Leaked Trump Admin Memo Warned of Home Attacks on Officials
A leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo issued months before Saturday's shootings warned that public officials face a growing threat of being attacked at their personal residences.
Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed at their home in the suburbs of Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
The gunman, who was reportedly dressed like a cop, also shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife multiple times at their home in nearby Champlin. They have since undergone surgery. Officials report they are 'cautiously optimistic' they will survive.
Just months ago, DHS analysts warned that high-profile officials were increasingly 'vulnerable to attack' in their own homes as potential attackers shift away from traditional targets such as 'government buildings and corporate offices,' in a confidential memo obtained by ABC News.
Noting 'recent uptick in online messaging promoting attacks at their homes, doxing and swatting incidents, and several notable attacks,' the memo, which leaked in March, described an escalating threat from potential attackers targeting public figures where they live. Private homes often lack more 'robust security measures' and are 'accessible with limited obstacles,' the memo suggested.
The DHS analysts also pointed to 'overall increased political polarization' and 'the prevalence of conspiracy theories targeting industry and government officials,' adding that the complex mix of motives makes it harder for law enforcement to detect and disrupt plots.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described Saturday's attacks as an 'act of targeted political violence.'
Police were called to Hoffman's home at around 2 a.m. local time and provided life-saving measures to the state senator and his wife before they were transported to a hospital, CNN reports.
Around 3:35 a.m., officers conducting a proactive check on Hortman's home were fired upon by a man exiting the residence. The gunman fled on foot during the ensuing shootout.
Inside the suspect's car—which was left at Hortman's residence and resembled a police vehicle equipped with lights—officers found a hit list naming 'many lawmakers,' authorities said, according to ABC News.
One of the most high-profile recent attacks at a public official's home occurred in October 2022, when Paul Pelosi, the husband of then–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, was attacked by a hammer-wielding intruder at their San Francisco residence.
In another case, two men were convicted of conspiracy charges in 2022 for plotting to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation home in 2020.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
29 minutes ago
- CNN
Suspect Captured, Ending Two-Day Manhunt - CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish - Podcast on CNN Audio
Suspect Captured, Ending Two-Day Manhunt CNN This Morning 47 mins Following an intense manhunt, law enforcement apprehend Vance Boelter, the man accused of killing a Minnesota state representative and wounding another. Plus, Israel and Iran trade attacks overnight as the world calls for diplomacy. Is there any hope for de-escalation? Then: Is the Trump Administration feeling the backlash from its immigration crackdown?
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
5 things to know for June 16: Minnesota shootings, Israel-Iran, Russia-Ukraine, G7, Vaccines
Construction has begun at the White House to change the look of the Rose Garden. Located along the West Terrace and West Wing, the plot was created in 1903 by first lady Edith Roosevelt as a colonial-style garden. Ten years later, first lady Ellen Wilson had it transformed into the first Rose Garden. Now, most of the grass area has been dug up to build a new patio. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Get '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. The largest manhunt in Minnesota's history has ended. Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested Sunday for allegedly killing Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, over the weekend. The manhunt involved 'hundreds of detectives' and 20 different SWAT teams as well as cooperation from a host of local, state and federal agencies. Law enforcement also used helicopters, surveillance drones and infrared technology to locate and capture the suspect in the woods of rural Sibley County. Boelter was wearing a mask and dressed like a police officer during the attacks. Inside his vehicle, police discovered survival gear and a hit list of nearly 70 names, including Democrats and people with ties to abortion rights. He has been charged with two counts of murder in the second degree and two counts of attempted murder in the second degree. For the fourth day in a row, Israel and Iran have continued to launch waves of attacks at each other. Israel's strikes have hit numerous military targets, the foreign ministry building and residential areas in Tehran. Iran's retaliatory strikes have damaged or destroyed residential buildings and infrastructure, including an Israeli oil refinery and part of the power grid. Search and rescue teams are digging through the rubble left by the bombardments to find victims buried underneath the debris. Amid international pleas for diplomacy and de-escalation, death tolls on both sides continue to climb due to the rapidly escalating hostilities. Officials say Israel's operation against Iran is expected to take 'weeks, not days.' Russia has initiated a new tactic in its war on Ukraine: large-scale drone attacks. Last fall, Russia ramped up production of the Iranian-designed Shahed drone and is now building hundreds of them every day. It has also boosted production of decoy drones, which are difficult to distinguish from the real thing. 