Democratic leaders accuse Trump of legitimizing political violence that led to Minnesota shootings

Fox News

6 hours ago

A chorus of Democratic politicians are blaming President Donald Trump for the violent political atmosphere that they claim led to the murder of one Minnesota lawmaker and her husband over the weekend and the injury of a state senator and his wife in a pair of shootings.
Party leaders, including former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pointed to the president when asked what has led to more violent incidents that seem to be politically motivated.
De Blasio blamed Trump for the political violence in the country during an MSNBC segment on Sunday.
He told anchor Catherine Rampell that Trump "has, more than anyone, given the permission structure for this reality. And even what we've seen in the last week in Los Angeles, sparked by a kind of state violence, by ICE being extremely aggressive in their approach to immigration enforcement, that created a response from protesters, most of them peaceful. And then, of course, we saw some who were not peaceful — and I want to emphasize that's not acceptable, protesters being violent is not acceptable either."
The former New York City mayor added, "But there's a cycle here of the most important leadership in the country, both in the words he uses and the actions he's authorizing, creating an environment that's becoming more violent, more conflictual. I don't expect him to change."
The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was arrested on Sunday following a two-day manhunt in Minnesota after he allegedly posed as a police officer and shot former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, early Saturday morning at their Brooklyn Park home in Minneapolis. Both were killed in the attack.
Boelter allegedly committed the murders after shooting State Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, in their nearby Champlin home in a related attack.
When he was arrested, Boelter was found with a cache of weapons, including at least three AK-47 assault rifles and a 9mm handgun, along with a manifesto that listed the names of 70 names and addresses, some of which belonged to other public officials.
Anonymous law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the list also included the names of abortion rights advocates and information about healthcare facilities.
"I feel like Trump has really popped the lid off of the rhetoric and the sense of hate and violence and promoted this type of environment," Sen. Merkley said during "CNN News Central" on Monday morning.
"It's profoundly disturbing for all of us," he said, after CNN anchor John Berman asked him to describe the "political atmosphere" in the country following the deadly shooting.
Sen. Murphy posted a lengthy thread to X on Sunday claiming that the suspected assassin was a "right-winger" influenced by Trump and MAGA to commit violence.
"The Minnesota assassin appears to be a hate-filled right winger. So can we stop walking on eggshells about MAGA's legitimization of political violence? Yes, Republicans have also been the target of inexcusable violence, but this isn't a 'both sides' issue."
He added, "Trump sends other clear signals supporting political violence. Said he might pardon those that plotted the kidnapping of Gov. Whitmer; threatened peaceful protestors of his military parade with assault. Again, Democrats don't say these things. Not 'both sides.'"
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., also appeared on "CNN News Central" Monday morning to comment on the deadly shooting. During the segment he expressed fear that "we as a society are normalizing political violence," and though he said, "No one side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on it," he argued that Trump has played a big hand in fueling violence.
"But President Trump is the biggest problem here. I mean, he has used hateful, degrading rhetoric from the day he decided to run for president. And then pardoning all of the January 6 attackers at the U.S. Capitol, people who thought that violence was a legitimate way to overturn an election, and Donald Trump gave them a big stamp of approval," the congressman said.
During a discussion about the shootings and America's political violence on "The View" Monday, co-host Ana Navarro called out President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., by name, claiming their recent feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., over the Los Angeles riots is an example of rhetoric encouraging violence.
"But one of the things that I think we must demand is that our elected leaders, who have the biggest bully pulpits… but that also includes Donald Trump, and I'm going to say his name, because what we saw last week was a terrible escalation of political threats," she said, adding, "We saw him talk about putting — detaining and arresting Gavin Newsom for the crime of having been elected. We saw the speaker of the House talk about tar and feathering Gavin Newsom for the crime of being elected."
When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital, "Democrats are wrong to exploit this tragedy and blame President Trump. If Democrats are truly concerned about lowering tensions they should warn their Democrat colleagues to stop telling supporters they are 'at war' and encouraging them to fight 'in the streets' against President Trump."
"ICE agents are facing a 413% increase in assaults because of violent rhetoric and smears from Democrats, including calling them neo-Nazis and Gestapo for simply enforcing immigration law," she continued. "President Trump – the survivor of two assassination attempts – is uniting the country through patriotism, prosperity, and success. Radical Democrats must stop with their divisive, violent rhetoric."