BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (CBS/KFGO) – The children of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman are asking President Trump to remove a video he reposted on social media Saturday alleging Gov. Tim Walz is behind their mother’s assassination.
Walz responded to the president’s Truth Social post, saying it is “dangerous, depraved behavior from the sitting president of the United States.”
“In covering for an actual serial killer, he is going to get more innocent people killed. America is better than this,” Walz said.
Hortman was shot and killed alongside her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert, on June 14, 2025, inside the family’s Brooklyn Park home. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot and wounded in their Champlin home 90 minutes earlier.
Vance Boelter, 58, faces federal charges for the shootings, including two counts of murder. He allegedly dressed as a police officer and managed to evade arrest for 40 hours. According to prosecutors, Boelter had a hit list of lawmakers and other public officials, including staffers at Planned Parenthood. He pleaded not guilty in August.
Trump first reshared the video that states Boelter made the claim Walz ordered him to kill Hortman in a letter authorities say they found in his vehicle. Then-acting U.S. attorney Joe Thompson called the letter a “delusion” that seemed “designed to conceal his crimes.”
The Hortmans’ children, Sophie and Colin, on Sunday afternoon asked Trump to remove the post, saying it promotes a “false narrative.”
“The video being shared by the president is another hurdle our family must overcome in grieving the loss of my parents, Mark and Melissa, and their beloved Gilbert,” Sophie Hortman said. “I ask President Trump to please consider the pain and sadness we have faced, and to honor the spirit of the holidays we have just spent without our parents by taking down the post on Truth Social.”
Colin Hortman also debunked one of the claims made in the video shared by Trump regarding a vote his mother made shortly before her death to remove undocumented immigrant adults from the state’s health care coverage program. Hortman was the sole Democrat to vote for it in the tied House chamber, clearing the way for its passage.
“When I called her after the legislative session ended, I asked why she voted for the bill mentioned in the video shared by President Trump, and she wept. That bill and her vote had nothing to do with fraud. She voted for that bill because it was the only way to avoid a government shutdown,” Colin Hortman said. “She had never really voted against her conscience like that. It was emotional and extremely difficult.”
In a statement, House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson called out Trump, saying the claims about Hortman’s death are “untruthful” and “outrageous.”
“Tonight, Donald Trump, who couldn’t be bothered to lower the flags to half staff or even say Melissa Hortman’s name until now, is spreading outrageous lies about her death,” Stephenson said. “Here is the truth: Melissa was murdered by a right-wing, anti-abortion extremist who believed conspiracy theories about COVID. Melissa Hortman and Tim Walz were friends and allies. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying.”
Stephenson went on to say that any political leader in the state who does not condemn the president’s post “isn’t fit to hold office.”
Republican state Sen. Julia Coleman also encouraged lawmakers to “call for an end to baseless conspiracy theories” above a post mentioning Trump’s online endorsement of the accusation.
“We must all reject this behavior outright and refuse to tolerate it. The American people, grieving families, and the legacies of those lost deserve far better,” Coleman said. “Debate policies fiercely. Fight for what you believe in. But do not speculate, guess, or spread stories that are plainly false and deeply harmful. It’s time to restore dignity to our political discourse.”
Several Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Angie Craig and Betty McCollum, called for Republican legislators to specifically condemn Trump’s post.
However, Republican state Rep. Walter Hudson disagreed.
“I’m not condemning anything, even if I disagree with it, after watching the abhorrent reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk from Democrats of every strata, and the indifference toward and election of Jay Jones. I’m not playing this stupid game,” Hudson said on X about Mr. Trump’s Truth Social post.
McCollum also demanded that the president apologize to the Hortman family, Walz and Minnesotans.
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