Overview
- Trump on Saturday re-shared a Truth Social video that baselessly links Gov. Tim Walz to Melissa Hortman’s 2025 killing and ties the crime to alleged state fraud.
- On Sunday, Colin and Sophie Hortman asked Trump to delete the post and apologize, calling it a painful distortion of their mother’s final vote to avert a government shutdown.
- Federal prosecutors have charged only Vance Boelter, who pleaded not guilty after an indictment describing a planned attack that killed the Hortmans and wounded Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
- Minnesota leaders from both parties condemned the conspiracy claims, with Walz, Rep. Betty McCollum, and House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson denouncing the post and Republicans Julia Coleman and Lisa Demuth rejecting the rumors.
- Theories hinge on Boelter’s past board appointment and Hortman’s vote on immigrant health coverage, but investigators dismiss Boelter’s writings implicating others as delusional, and the Hoffman family also urged removal of the post.