Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) directly confronted Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Monday over a series of disturbing social media posts he shared in response to the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their partners.
After a gunman killed State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman and severely wounded State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman, Lee shared a post on X baselessly claiming that “this is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.” He then followed that post with a joke about the situation and an apparent reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Smith approached Lee during a Senate vote on Monday evening, pulling him aside to speak privately about how damaging and hurtful his posts were.
“I wanted him to know how much pain that caused me and the other people in my state, and I think around the country, who think that this was a brutal attack,” Smith told reporters after the conversation. “I don’t know whether Senator Lee thought fully through what it was — you have to ask him — but I needed him to hear from me directly what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague.”
Smith added that Lee “seemed a little surprised to be confronted” and told political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen that she effectively had to chase him down because he had his phone to his ear and was acting like he couldn’t talk.
