After the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, social media claims offering political views of the assassination and the reaction to it quickly spread. One message falsely claimed that “not a single Republican condemned” the targeted shooting of a Democratic politician in Minnesota in June. Many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, condemned it.
Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth political group Turning Point USA and an ally of Trump, was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10 when he was shot and killed. He was 31 years old. The FBI said on Sept. 11 that it had recovered what is believed to be the weapon used, “a high-powered bolt action rifle,” and law enforcement was still searching for a suspect. The FBI released images of a “person of interest.”
Trump and politicians of both political parties, including former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, made statements condemning the killing and expressing condolences. A reader asked us about the validity of one social media message that highlighted the statements of Democrats and then falsely said Republicans hadn’t offered similar condemnations of political violence after the murder of a Democrat a few months ago.
A Sept. 10 post on X, which received more than 6 million views, wrongly said: “I would like it to be noted that every Democrat on Twitter,” including Newsom, “is condemning the shooting of Charlie Kirk but not a single Republican condemned the assassination of Melissa Hortman.” A post on Threads made a nearly identical claim.
Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark Hortman, were slain on June 14, and Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot but survived an assault by the same man, who was posing as a police officer. Vance Boelter, 57, was indicted on six federal charges in connection with the murder of the Minnesota lawmaker and her spouse and the stalking and shooting of the Hoffmans.
When Boelter was captured on June 15 after an extensive manhunt, the suspect had a list of elected officials he intended to target, all of them Democrats, authorities said. Joe Thompson, acting U.S. attorney for the district of Minnesota, said in a press release that the shootings were “targeted political assassinations.”
As we said, it is not true that Republican leaders did not react and condemn those shootings.
The entire Minnesota congressional delegation, including Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, joined in a statement expressing “outrage, grief, and condemnation” of the attack. The lawmakers included Republicans Reps. Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber.
Lisa Demuth, the Republican speaker of the Minnesota state House, also praised Hortman’s accomplishments, and the state GOP Senate leader, Mark Johnson, condemned the violence. Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty paid tribute to Hortman and Hoffman.
Trump also condemned the shootings, saying in a statement, “Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place.” Trump declined to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, to express his condolences, ABC News reported, though Vice President JD Vance did speak with the governor.
In a Truth Social post after Kirk’s assassination, Trump said, “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family.”
Later on Sept. 10, in a video message, Trump blamed Democrats for Kirk’s death. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now,” the president said, going on to cite incidents he attributed to “radical left political violence,” including the assassination attempt against him in Pennsylvania last summer and the 2017 shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball team practice.
Trump didn’t mention the Hortman killing in those remarks. Lawmakers of both parties have been targeted in a spate of violent acts in recent years, including an arson attack at the home of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro earlier this year and the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan was the target of a 2020 kidnapping plot, according to federal law enforcement. Two staffers at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., were shot and killed in May. Trump also cited the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO last year.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.