Utah Sen. Mike Lee, amid widespread outrage, has deleted a pair of social media posts associating the deadly Minnesota shootings last weekend with “Marxists” and the state’s Democratic governor.
The move to remove the X posts came amid criticism from a Republican colleague Tuesday. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters said Lee’s decision to comment online over the weekend “seems insensitive, to say the least, inappropriate, for sure” and “not even true.”
“I don’t know if this person was a Marxist or not,” Cramer said. “I have no sense. Nor does it matter, by the way, nor does it matter. I mean … what happened is absolutely, positively unacceptable in any political environment, and it’s tragic.”
Pressed on Lee’s response, Cramer added, “He maybe should have waited longer before he responded. I don’t know where he stands today on it. I just know where I do … the politics of this shooter are so irrelevant to me. … I just think whenever you rush to a judgment like this, when your political instincts kick in during a tragedy, you probably should realign some priorities, but I haven’t talked to Mike about it personally.”
A spokesperson for Lee did not immediately return a request for comment on why the posts were taken down.
Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, who was a friend of murdered state Rep. Melissa Hortman, confronted Lee just off the Senate floor Monday to condemn his comments. Republican senators POLITICO spoke to yesterday largely avoided direct condemnation, but signaled discomfort with politicizing the incident.
The deleted posts from Lee’s @BasedMikeLee personal account included a photo of the suspect in the shooting, Vance Boelter, with the caption: “This is what happens … When Marxists don’t get their way.” Another post featuring a photo of Boelter was captioned: “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” in apparent reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Lee did not respond to reporters’ questions about the posts yesterday but he replied to a X user who said, “According to Democrats you’re not allowed to make sarcastic posts anymore!”
“Ah yes,” he posted. “I must seek their permission.” That post remained up Tuesday afternoon.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
