”

They were deeply ignorant about the MinnesotaCare issue.

Walz and Hortman — who was instrumental in passing legislation allowing undocumented people to sign up for MinnesotaCare as speaker of the House in 2023 — negotiated a compromise with Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature to end eligibility for adults, but keep it for children. They did so to win necessary Republican support in the 67-67 House to pass a state budget. Without it, state government would have shut down on July 1.

Both Hortman and Walz signed the compromise agreement in mid-May. This week, Hortman spoke tearfully about how difficult the vote was for her, but she was bound to vote yes on the issue because of the prior agreement.

Rugg and Cernovich’s posts were shared widely and just the start of the disinformation.

Once law enforcement sources began revealing a suspect, right-wing influencers ran with an insignificant detail: That Vance Luther Boelter was a “Walz appointee.”

Like many states, but even more so here, Minnesota is home to hundreds of nonpartisan and bipartisan boards and commissions, which are composed of thousands of people who typically win the appointment by simply volunteering. There are currently 342 open positions on Minnesota boards and commissions. Boelter was appointed to the Workforce Development Council by Walz’s predecessor Gov. Mark Dayton and reappointed by Walz.

It was the equivalent of calling a Sunday school volunteer an “appointee of the bishop.”

No matter, the Murdoch media machine, specifically the New York Post, had their headline: “Former appointee of Tim Walz sought….”

Cernovich had his greasy foil hot dog wrapper and began constructing a hat:

“The Vice President candidate for the Democrat party is directly connected to a domestic terrorist, that is confirmed, the only question is whether Tim Walz himself ordered the political hit against a rival who voted against Walz’s plan to give free healthcare to illegals.”

Walz had no such plan. He had signed an agreement to end eligibility for undocumented adults.

Joey Mannarino, who has more than 600,000 followers on X, was more crass:

“Rumor has it she was preparing to switch parties. The Democrats are VIOLENT SCUM.”

It was a ridiculous “rumor.” One of the last photos of Hortman alive was an image of her at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor’s big annual fundraising event, the Humphrey-Mondale dinner, which took place just hours before her assassination.

No matter, Cernovich wanted his new friends in federal law enforcement to act:

“The FBI must take Tim Walz into custody immediately.”

Finally, fresh off his humiliating defeat at the hands of President Donald Trump, world’s richest man Elon Musk quote-tweeted someone again falsely alleging Hortman was killed by “the left”  and added:

“The far left is murderously violent.” 

The suspect’s “hit list,” according to an official who has seen the list, comprised Minnesotans who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights. CNN reported that it also included several abortion clinics, which doesn’t sound like the work of “the left.”

Right-wing influencers marred Hortman’s death and smeared Walz on a pile of lies.

In a different, saner world, they would be humiliated and slink away. But the smart money is that during the next moment of national crisis and mourning, they will again lie for profit.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

Speaker emeritus Rep. Melissa Hartman talks to colleagues during a special legislative session Monday, June 9, 2025 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

House Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus leader Melissa Hortman, who was among the most influential Minnesota elected officials of the past decade, died on Saturday morning after a man impersonating a police officer shot her in her Brooklyn Park home, Gov. Tim Walz said.

Hortman’s husband was also shot and killed, the governor said.

Walz, appearing emotional at a press conference in the north metro, said they were killed in an apparent “politically motivated assassination.”

“Our state lost a great leader, and I lost the dearest of friends,” Walz said. “(Hortman) was a formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota.”

Democratic Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times earlier in the evening in their Champlin home. Walz said they were out of surgery, and that he’s “cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt.”

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said Champlin law enforcement received a call at about 2 a.m. that a person shot Hoffman and his wife.

Brooklyn Park Police Department Chief Mark Bruley said his officers assisted with the Champlin shooting; a sergeant suggested checking in on Hortman’s home. They live about five to eight miles away from each other. When Brooklyn Park police officers arrived at Hortman’s home, they encountered a person who was dressed like a police officer who “immediately fired at them,” Evans said. Police exchanged gunfire with the person, but they were able to escape.

The shooter is still at large, and Brooklyn Park is under a shelter-in-place order. Hundreds of police officers and SWAT teams are conducting a manhunt for the person, officials said.

On Saturday afternoon, authorities asked for the public’s assistance in locating Vance Luther Boelter, the suspect connected with the shootings. They said he was last seen Saturday morning in Minneapolis wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt and a cowboy hat.

Bruley said that when they arrived at Hortman’s home, they saw a police SUV with its lights on and saw the suspect was impersonating a police officer.

In the SUV, police found a “manifesto,” with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list. According to an official who has seen the list, the targets included prominent pro-choice individuals in Minnesota, including many Democratic lawmakers who have been outspoken about their policy positions.

Hortman, who has two adult children, was first elected to the Legislature 2004 and served as House Speaker from 2019-2024. She lost two elections before winning, which she said gave her an understanding of what it takes to win swing seats and hold them.

