Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) criticized President Donald Trump for not ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff after Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were slain in their home.
“It’s been pretty traumatic in Minnesota,” Walz said while appearing Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Briefing.” “Nothing surprises me. There’s no compassion. There’s no empathy in [Trump], and there’s no sense of governing for the whole country.”
He continued, “We had a horrific act of political violence and the loss of an exceptional human being, a mom. Just, just it’s hard to explain to people. And it gets reduced to a footnote. This beautiful life, this big life.”
Hortman and her husband were killed at their home in June by a shooter impersonating a police officer. The attack, allegedly carried out by 57-year-old Vance Boelter, came amid a slew of political violence that further ramped up last week after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah.
Trump was asked Monday by a reporter at the White House why he chose not to lower flags to fly at half-staff for Hortman but did so following Kirk’s death, to which Trump admitted to not knowing who Hortman was.
“I’m not familiar. The who?” the president replied.
Trump then claimed had Walz asked him to lower the flags, he would have.
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that, but the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump condemned the attacks and said that “such horrific violence will not be tolerated” in a June 14 Truth Social post.
But the POTUS later scoffed after a reporter asked him if he would give Walz, who was the vice presidential running mate for the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee Kamala Harris, a call following Hortman’s death. Trump called the gesture a “waste of time.”
“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him,” Trump said. “He’s a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
Elsewhere in his interview on “The Briefing,” Walz told host Jen Psaki that Trump’s disrespect “rolled off” his tongue while failing to show compassion for Hortman.
“Yet we’re supposed to believe that they’re definitely concerned about political violence,” Walz said before criticizing Vice President JD Vance. “And you see the vice president, you know, go on a podcast, it’s government by podcast, to just lie and to bring hate. And they’re not interested in solving this.”
Vance faced criticism for hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show” on Monday after Kirk, whom he called a friend, was murdered. During the show, Vance blamed the “incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism” for being “part of the reason” why Kirk was killed.
Watch Walz’s appearance on “The Briefing” below.