Tina Smith says Mike Lee basically told her, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings" when confronted over his egregiously shameful posts about the Hortman assassination.
Tina Smith did something on Monday that’s rare for a senator: She told a colleague he caused her pain. Smith pulled Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee out of a private Republican meeting to discuss what she called the “painful” effects of Lee’s tweets about the weekend shooting of two state legislators in her home state of Minnesota, one of them a personal friend.
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Tina Smith on Mike Lee: "I went to him and I said, 'Your message on social media showed the image of the man who killed my friend ... and your message is, this is what happens? You need to take responsibility and accountability ...' And I wanted him to hear that from me directly."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) Jun 16, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Tina Smith on how Mike Lee responded to being confronted: "Honestly, I don't think this is a person who is used to be confronted. I don't think he's used to be challenged, and i think he didn't quite know what to do ... he needs to apologize. I really think he should take that post down."
“Have you absolutely no conscience? No decency?”
Why it matters: "I needed him to hear from me directly, what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague," Smith (D-Minn.) told reporters about their conversation.
- She declined to share details of Lee's reaction, but said, "I think that he, honestly, he seemed a little surprised to be confronted."
www.axios.com/…
Separately, a top aide to Smith wrote an email to members of Lee’s staff lambasting the senator for having “exploited the murder of a lifetime public servant and her husband to post some sick burns about Democrats.”
“Using the office of US Senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination—is that a successful day of work on Team Lee?” Ed Shelleby wrote. “Did you come into the office Monday and feel proud of the work you did over the weekend?”
Lee declined to comment to reporters at the Capitol, and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Lee’s personal X account, @BasedMikeLee, has increasingly become a forum for the senator’s sharply partisan and sometimes conspiratorial views.
www.politico.com/...
Other MAGA figures, including Elon Musk, have also portrayed Boelter as a violent leftist.
Boelter allegedly killed Democratic state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and allegedly shot and wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife on Saturday. Police later found a target list featuring the names of dozens of Democrats and abortion providers...
Lee was roundly criticized on X for sharing the posts, with many commentators noting that the evidence contradicts his claims.
www.thedailybeast.com/...
