President Trump said on Monday that he would have ordered American flags to half-staff to honor Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota state representative who was gunned down along with her husband in their home this summer, if he had been “asked” to by the Democratic governor of her state.
Mr. Trump, in response to a question about whether the honor should have been extended in light of the tributes the White House has paid to Charlie Kirk, the assassinated conservative activist, initially said that he was not familiar with her, until the slain lawmaker was identified as a Democrat.
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that, but the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” Mr. Trump said, not identifying by name the governor, Tim Walz, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in the last election.
Mr. Trump has been casting blame entirely on the liberals who oppose him for political violence that has struck both Democrats and Republicans in recent years, as he continues to paint Mr. Kirk’s assassination last week as the work of the “radical left.”
Asked on Monday why he continued to cast the violence as only being from one side, Mr. Trump doubled down.
“I didn’t say it’s on one side,” he said. “But I say the radical left causes tremendous violence, and they seem to do it in a bigger way.”
Law enforcement agencies say Mr. Kirk’s killer acted alone, but the White House has seized on his assassination to plan a broad crackdown on liberal groups, alleging they incite violence.
Mr. Kirk, who was shot and killed during a public appearance in Utah on Wednesday, was an ardent supporter of Mr. Trump’s and close friends with members of his family and administration. Mr. Trump signed a proclamation ordering that flags across the country be lowered to half-staff within an hour of announcing Mr. Kirk’s death on social media.
Mr. Trump and members of his cabinet have escalated attacks on their political opponents, and the president also claimed during his Oval Office remarks on Monday that the shooter had been “radicalized” by the left, even though a motive is still unknown.
After Ms. Hortman’s assassination in June, Mr. Trump said that calling Mr. Walz would be “a waste of time.”
“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him,” Trump said at the time. “Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ Uh, the guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
On Monday, he suggested that it was Mr. Walz who should have called him for condolences.
“I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I would’ve if somebody had asked me,” he said about lowering flags. “People make requests for the lowering of the flag, and oftentimes you have to say no, because it would be a lot of lowering. The flag would never be up. Had the governor of Minnesota asked me to do that, I would have done that gladly.”
Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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