Sen. Mike Lee found time Tuesday to delete social media posts blaming liberals for the fatal shooting of a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota—but not to apologize for them.
Gone from the Utah Republican’s @BasedMikeLee account was his post calling the killing a “Nightmare on Waltz Street” and his other one reading, “This is what happens… When Marxists don’t get their way.”
The suspect, Vance Boelter, is accused of killing Democrat Melissa Hortman and her husband, and of wounding state Senator John Hoffman and his wife. Police said Boelter had a target list of dozens of other Democrats, as well as abortion providers.
Boelter’s friend said he had strong anti-abortion views and voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election. Boelter also claimed to be an ordained minister, one who made anti-gay and anti-transgender comments, according to The New York Times.
Lee was among several on the right like Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who insisted on tying Boelter to liberals despite evidence showing otherwise. Yet when asked about his posts by reporters Monday, Lee couldn’t muster a response, walking briskly away instead.
That came shortly after Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith confronted Lee, who didn’t want to take responsibility, she said.
“He said, you know, how many times have we heard the words that go something like, ‘I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings’ or ‘I’m sorry if you didn’t understand what I…’” Smith recalled on CNN. “That’s not, in my mind, taking responsibility for your actions.”
“I don’t think this is a person who’s used to being confronted,” Smith added. “I don’t think he’s somebody who’s used to being challenged. And I think he didn’t quite know what to do.”
Further compounding pressure on Lee was Smith’s deputy chief of staff writing a letter to Lee’s staffers describing “how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend.”
Those staffers were addressed late Monday by MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell, who said the “decent” thing to do would be to resign.
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