Donald Trump didn’t seem to know about an assassinated Democratic politician, saying he was “not familiar” with her when asked why he didn’t order flags to be lowered to half-staff following her killing.
Last week, the president ordered flags to be lowered following the killing of Charlie Kirk, a rightwing activist who was shot while he was speaking at an event at a Utah university.
During an Oval Office briefing on Monday, Trump was asked why he didn’t give the same order following the death of Melissa Hortman. Hortman, the Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, was assassinated alongside her husband by a masked gunman this summer.
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Nancy Cordes, the chief White House correspondent for CBS News, asked Trump: “Do you think it would have been fitting to lower the flags to half-staff when Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota house speaker, was gunned down by an assassin as well?”
The president replied: “I’m not familiar. The who?”
“The Minnesota house speaker, a Democrat, who was assassinated this summer,” she said.
Trump responded: “Oh. Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that.”
“I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I would’ve, if somebody had asked me,” Trump continued. “People make requests for the lowering of the flag, and oftentimes you have to say no, because it would be a lot of lowering.”
Since Kirk’s killing, Trump and other parts of the right have been criticised for blaming the left for the shooting. Many have pointed out that figures on both the left and right have been targets of political violence, with Hortman’s killing widely references as an example of this.
The arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, the violent hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a thwarted plot to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, have also been cited as recent examples of Democratic figures being targeted.
After the news broke that Kirk had been shot, Democrat officials and leaders universally condemned the attack.
Despite this, Trump blamed the “radical left” for Kirk’s death in a video message last week.
Meanwhile, vice-president JD Vance has insisted political violence is not a “both sides problem.” While hosting Kirk’s podcast on Monday, Vance said Democrats were widely to blame for political violence.
The Guardian reports that Vance made no reference to Hortman’s killing or any other acts of political violence, such as the January 6 storming of the US Capitol.