Her speakership will be remembered as among the most consequential in recent Minnesota political history. With Walz and Senate GOP Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, she guided the state through the pandemic before helping Democrats achieve a trifecta in the 2022 election.

During the 2023 legislative session, she helped bridge the wide gulf between moderates and progressives in her caucus to achieve a historic legislative agenda. Democrats codified abortion rights in law; invested in education, including universal schools meals, as well as transportation and housing; created paid family leave; legalized cannabis; and passed gun control laws.

The encomiums poured in Saturday. “There is no greater champion for Minnesota’s working people than Melissa Hortman,” said Joel Smith, President and Business Manager of LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota, the laborers union.

Hoffman was elected in 2012 and is known for his work on human services.

The Reformer sat down with Hortman at the Capitol on Thursday to discuss the 2025 session, which ended on Monday.

During his remarks Saturday, Walz denounced political violence and said the people involved in the shooting would be caught and held responsible.

“This was an act of targeted political violence. Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint,” Walz said.

According to a source close to Walz, the governor spoke to Vice President J.D. Vance about the targeted attacks in Minnesota. The governor thanked the vice president for the coordination between federal law enforcement and Minnesota public safety officials.

House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, who worked closely with Hortman in the Legislature to negotiate a state budget this year, said she was horrified by Hortman’s murder.

“I am horrified by the evil attack that took place overnight, and heartbroken beyond words by the loss of Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark,” Demuth said in a statement.

 

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand together at the end of the U.S Army parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

This report has been updated.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated his 79th birthday reviewing a parade of tanks, armament and marching soldiers gathered in the nation’s capital for the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration, amid heightened political tensions across the country and anti-Trump “No Kings” protests.

The nearly 90-minute parade cycled through the Army’s history, beginning with soldiers marching in Revolutionary War uniforms and ending with symbols of the Army’s future, including small robots carrying the U.S. Army flag and new West Point cadets about to be sworn in.

Massive tactical vehicles rolled down Constitution Avenue one after another. Sherman tanks used by the military in World War II were followed by early 2000s-era howitzers and HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, that can launch newly developed precision missiles that reach up to 310 miles away, according to the Army.

HIMARS were among the weaponry the U.S. provided to Ukraine’s forces under President Joe Biden.

“The Army keeps us free,” Trump said in brief remarks at the conclusion of the parade, after Vice President J.D. Vance introduced him. “Every other country celebrates their victories, it’s about time America did too. That’s what we’re doing tonight.”

But tragedy and deep conflict marked the hours and days leading to the event. Early Saturday, a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband were assassinated in their home in an “act of political violence,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, while another legislator and his wife were shot and gravely wounded.

Late Friday, dozens of veterans breached barricades around the U.S. Capitol in protest of the Army parade. On Thursday, a Democratic U.S. senator from California was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a press conference with the head of Homeland Security.

Last weekend, multi-day protests erupted in Los Angeles after immigration raids swept across several Home Depots, typically where undocumented day laborers search for work, as Trump’s mass deportations continue to be carried out.

And the president is in a legal standoff with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, after Trump ordered more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to be sent to LA without Newsom’s consent and Newsom sued. The Guard troops remained in LA Saturday after a federal appeals court froze a lower court’s order directing Trump to return command to Newsom.

The city saw a large protest Saturday afternoon, according to local media reports. A curfew of 8 p.m. Pacific time remained in effect, Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a morning press release.

And on Saturday night, the Salt Lake City Police Department said it was investigating a shooting that occurred during a “No Kings” protest and officials urged people to disperse the demonstration.

‘Yeah, I wanna be there’

In Washington, spectators from across the country began lining barriers along the Army parade route hours before the event’s start.

Scott Aiken, 59, of Athens, Georgia, drove 10 hours for the parade. Aiken, who told States Newsroom he voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections, said he wanted to support the anniversary of the Army.

“My father was in the Army, and my wife’s father was in the Army, and we’re a supportive military family. And when I heard the parade was going to happen, I thought, ‘Yeah, I wanna be there.’ So we drove up from Athens on Thursday, and did the Capitol tour yesterday, and here we are.”

When asked about the timing of Trump’s birthday, Aiken said “whether it’s on his birthday or not, I don’t care. That’s not the purpose of this.”

Members of Trump’s Cabinet and other allies on social media posted well wishes and greetings. “Wishing a very happy birthday to our incredible President Donald J. Trump!” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X. Trump said on his social media site, Truth Social, “President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and a recent attack by Israel on Iran’s military leaders.

Not everyone at the parade was wishing Trump well. Angelica Zetino, 24, and Shoshauna Brooks, 27, from Rockville and Gaithersburg, Maryland, stood out among the crowd as they carried signs protesting Trump’s administration, particularly recent immigration raids.

