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Getty Images, Minnesota House of Representatives
Donald Trump has sparked huge backlash for his response to a reporter who asked a question about murdered Democrat lawmaker Melissa Hortman.
In June, Hortman, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband and dog, were assassinated by a man impersonating a police officer. The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, also shot another Democratic lawmaker and his wife the same night.
But, when Trump was recently asked a question about her, he said he was “not familiar”.
A reporter was asking Trump a question in relation to Trump’s decision to lower the flags to half-staff at the White House after the murder of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on Wednesday (10 September) – something he did not do for Hortman.
The reporter asked: “In retrospect, given all of the moving ways that this White House has paid tribute to Charlie Kirk, do you think it would have been fitting to lower the flags to half-staff when Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House Speaker, was gunned down by an assassin as well?”
Shockingly, Trump responded: “Uh, I’m not familiar. The who?”
The reporter then repeated who Hortman was and what happened to her.
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that. But the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I would have if somebody had asked me.
“People make requests for the lowering of the flag, and oftentimes you have to say no because it would be a lot of lowering, the flag would never be up. Had the governor of Minnesota asked me to do that, I would have done that gladly.”
His response to the question sparked some strong reactions.
One said: “This breaks my heart for our country.”
Someone else wrote: “Are you kidding me right now.”
One person argued: “America is a parody these days. It would be funny if it wasn’t so f**king sad.”
“The Republican leader’s response to political violence where the victim is a Democrat,” someone pointed out.
Why not read…
- Ben Shapiro savagely schooled on sharing unverified information about Charlie Kirk's alleged killer
- Trump's rhetoric after Charlie Kirk death even slammed by congressman
- AOC calls out Trump's response to Charlie Kirk's death
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