'So, either Ukrainian forces spend time trying to identify the decoys or they spend precious resources shooting them down. Either way, this helps the Russian missiles and Shaheds — with their large payloads — (as they) have the chance to get through to their targets,' Christina Harward, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said. In recent weeks, Russia has used these drones to engage in bigger and more frequent assaults on Ukrainian cities, sometimes firing as many as 479 drones and missiles at targets in a single night. According to a CNN tally, seven of Moscow's largest drone attacks in its war on Ukraine occurred in the past four weeks. President Donald Trump arrived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Sunday night in advance of the G7, the first international summit of his second administration. Leaders at the gathering are expected to discuss Trump's trade war and international security, such as Israel's unprecedented strike on Iran, Russia's war on Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. Trump also plans to meet individually with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to members of Congress to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to change US policy on Covid vaccines cited scientific studies that were unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterized others, KFF Health News reported. Kennedy announced last month that the CDC would no longer recommend Covid vaccines for pregnant women or healthy children. The move was decried by many major medical groups and questioned by some lawmakers. One health expert called the document 'willful medical disinformation.' 'It is so far out of left field that I find it insulting to our members of Congress that they would actually give them something like this,' said Mark Turrentine, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine. 'Congress members are relying on these agencies to provide them with valid information, and it's just not there.' Good day, England football captain David Beckham, Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey have been awarded knighthoods. J.J. Spaun wins US OpenThe 34-year-old golfer defeated his opponents, Mother Nature and the brutal course at the Oakmont Country Club to win the 125th US Open championship. Toothless on top'An insatiable appetite for PG-rated family fare' helped another live-action remake fly to the top of the movie box office this weekend. Hackers take aim at Washington PostHackers have reportedly attempted to break into the email accounts of several Washington Post journalists. Ice age 'puppies' are not what they seemNew research shows that the two 14,000-year-old mummified 'puppies' found in Northern Siberia may not be dogs at all. 1,100+That's how many NIH grants have been terminated since the beginning of the second Trump administration. At least 160 clinical trials to study HIV/AIDS, cancer, mental health, substance abuse and chronic disease have been affected. 'As a country we cannot become numb to this violence. We are a deeply divided nation. That has become even more clear over the last two days. The way we move forward and solve the problems facing our nation is not through hate. It is not through violence. It is through humility, and grace and civility.' — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in a written statement announcing the arrest of the suspect in the 'politically motivated' shooting of two state lawmakers and their spouses. Check your local forecast here>>> Tips for surviving a plane crashBen Sherwood, author of 'Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life,' explains how to prepare for the worst situations.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
The next phase of California's Resistance
Presented by NOT GOING ANYWHERE — Saturday's mass 'No Kings' protests are a wrap, but the points of tension animating California's reenergized resistance to the Trump administration are very much unresolved. The administration continues daily immigration raids in the state, even if President Donald Trump has reportedly asked federal agents to lay off workers in some industries, including agriculture, amid intense industry lobbying. Trump will be allowed to keep National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles until at least tomorrow, giving California Democrats more time to sound off on the unusual militarization of the nation's second-largest city before an appeals court considers the state's challenge to the deployment. Sen. Alex Padilla and other Democrats continue to seize on the senator's handcuffing at a Department of Homeland Security news conference last week as representative of the administration's treatment of political opponents. Others have been fundraising off the incident, our Brakkton Booker and Andrew Howard report. 'All Alex was trying to do was ask a question and do his job of oversight,' read one email from the campaign of Sen. Adam Schiff, who asked supporters to split donations between his campaign and Padilla's. But but but … Officials from both parties tried to temper partisan animosity upon learning that former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was killed, in what Gov. Tim Walz described as a politically motivated attack. As our Zach Montellaro reports, California's Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher issued a rare joint statement Saturday afternoon. 'This horrifying act of political violence has no place in America, and we stand together in condemning it in the strongest possible terms,' they wrote. 'Americans can disagree, but we must always do that without violence. As leaders on both sides of the aisle, we call on everyone to take down the temperature, respect differences of opinion and work toward peace in our society.' They were followed by the leaders of the California state Senate, Democratic Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire and Republican Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, who said 'no cause, no grievance, no election justifies the use of fear or force against our fellow human beings.' Close to home … Officials are all too familiar with political violence in California, where Rep. Nancy Pelosi's husband was bludgeoned by a man who broke into his home in 2022 and former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was assassinated decades earlier. Hortman's death, and the shooting of another Minnesota state lawmaker, prompted sitting officials to open up about what they face personally. 