The pair began their morning at a “No Kings” protest in Rockville before heading to D.C.

“They (the administration) just want to put on a show, which is OK, but we’re here to support the people that can’t have a voice for themselves,” Brooks said.

Tom Moore, 57, of the District of Columbia,, took issue with Trump’s words this week that any parade protesters would be met with force. 

“That’s not acceptable. He didn’t say violent protesters. I wasn’t planning on coming down here before that,” said Moore.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 10 that any protests at the military parade “will be met with very heavy force.”

Rallies opposing Trump

Throughout Saturday, protests unfolded across the U.S. bearing the theme “No Kings” to decry Trump’s military display on his own birthday and the mass immigration arrests.

The “No Kings” national organizers said in a press release that as of 2 p.m. Eastern, protesters had rallied at more than 1,500 sites across the country, with 600 more events scheduled through the rest of the day. “No Kings” was organized by liberal groups and labor unions including Indivisible, the American Federation of Teachers, American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, MoveOn, 50501, Interfaith Alliance, Stand Up America, Common Defense, Human Rights Campaign and League of Conservation Voters.

Approximately 60 protesters were arrested outside the U.S. Capitol Friday evening, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. Veterans for Peace, a group that organized the demonstration, posted photos of the arrests and of several demonstrators wearing “Veterans Against Fascists” t-shirts.

Police said 75 people peacefully demonstrated outside of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“A short time later, approximately 60 people from the group left the Supreme Court so as a precaution, our officers began establishing a perimeter,” a police spokesperson told States Newsroom in an email. “A few people pushed the bike rack down and illegally crossed the police line while running towards the Rotunda Steps. Our officers immediately blocked the group and began making arrests.”

Among those arrested was an elderly Vietnam veteran using a walker, Capitol Police confirmed.

Two mules and a dog

A trickle of red “Make America Great Again” hats and apparel displaying support for the Army intermingled as supporters shuffled into the parade grounds Saturday afternoon.

The parade featured soldiers from every division, 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, 34 horses, two mules and one dog, at a price tag in the tens of millions of dollars, according to the Army.

Among the vehicles and equipment that rolled down Constitution Avenue between 15th and 23rd streets were Abrams tanks, first used in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm; and 9,500-pound titanium M777 lightweight Howitzers that fire 105-pound shells up to 24 miles and are currently in use on Ukraine’s battlefields.

Military aircraft that could be seen above Washington in ceremonial flyovers, from AH-64 Apaches, UH-60 Blackhawks and CH-47 Chinooks. Army Golden Knights parachuted down to the White House South Lawn, red smoke in their wake, to present Trump with a folded flag. The president has never served in the military.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed concern in the weeks leading up to the parade about the heavy tactical vehicles causing damage to the city’s streets. The Army Corps of Engineers had installed large steel plates ahead of the event to reinforce the roads.

The parade coincided with the Army’s 250th birthday celebration festival, which has been in the works for a year.

The parade appears to have been a late addition to the festivities. According to documentation obtained by local D.C. news outlet WTOP, America250 applied on March 31 for a permit for the parade. A May 21 press release about the parade from America250, which describes itself as a “nonprofit supporting organization to the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission,” celebrated Trump’s role in the event.

Trump wanted a military parade during his first term, but the idea was dismissed because of cost, NBC reported at the time.

The last time the U.S. staged a celebratory military parade was in 1991 under former President George H.W. Bush to recognize the victory in the first Gulf War.

Immigration enforcement and military 

The big Army celebration early in Trump’s second term came as the president has intertwined the U.S. military with his immigration policy, as shown in LA and elsewhere.

In his first days in office, Trump signed five executive orders that laid out the use of military forces within the U.S. borders and extended other executive powers to speed up the president’s immigration crackdown.

He’s directed the Department of Defense to use a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to detain migrants. Military planes have been used in deportations – rather than standard commercial airplanes.

In April, he signed a proclamation creating a military buffer zone that stretches across Arizona, California and New Mexico just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It means any migrant crossing into the United States would be trespassing on a military base, therefore allowing active-duty troops to hold them until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrive.

National and military experts have raised concerns that giving control over the Roosevelt Reservation to the military could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that generally prohibits the military from being used in domestic law enforcement. A statutory exception in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, is the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Trump has considered invoking the Insurrection Act, but has stopped short. The Insurrection Act is an existing presidential authority that would grant the president access to use all federal military forces, more than 1 million members.

The Insurrection Act has only been invoked 30 times, and is typically focused on an area of great civil unrest that has overwhelmed law enforcement.

The last time a president used it was 1992, during the Los Angeles riots, after four white police officers were acquitted in the brutal beating of Black motorist Rodney King.

In calling in the National Guard in LA last week, Trump cited a rarely used statute known as the protective power –  10 U.S.C. 12406 – to use National Guard troops to protect federal personnel and property, but not for broad law enforcement functions.