United States President Donald Trump has said he will not call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the wake of weekend shootings that killed a Democratic state lawmaker and injured another.
Trump denounced the shootings as an act of “horrific violence” in a statement over the weekend. But on Tuesday, he confirmed to reporters that he would not reach out to Walz, who served as the running mate to his rival in the 2024 presidential election, Democrat Kamala Harris.
“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him. Why would I call him?” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. So I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?”
Walz, for his part, said he was not surprised by Trump’s lack of interest in calling him. He did, however, point out that he had spoken with Vice President JD Vance.
“I’m always open to, you know, people expressing gratitude. Vice President Vance assured us, and he delivered, that the FBI would be there as partners with us to get it done,” Walz said. “That was what needed to be done.”
The suspect in the shootings is 57-year-old Vance Boelter, a father of five who was arrested on Sunday night.
He has since been charged with federal counts of murder and stalking in connection with the shootings early on Saturday, which resulted in the killings of Melissa Hortman, a top Democrat in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband, Mark Hortman.
Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom survived.
Prosecutors said that Boelter visited the lawmakers’ homes wearing a face mask and body armour to impersonate a police officer. He allegedly knocked on the Hoffmans’ door, identifying himself as police.
Prosecutors said on Monday that Boelter sent a message to his family after the shootings, which read: “Dad went to war last night.”
Law enforcement officials have said they are still investigating a potential motive in the attack. But investigators have recovered notebooks from the suspect with the names of Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates.
“Political assassinations are rare,” Joseph Thompson, Minnesota’s acting US attorney, said at a news conference. “They strike at the very core of our democracy.”
He added that authorities are searching through Boelter’s notebooks but have not found a “manifesto” clearly laying out his motivations. Boelter’s friends, meanwhile, have told reporters that the suspect was a supporter of Trump and an opponent of abortion rights.
The slayings have spurred increased concerns about political violence in the US. In the past year alone, Trump has faced an assassination attempt, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has seen his governor’s mansion targeted in an act of suspected arson.
Between January 6, 2021, and October 2024, the news agency Reuters said it had tallied upwards of 300 cases of political violence in the US.
In the aftermath of last weekend’s shootings, conspiracy theories claiming that the alleged shooter was a leftist ideologue began to circulate, with support from some Republican lawmakers.
Boelter had previously served with other community members on a state workforce development board under two Democratic governors, including Walz, a fact that helped to fuel the rumours.
He had also worked as the director of security patrols at a security services company whose website said he had been “involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip”.
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