'We're all getting death threats pretty regularly, and violent threats,' California Rep. Jared Huffman said of his congressional colleagues. 'You go online and you just see all of the vile and hate and vitriol that is pulsing through mostly right wing politics and platforms, but there's some of it on the left too.' Our colleagues reported that Huffman and other members of Congress are 'taking all kinds of precautions' to boost their safety that they never before would have thought necessary in the U.S. Federal campaign finance officials signed off last year on allowing members of Congress and candidates to use campaign cash for a wide array of personal security measures due to the threats they now routinely face. Seas of protesters … The weekend's demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego drew tens of thousands of attendees and remained largely peaceful. The events, planned in coordination with thousands of others nationwide, gained momentum after Trump unleashed a barrage of broadsides against California and its leaders while deploying the National Guard over Gov. Gavin Newsom's objections. 'We're at DEFCON 1 in the conflict between California and the Trump administration,' Democratic strategist Katie Merrill told our own Jeremy B. White for his latest on the administration's hyper-focus on California. 'It's orders of magnitude more than what we've seen, ever.' Importantly for Democrats, the demonstrations didn't produce the kinds of chaotic images that the White House used as justification for intervening in Los Angeles-area immigration protests last week. Still, Los Angeles police forced demonstrators to disperse Saturday before an 8 p.m. curfew took effect downtown, the Los Angeles Times reported. The limited curfew, imposed last week to stem vandalism and looting, remains in effect indefinitely. GOOD MORNING. It's Monday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as 'CA Playbook' in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@ and bjones@ or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced. ON THE HILL SUNDAY SHOWS — Padilla on Sunday denied that he was deliberately trying to make a scene at the Department of Homeland Security press conference, as White House and DHS officials have claimed. 'Nothing could be further from the truth. Again, what are the odds?' the Democrat told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday on 'State of the Union.' The senator said he asked the FBI agents escorting him around the building if he could listen in. 'When I heard the secretary, not for the first time in that press conference, talk about the needing to liberate the people of Los Angeles from their duly elected mayor and governor, it was at that moment that I chose to try to ask a question,' Padilla said. Read more from his cable news appearance from our Gregory Svirnovskiy. REPUBLICANLAND ESSAYLI'S ASCENT — Former California Assemblymember Bill Essayli has been on something of a revenge tour since Trump appointed him to be U.S. attorney for California's central district, our Will McCarthy reports. Already, he has charged SEIU leader David Huerta with felony conspiracy for allegedly impeding an ICE arrest by participating in a protest. And he has been Trump's man on the immigration battlefield of Los Angeles — a rapid status shift for a politician who not long ago was a junior, little-liked Republican state lawmaker. 'The Democrats that bullied Bill Essayli should be very worried,' said Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a Republican who worked to get Essayli elected before serving alongside him. 'They've never been held accountable. But life changes.' CLIMATE AND ENERGY FROM PAIN TO POLITICS — There's a new climate advocacy group in town trying to make disasters personal — and taking lessons from the anti-gun violence movement. Read California Climate's interview with Chris Kocher, an Everytown alum who now co-leads Extreme Weather Survivors to connect disaster victims and advocate with them in Sacramento and beyond. Top Talkers RULES IN REVERSE — Trump just revoked California's authority to set its own electric vehicle rules. In her latest column, California climate editor Debra Kahn questions the degree to which California is to blame. CHANGE OF GUARD — Marines replaced National Guard troops in protecting a federal building in Los Angeles amid the legal back-and-forth over the Guard's deployment, the New York Times reports. One man was briefly detained by the troops after he ducked caution tape to reach the Veterans Affairs office there. AROUND THE STATE — California legislators passed their budget proposal on Friday. They'll vote on a final budget after leadership finishes negotiations with Newsom. (POLITICO Pro) — SF Mayor Daniel Lurie is facing backlash for proposing cuts to immigration services funding to address the city's budget deficit. (SF Standard) — Personal information about immigrants who receive health insurance through Medi-Cal has been handed over to federal immigration officials. (POLITICO Pro) PLAYBOOKERS BIRTHDAYS — POLITICO's Nicole Norman (favorite cocktail: martini with two blue cheese olives) … Hailey Heer … Alison Gopnik … Alissa Anderson, policy director at the California Budget & Policy Center ... BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): Former House Majority Whip Tony Coelho … Rebecca Rutkoff … Liz Bourgeois … Daniel Lacesa … Jeffrey I. Abrams … (was Saturday): Lilly Rapson … Beryl A. Geber … Annie Olson … YouTube's Alexandra Veitch … Campbell Brown … President Donald Trump … Los Angeles City Councilmember Timmy McOsker (favorite birthday treat: crab cake and a crispy Corona with lime) WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO's California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.
